Microsoft stores to mimic Apple's with "Guru Bars" - Page 3

If they follow this model, I don't think they will succeed. But I don't think it takes a tech guy to make a successful tech company. Steve Jobs doesn't seem to be any more of a tech guy than Ballmer but has operated two successful tech companies. I think the difference is a certain kind of business savvy that Ballmer will never acquire.


Clearly they will have to come up with a model that will pay for the service. Microsoft's take per product is less than Apple's that they will either have to charge for it or try to push things on people they don't need to fix the problem.


If it's real, I don't see why it's a joke. I do see this as likely just one of many concepts under consideration, hopefully it's been abandoned for something that's different.


If that's the case, why did they need those slides with mock-ups showing Microsoft brand cut & paste substitutions?


Why not? Just tell me where is the Microsoft originality is here. I don't see how this would be anything but a tacit admission that Microsoft is a follower, not a leader. And a wholesale rip-off of someone else's design.


First, explain Microsoft's hypocrisy in claiming innovation while just substituting their own names and logos in this concept. If it were an academic paper or a book, this would be called plagiarism.


That would be nice, but they have to be converted into production units first.

This is what i mean about hypocrites apple does the same thing.

If surface is not in production then how did the att stores get them?

Who cares if microsoft is copying apple. Apple copies also so bashing microsoft for copying when apple does it is being a hypocrite.

The one thing microsoft is missing is tech who clearly know the product and can solve problems in person. I dont get why people state microsoft having this is a bad idea while apple doing the same exact thing is a good idea?

Now many of them have it? The article I found is basically prototype scale, something like a dozen or so made. Can you buy one? Surface looks very nice, but having one on the floor has to pay for itself and its space somehow.


Name some specifics and we'll have a discussion. Usually when people name specifics, the reality isn't what they thought it was.


One key difference is that it's highly unlikely that MS will implement it well.

I don' think anyone here is saying the Apple Store idea is a bad one. We're complaining that Microsoft is planning on making a near exact copy of that idea.


Have you been reading the replies? A lot of people asking just how Microsoft Stores will help customers. Microsoft doesn't make the hardware so it's unlikely they will have robust hardware support. Software wise, they can only help with OS and Office issues. Apple Stores on the other hand can with just about anything on the Mac because they make it. Hardware, OS, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand, iWeb, iMovie, iDVD, Mobile Me, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iChat and on and on.


As I think I've shown, no one is being hypocritical. We're upset and saddened that Microsoft is choosing to copy another company instead of coming up with it's own unique ideas. We also have serious questions about how this venture will make money and help the customers.

As for Surface and Natal, well Surface is not a consumer product and won't be for quite a while and Natal is not scheduled for release until spring 2010. So basically these technologies while maybe fun to play around with are nothing a consumer can buy and won't help their bottom line. At best they can generate hype and a reason to visit the store. Not the worst idea, but not the best either.

ms bob could add a touch of ronald mcdonald! classy!


Giant BSOD as a backdrop...


that's probably a true statement...
...they will be shut down after ballmer gets fired

Sure, everyone copies, borrows or adapts other ideas, including Apple. That's how progress occurs.

The DIFFERENCE is that Microsoft has often tried to claim that they are the originators of ideas that clearly originated elsewhere.

When you use others' ideas and then try to claim that idea as wholly your own, THAT is STEALING.
THAT is what Microsoft has done historically. They do this and try to claim that this somehow makes them an "innovative" company with "fresh ideas", while the exact opposite is true. Microsoft is a MARKETING company, NOT a creative company.

One can say that Apple "stole" many original concepts from Xerox PARC. Apple admits that they used, adapted, developed and brought to market many concepts, but they don't claim the original concepts as theirs alone.

original article mention sony style as well, the post here (as usual) fail to mention anything other then apple.

very true, they marketing geniuses; how they put sh*t on 80 some % of the computers is beyond me. M$ always looked to me as a used car sales agent.

In this case they clearly are not pretending anything other than that they are basing their 'retail' efforts on Apple's very successful efforts. I think it is a calculated risk. They will be slated for copying apple briefly, and then critics will move on to assess what the store is actually like and what the user experience is like. In the future all PC stores will be based on whatever Apple does. In other words Apple has redefined the PC shopping experience for all, not just for Apple shoppers. Whether MS can make the concept work for them (Guru Bar) is another story to unfold. I, like most people her, would like to think not, but who knows. Copying successful innovators is nothing new for MS not for others, Apple included. I wouldn't be surprised if Dell does the same thing. As far as the general public is concerned I am sure they will flock to the MS store (Bing Store?) if MS can make a reasonable go of it.

I worked on the original Sony Style store and Sony Wonder at 550 Madison Avenue, NYC back in 1993, for the display company... engineering, prototyping and installing all the display fixtures. Lots of steel fabrications and a very cool and pretty fun project (except for the assholes I worked for). Edwin Schlossberg Design (Caroline Kennedy's husband) was the design firm.

You mean Gizmodo's article? The AI article did mention Sony's, Nike's and AT&T's stores, though in just one or two sentences. AI's article does mention things that they didn't show the related slides.

It looks like a marketing company's work, so it may be a little unfair to rag on Microsoft, but still, they had to hire an outside company to do something that they should have been able to do in house.

Guru bars??? HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!! Those guys have absolutely no shame (or brains)!

Hehe, was just about to say that myself.

Wow - I think Steve Jobs said it best...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU

A perfect example. But listen to Jobs . . . "culture", "taste", "beautiful fonts", "beautiful books", learning from the art of typesetting, etc.

These things were UNHEARD OF in the industry once upon a time. And now everyone is trying grab or evolve their own share of these things. But even then, there is really a standard when it comes to these things. And Apple is in tune with them in a big way. It's all about priorities. All about your attitude about how the user is supposed to interact with tech.

