Finding your inner suit

Given that NBC's corporate-climbing contest, "The Apprentice," is a hit show, maybe it's not such a stretch to imagine that a lot of people would want to win a "business professional action figure" modeled after them.

Still, TidBITS publisher Adam Engst has some amusingly acerbic -- but pointed -- commentary on Microsoft's new promotion for its Office 2004 for Mac:

Now here's an odd marketing campaign - so odd, in fact, that I wonder if I'm missing a level or two of self-mocking irony. Microsoft is running a sweepstakes to promote Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac based on the slogan, "Get in touch with your inner suit." This is a good thing? "Suit" isn't generally a positive term - the suits are the buttoned-down executives generally responsible for (or at least blamed for) all the bad stuff in technology companies. Dilbert's pointy-haired boss is a suit. Enron suits bilked shareholders of billions. This is not a good thing. ...