“If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.”
Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it was investigating how two in-house training videos made by British comedian Ricky Gervais, creator of ‘The Office’ television series, appeared on two Web sites.
The videos, which popped up on YouTube and Google Video this month, were commissioned by Microsoft in 2004 as “a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft,” a spokeswoman said.
Dvorak Uncensored, of course, was one of those dastardly blogs that linked to the videos. So far — that’s a live link.
By Tuesday the videos had been pulled off the online video-sharing site YouTube. It remained on Google Video and Microsoft declined to say if it had try to have it pulled from that site.
“These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public,” said the company’s spokeswoman. “We are actively working to investigate how and why they have appeared now,” the spokeswoman said.
They have to do this for copyright reasons. They get these actors for peanuts because it’s not intended for public distribution. If it leaks they could be held liableMicrosoft has to at least make a show of indignation for copyright reasons. They get these actors for peanuts because it’s not intended for public distribution. The contract outlines the extent in which the content is to be used. If it leaks they could be held liable and charged more.
Lots of stars shill for things in closed or foreign markets but are afraid to in the domestic US market. They are often concerned about their reputation in the home market.
If this were something that was to be publicly available you can be sure the actor would have charged more for his involvement.
They hired these guys for an in-house training video? Please. Can you say viral marketing?
At least Rick Gervais benefits from the exposure as he is quite funny. Although, he probably should get additional compensation for MS’s failure to keep the material confined to MS. If I failed to secure my system and people “leaked” programs and mp3’s from me, I would still get sued by the BSA, MPAA, RIAA so how can they use this as an excuse?
#1They have to do this for copyright reasons.
Comment by Ben Lewitt — 8/31/2006 @ 7:43 am
Copyright reasons? That doesn’t even make sense.