Microsoft Video Slams Snooping 'Gmail Man'

You’d never tolerate your mailman behaving the way Gmail does: That’s the message of a chuckle-inducing video—believed to be made by Microsoft—that takes direct aim at the email service’s advertising techniques. Mocking Gmail for scanning your inbox as a way to target advertising, the video introduces "Gmail Man," who "peeks at every subject in unreal time."

Writing for ZDNet, Mary Jo Foley says Microsoft didn't respond to her inquiry about whether the company did indeed make the video (the story Foley reports is that it was shown at a July 20 conference and was intended to inspire those selling Google Apps competitor Office 365). "I think it’s the real deal," Foley writes. "It has all the hallmarks of a real Microsoft production, including the fact that the name on the company doors that Gmail Man opens when visiting an office is Contoso Ltd. ... Microsoft’s favorite fake company name." (More Gmail stories.)