Honest and integrity: The new Microsoft watchwords

No, seriously...

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's rumbustious CEO, is urging the company's employees to focus on values such as honesty and integrity. In a five-page email which was circulated among 50,000 Microsoft staffers late last week, Ballmer stressed the need to improve the company's image in the wake of the anti-trust trials. The email, which was seen by the Wall Street Journal, said: "Many of us feel a disconnect in the way we see ourselves and our mission and our motives, and the way we are portrayed, and only we can change that." He also asked his workers to come up with innovative ideas for new products and services, and not just add features to existing software. Every employee can also look forward to a formal discussion with their manager over the summer, to discuss these 'values'. He also wants them to email him with "great ideas" about the new Microsoft mission, which he said was to "enable people and businesses throughout the world to realise their full potential".