Microsoft Video Offers Hamfisted Attack on Google Apps

Microsoft has published a video called Googlighting to YouTube—that’s Google’s YouTube—that attempts to make the case that Google Apps are little more than a side project for the search giant, a flaky and unreliable side project at that. Google Apps are Google’s attempt at free, cloud-based productivity apps that directly compete with Microsoft’s cash cow, Office.

The video is a companion to Microsoft’s Why Microsoft? website that contrasts Microsoft’s offerings to Google’s for businesses. It runs in the same vein as other comparisons Microsoft has made in the past to Apple’s Macintosh (PC vs. Mac), Linux, and others through the years.

We suspect the video is supposed to be funny, though there’s little evidence to back up our hypothesis. Google Apps is presented as a smarmy, young sales guy who’s not to be trusted. We know that because he has a silly tie, a crappy suit, and two days growth on his face. Who can trust a punk kid who doesn’t shave as often as he should?!?

Googlighting Screenshot

Who could trust this guy?!? He’s got one of the wrist thingies!

The reality is that it’s a hamfisted attempt that comes off looking more pathetic than amusing. Those more charitable might forgive it as something that a bunch of aging, out-of-touch execs in Redmond thought was simply high-larious and let it go at that. Maybe it was the same team who thought that having Ryan Seacrest co-host Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote would somehow improve that event.

Then again, maybe that’s the point. By definition, the target market for the video are business execs at companies contemplating free Google Apps as a replacement or to augment the not-at-all free Microsoft Office. It could well be that said target audience will find the video just as high-larious as did whomever it was that gave the go-ahead to push this baby out to YouTube in the first place.

A quick perusal of the comments on YouTube will shockingly find that Microsoft isn’t winning any converts on the site, but as noted above, YouTube denizens aren’t the target market for this video.

In any event, here’s the video. Maybe you can find a more positive perspective on it than we did.

Microsoft’s “Googlighting” Video