Dr. Neil Hair

24 hours is a long time for consumers of David Brent's unique style of humor. It was just 24 hours ago that I was watching his training video's for Microsoft falling about laughing. Microsoft spotted it – over 70,000 hits later - cried foul (perhaps fowl is a better way of describing this monumental mistake) and have ordered youtube to take them down. How annoying. Granted Microsoft paid Gervaise handsomely for the content, granted they were designed for in house use only, granted they were very very funny. Granted the quality of the video was poor, granted the internet populace was unlikely to want to download it for archiving, granted it perhaps painted Microsoft in a slightly different (and much more amenable) light. What was surely to be a great indirect public relations exercise has turned sour but not for everyone involved. Youtube still benefit from the new traffic the news story will generate, Gervaise benefits as it raises his profile as a comedian, and poor old Microsoft painted once again as the serious monopolist who wants to stop non employees enjoying their fun which lets face it – we have helped fund.

Updates: You can still watch the video here if you're quick