While Google openly made light of Hotmail with its Gmail Intervention campaign this week, it seems Microsoft has been mocking Gmail in private. A video, allegedly shown at its annual Microsoft Global Exchange sales conference, introduces a brand new character – Gmail Man! The nosy character rifles through your mail to find keywords and serve you ads.
Google obviously wouldn’t agree that its contextual Gmail ads, which are generated by algorithms, count as snooping but the video is designed to promote Office 365, Microsoft’s suite of apps which competes with Gmail.
The Gmail Man video was leaked to ZD Net’s Mary-Jo Foley and while Microsoft won’t comment on whether it really is official, there is a big clue. The office Gmail Man visits belongs to Contoso Ltd, one of Microsoft’s favourite fake company names which crops up in lots of other videos and demos.
Whether you agree with the points made by the clip or not, it’s one of the most awkward Microsoft videos we’ve ever seen, up there with Rick Gervais training Microsoft staff and Steve Balmer and Bill Gates’ road trip. Click through to see Gmail Man for yourself…
