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Posted by Spy August 28, 2006 8:37 AM with 3 comment(s)
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Microsoft on Friday was unhappy with the online release of a training video that was made to look like an episode of the popular British comedy "The Office," and featured the show's star and creator Ricky Gervais.

Microsoft in the United Kingdom made the 2004 video as a fun way to instruct people on how not to act at work. The 37-minute video was only for internal use, but somehow got released on the Web.

In the two-part video, Gervais plays David Brent, the bumbling boss in "The Office," in what could easily pass for a lost episode of the BBC series. On the film, he is being interviewed about (by) Stephen Merchant, who also was as actor on the original show.

"The two videos that Ricky and Stephen recorded for us in 2004 were a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft and, through the character of David Brent, illustrate what not to do in the workplace," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. "These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public."

Microsoft was trying to determine how the video was released, the spokesperson said.
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Comments

 

warlocke said:

Just for the record, I am about as far from a Microsoft supporter as anyone you'll find - I have a tattoo of Tux the Linux penguin on my right forearm and my vehicle's personalized license plates say "L1NUX".

Here's how I see it, though.  If they DON'T turn it into a witch hunt and simply play it off as "You see?  We're NOT the soulless corporate leviathan people try to say we are.  We even have a sense of humour!" it would be one of the best things to happen for MS from a PR perspective in a long time.  Yes, they still need to reiterate and reinforce with their employees the importance of keeping internal documents and media secure but in this instance no harm was done. 
August 28, 2006 7:46 PM
 

Steven Bink said:

I Agree
August 28, 2006 10:37 PM
 

Spy said:

However, the video was made on the strict understanding that it never be released to the public.  If anything, it may mean MS have to pay a lot more money for general broadcasting of these.
August 29, 2006 2:33 AM

About Spy

Hello world, as they say. I'm in Melbourne Australia and work as a Systems Administrator. I go to work every day with a smile on my face as I just love my work. Our company works across 30+ sites around the state so I travel a bit. We use mostly MS products, IBM hardware and 100% Cisco networking...it's a sweet mix for sure. I've been around Bink's site since it's inception way back when it was just a group on the MS site...that was a while ago. Bink.nu is the leading source of Microsoft news on the web that's for sure and I love being a part of Steven's team. Anyway, hope you enjoy the site.
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