I know that you have heard of tree houses, but a little experiment built by Microsoft is completely overboard. The U.K. Branch of the Redmond company has set up a tree office in Pimlico Gardens in London, complete with Windows Vista and Windows Mobile. The initiative aims to educate the British corporate environment to introduce flexibility into the working space and process. But the experiment is also designed to applaud the mobility delivered by Microsoft solutions, including Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System, in the context of remote scenarios.

"We opened the first ever public 'tree-office' in Pimlico Gardens in London. With 14% of British workers claiming that their favorite place to work would be the beach, and a further 10% who'd love to work from their park or garden, the 'tree-office' demonstrates that it is possible to work from anywhere. This was part of our Mobile Out Of Office (MOOF) initiative in Microsoft which is highlighting the importance of mobile and flexible working. From our research 73% of people consider the ability to work flexibly a deciding factor when choosing a new job; while 52% of workers believe they would enjoy a less stressful working life as a benefit of working remotely," revealed Jason Langridge from MR Mobile.

Of course that Microsoft's tree office has its downsides. The constant threat of rain, and the extra effort that went into managing papers in a rather breezy atmosphere were among the caveats of working in a tree house. Still, it was an interesting experiment combining creativity with the working environment. On June 25, the Microsoft tree office in Pimlico Gardens in London (opened just four days earlier) was taken down.

"While we chose to illustrate our point in a slightly eccentric way, we were trying the best we can to highlight how UK companies still aren't thinking creatively about flexible working and how it can be implemented in innovative ways, depending on specific circumstances that companies and their employees are faced with. Finally, we've agreed to donate our dismantled treehouse to a school, so it will be put to good use for children to play an and around. Maybe by the time the kids leave school, they'll be able to work in a more flexible and creative environment?" concluded a member of moof.mobi.