Gmail Man

Tipped off by my new Windows Weekly cohost Mary Jo Foley, I spent much of today enjoying "Gmail Man," an absolutely fantastic internal Microsoft sales video that, quick frankly, should be adapted into commercials for mainstream TV.

The bit goes right to the heart of what many people dislike about Gmail, that Google is reading users' email messages in order to create the context-sensitive ads that appear next to every email message delivered through the service.

As Google notes in a Gmail help page, if you don't want these ads, just use an email application.

But Microsoft has a different response: Its Office 365 costs just $6 per user month and doesn't provide ads of any kind. It's a good message: "Your email is your business," the ad concludes. "Google makes it theirs.  Microsoft Office 365 [is] a better solution for your business."

Brilliant.