Guild-ing the lily?

Okay, so I'm outing myself as a poser here But it might just be worth the loss of my Secret Nerd-rune Decoder Ring, not to mention being unceremoniously escorted from the Geek's Treehouse. But the Do you wanna date my avatar? video, not to mention any mention of the internet comedy series The Guild only just hit my radar just last night. (Warning(s): The video might be be considered "safe" for work...largely depending on your definition of "safe." And "work." Everybody's clothed--but that's all I will guarantee. And as for getting the refrain out of your head within the next 24 hours: You're on your own, mate.)

Anyhoo, after stifling much snorty giggling at my cubicle this morning, I did some Wikipedia-surfing during lunch, and discovered that this is pure internet play, and an interesting business case besides. The series itself was the brain-child of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alumnus Felicia Day, and has been alternately bootstrapped, donation-funded and "supported" by Microsoft (and Sprint, via advertisement and product placement).

The "interesting" part, to me, is that The Guild retains its intellectual property rights to the content. What Microsoft is effectively buying, via its "premiere rights," merely amounts to what would be known in journalism as "the scoop." In other words, they're what the comic book ads of my childhood hailed as "the first kid on the block" to have the cool stuff. After a contractually-set time-lapse, the content can be released at however The Guild sees fit.

Wow. I never thought I'd say this during the Ballmer-era Microsoft, but...dude!...that's actually...really...cool. No, I have no intention of rushing out to buy an XBox, Zune, etc. But it definitely raises my opinion of Microsoft as a corporate entity. Why? Because the absolutism is almost completely absent. (I trust that you recall Ballmer referring to open source as a "cancer," yes?) This species of content-licensing is furlong-strides away from the all-too-darned-apt "Borg" ethos. Seriously: Big, big ups to somebody, somewhere in the bowels of the Redmond Leviathon for "getting it."

In the longer term, I quite fervently hope that Ms. Day and company represent the short (as in "non-tall") end of the long tail of an inexorable trend away from lowest-common-denominator blockbusters (written and vetted by committee) and toward lean, smart, high production-value offerings.