Apple treats devices like an extension of lifestyle. They are not mere tools, but a statement of an IDEAL. A deliberate reflection of the values and attitudes of the company that makes them, and a suggestion that tech doesn't have to be "technical" or cold; that tech doesn't have to be "learned" or "understood." It should function and feel as natural as possible.

This is why Apple has grown to be the guiding light of the entire tech industry. When you hear Jobs talk the way he did on that video, does Apple's success come as any surprise? And Jobs' ideas have penetrated deep into the entire culture at Apple. Jobs was out of the picture but the entire team did full justice to the Apple ideal. Bertrand Serlet came on stage and confidently said that Apple approaches the idea of tech "from a totally different place." There you go.

And Ballmer . . . he just seems like a middle-management salesguy who got promoted and is in the habit of making excuses. He's an embarrassment. The exact opposite of Jobs. And that's why MS is in the situation it's in. No vision and truly shitty leadership.

And that Steve Ballmer clip was done quite a while ago. And he's saying "just you watch, just you watch", etc.

Yeah, we saw. Vista. Windows Mobile. Zune. The list goes on. Yes, Ballmer, we saw. His tripe meant nothing then and seems to mean nothing now.

Better than to point out how Microsoft is... now how did Obama phrase it?, oh yeah... "acting stupidly"!

Don't PC companies like MS have anything better to do then not innovate?

How exactly are the tables supposed to be different then, make them circular instead of rectangular? The only thing that looks like a direct copy is the guru bar, but what good is a computer store without computer specialists?



I probably would. Just to see what it's like and it actually looks pretty cool. Looks like there are many more things to do in the Microsoft store than the Apple store.

like Chuck E Cheese's?

How appropriate.

AND Steve Balmer will be wearing a black turtle neck and jeans.

Unfortunately, his belly will be hanging out from underneath the turtle neck and spill over the jeans, making the imitation/impersonation look only as good as the quality of his products....

The first image I got was an animatronic Ballmer. I didn't need that. Rawr! Rawr! Rawwwwrrrrr! among squeaking noises.

I second. Well said.

Think Indifferent.

I hope Apple comes out with a "Laptop Hunter" TV ad of their own and goes into one of these MS stores to do a comparison using the PC and Mac guy. That would be hilarious!

Why is the guy above the Guru Bar licking?

Somebody do a mock up of a MS store with an angry mob attacking it.

Can't wait to go in and ask how to install and use safari.

Yup. You joined specifically to troll.

really? as though this is an everyday occurrence that is as everyday as spam bots and other viruses synonymous to Microsoft. at least the apple store doesn't get users flocking to its store trying to get its Geniuses to clear their system of any software viruses AND spam bots

what's the cost - time, ongoing effort to keep it clean, frustrations, con$ultations, etc after purchasing a Windows system?

my friends replaced their old windows system with another. i ended up as their fixer-upper. they couldn't figure out their new Vista. they hate it. however, in all fairness, perhaps it'd be a good thing that microsoft opens competing stores with Gurus (tsk, so innovative). next time my friends come crying to me about their windows computer system not working properly again, i'll send them off to a microsoft store. let their Gurus (them poor things, they'll be like sweepers following the elephants in a parade) take care of microsoft's slop.

please join me in a moment of silence for the gurus.

LOL! And what rock did you crawl out from under? Your posts are pure comedy gold!

I like the details in that graphic about the "Answer Bar." In maybe 100 words, they refer to the same thing with 3 different names: Answer Bar (the caption), GURU BAR (in the graphic itself), and Windows bar (in the text). That's consistency of vision for you.

And how about this nugget: "Real-time email notifications keep her [Emily who is waiting for a place at the Windows bar] informed of her place in line." Emails, really? "Real-time" emails? So she'll get a new email every 60 seconds to tell her how many people are still in front of her? Or maybe an email every time her position in line changes? That's awesome. I want Windows bar spam while I'm waiting in line. How about they just steal a page from Dominos Pizza and just make the information available on, say, a Web page?

Oh my God!!! That was the funniest thing I've heard in a while. How I need to live in New York.

Precisely. Anyone ever read the OEM license TOS? It states the MANUFACTURE is responsible for support of your operating system.

Oh, the rolling joke about why it's called a "GURU" bar... All their tech support is from India. (it's a joke guys, laugh, you won the Tech Support job war).

New books:
MicroSutra (1000 ways to fix your system and LOVE it).
MicroKarma (the feeling of owning and operating a Microsoft based system)

You do realize it was SONY that created the batteries that caught fire... More PC laptops were equipped with them than Mac's. However only Apple publicly came out with a recall. Toshiba's answer was "..if you experience a overheating battery condition mail... 6-8 weeks for replacement.", yea I liked Apple's better, call or go online and we'll next day air a replacement.

My guess, you'll be #1 in line with the "I'm a PC" shirt at the first store. Zune plugs in ear and a busted laptop under each arm.

\\

That was way too funny...but true

I think they should just call it the "Bar" and sell booze. That way your Windows problem will just go away (eventually).

here's Bing's search result for "over heating laptop batteries"
http://www.bing.com/search?q=over+he...form=QBRE&qs=n

by the way, if you scroll down towards the end of Bing's search result page, you should notice "Shop for over heating laptop batteries »" so, anyone interested in buying overheating laptop batteries recommended by Bing?

Perhaps I'm missing something, but what does Microsoft have to sell of value? Just wondering.

an utopia that keeps on failing, and a plethora of misnomers and oxymorons.

Those would be the people actually going into the store.

I bet your boss is thinking the same thing!