Technology Lab / Information Technology

Microsoft teams with finishing school for etiquette guide

Seeking to end the "confusion over when to use which method of communication …

When is it better to IM than to text message? Should you phone or web conference? Is it ok to use smiley faces in e=mails? Oh the communications conundrums busy business executives face every day! Never fear, Microsoft and British finishing school The Finishing Academy—"traditional values for the modern world"—have joined forces to save us by compiling an etiquette guide to "business communications in today's technologically advanced world." Companies will eventually be able to download the guide from Microsoft's site, reports the Telegraph, a British newspaper.

"Our research and anecdotal evidence suggests that instant messaging is now rife amongst information workers, yet often people are using it poorly," said Mark Deakin, Microsoft's unified communications manager. "Combined with the widespread misuse of email and an increasing aversion to the phone, it seems there is confusion over when to use which method of communication. The technology is there to help people communicate and collaborate better, and done right it can be a real boon."

The guide is the latest in a series of Microsoft etiquette guides, including online etiquette, cell phone etiquette, IM etiquette, Xbox Live etiquette, e-mail etiquette ,and e-mail etiquette for wireless devices. It all seems kind of silly until you get an e-mail or IM from someone who, shall we say, hasn't been hit with the charm-school stick. LIKE WHEN SOMEONE USES ALL CAPS or tells an off-color joke in mixed company. So yes, Microsoft and The Finishing Academy, please help the world become a more civilized place. And while you're at it, figure out some way to force the clueless to read and heed your advice.

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