Microsoft criticizes Google Apps with ‘Googlighting’ video and new website to amp smear campaign

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Microsoft released the above Google-lambasting video on YouTube (ironically) yesterday to take aim at Google Apps and decry the Mountain View, Calif.-based advertising business of seedily selling productivity software “on the side.”

Microsoft takes a curious spin on “moonlighting” and calls its competition the “Googlighting stranger” while making many jabs at the search engine’s product. The mud-slinging does not stop at the end of the 2.15-minute video, however…

In the description section of the video, Microsoft posted a link to Why Microsoft—a website specifically meant to educate users on Microsoft’s “strategic and technical differentiation” from Google. The Microsoft Office-maker hosted comparison demonstrations, customers’ stories, video resources, and a “Microsoft vs. Google” chart to build its case against Google Apps.

Google Apps is a Google service that features several Web applications like traditional office suites, such as Microsoft Office. The services vary per edition but generally include Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Sites, Groups, Video, and Marketplace. Its popularity among students and educational institutions is rapidly increasing due to enhanced sharing features, accessibility and cost.

UC Berkeley announced Dec. 21 that it planned to make Google Apps for Education its new campus calendar and email system effective January 2012. “Operation Excellence” is a cost cutting initiative designed by the university to save $75 million annually.

“This decision has been reached after an extensive analysis over the past few months that compared Google Apps for Education and Microsoft’s Office 365 offerings,” said UC Berkley in a statement about the transition. “While both products are feature rich and offer advantages over our current environment, the analysis concluded that the Google offering was the better overall fit for the campus at this time.”

Microsoft’s “Googlighting” video and Why Microsoft website looks to change the tide and maintain the firm’s market share in productivity software. The Redmond, Wash.-based Company said Google Apps is an experimental and ever-changing service with limited, incomplete functionality and “one size fits none” availability. On the other hand, Microsoft claimed it is diverse with unsurpassed productivity experience and cloud flexibility.

It is worth noting Microsoft posted a similar video Jan. 31 to criticize the “peeping eyes of Gmail” man (as seen below). A link in the video’s description led to a post on The Official Microsoft Blog called, “Gmail and Google Apps Got You Down? Try Hotmail & Office 365.”

In the Feb. 2 blog post, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft Frank X. Shaw said his company also placed a series of ads in major newspapers to reach out to people “concerned or frustrated” by Google’s recently revamped privacy policy:

Since their announced changes provoked a backlash, Google has been trying to characterize them as ‘simpler,’ ‘easier’ and ‘more consistent.’ And finally, they keep trying to assert that they haven’t made it any harder to control what gets collected about you,” wrote Shaw. “Contrast that with using Hotmail or Office 365. We’re not using the contents of your mail to deliver ads, nor do we change your search results based on your email content. And because you’re not logged into Gmail, the videos you view on YouTube remain known only to you.”

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What do you think about Microsoft’s smear campaign against Google?