Office default Calibri will join Clippy, Internet Explorer in Windows retirement

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  Rumor has it Calibri is already working on its goodbye note. [credit: Nathan Mattise ]

In tech, all good defaults (that aren't the Mac startup chime, at least) must someday come to an end. Today, Microsoft announced its Office font since 2007-the everyman sans serif, Calibri-would soon join Clippy, Internet Explorer, and the Windows 8 Start button in the big Windows graveyard in the sky.

"Calibri has been the default font for all things Microsoft since 2007, when it stepped in to replace Times New Roman across Microsoft Office," the Microsoft Design Team opined in Calibri's de facto obit. "It has served us all well, but we believe it's time to evolve."

Microsoft is now on the hunt for tech's next great default font. Rather than going the reality competition route and opening up the search to any old handwritten font family, the company has commissioned five custom fonts that will now vie for this cushy gig.

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