"The Office" meets Microsoft Office
If you're a fan of the original U.K. version of "The Office," here's a treat for you: A 2003 Microsoft U.K. training video, "The Office Values," has surfaced on the Web, with actor Ricky Gervais reprising his role as the world's worst boss, David Brent. The video is hilarious: Gervais, as Brent, issues cunning management bromides like "Trust no one" and "Keep your good ideas to yourself" -- this, of course, in an effort to reinforce Microsoft's core values of integrity and openness.

Upon watching it, one's first reaction is to think that Microsoft intentionally circulated this video to show that the software giant has a sense of humor about itself. But Microsoft and Gervais didn't approve the release, it turns out, and aren't that happy about the leak. Silicon.com reported that Microsoft's U.K. office, which commissioned the video for internal use, was "red-faced" over the incident. And Gervais for his part, was concerned that the videos' appearance now might lead fans to think he had revived the Brent character, which he has no plans to do, a spokeswoman for the comedian told ZDNet UK.

But what must be especially galling for Microsoft is that rather than popping up on MSN, the videos have surfaced on archrival Google's video website. Click below to watch "The Office Values."

Posted by Owen Thomas 10:48 AM 0 Comments comment | Add a Comment

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.