QUOTE: I live in this neighborhood, and I can tell you now that this is where Microsoft will die and be buried.
First, there is a Best Buy store nearby. This is the heart of Orange County. There are currently 4 Apple Stores with 15 miles, and the demographics in this area of the county is very rich. Man, many private schools, most using Apple computers. Kids around here spend their days surfing, skate-boarding, biking, hiking, and they make movies of these activities which of course are edited on Apple computers.
The fact of the matter is that I left my job about a year ago voluntarily to sell used Apple computers. My business which I run out of my house alone has exploded, earning over 10 times my former corporate salary. Here is the point; over 90 percent of people who purchase these used macs from me are first time MAC USERS. These converts are fed up with Windows PCs. They hate Microsoft with passion.
So all I can is this; Come on down to Orange County Microsoft to die and be buried. Mission Viejo Police department will have to work overtime to maintain order on the opening day, I can see it all now. Yea right. I promise to take the picture of the opening day and post and send it to AppleInsider so you guys can see how stupid this Microsoft idea is.
I agree with you 100% on all points, I live in Laguna Niguel (across the freeway from Mission Viejo). This is Apple Country. Like you said there are several Apple Stores with in a 10-15 miles, all are ALWAYS packed no matter what time of day or night you go there. Practically everyone in South OC has an iPhone and most have Apple lap-tops. Ever go to a local coffee shop here or anywhere you have wifi...your apt to see plenty of glowing Apple computers. Like you said, it's a fairly affluent area so the quality &n reliability is more important than price.
Does Microsoft ever come up with original ideas themselves? I guess the amount of money they have they can afford to just copy. They're original business plan was the right way to go financially, but you'd think with all that money they could eventually come up with some new ideas themselves.
Makes me think of that Steve Jobs interview where he blasted Microsoft for this very reason...
I guess money can't buy you originality or taste. We've seen it time and time again in their ads and products. Microsoft's business model: Copy Apple and others and then make the cheapest product around it with absolutely no style and sell it for extremely low profit margins. Then try to make up for lack of quality by creating shitty ad campaigns that just make them look even worse.
I agree 100%. I suspect that it would void a warranty on a dell if they cracked it open.
Day 1, bringing in my macbook pro with bootcamp and getting some help with something windows 7 ish.
It does. Dell's warranty is baloney. If you open the case of a Dell, the warranty is considered void, but to be honest, I don't think they have a real solid method of checking this sort of thing. I've worked with people's Dells before, and when I took it apart I saw nothing that would indicate I had unscrewed anything, or opened the case. Normally you'd see like a torn sticker, or the top layer of varnish on the screws scratched (to see that a screw driver was pushed into them.)
What you said about bringing in your mbp with bootcamp to learn about Windows 7 sounds more up their ally and I don't see why they wouldn't be able to help with that. Microsoft is a software company after all, and I suspect these gurus will be more informed in this area.
If M$ wants to throw millions of dollars away, why don't they just throw it in my direction?
But I think we know this isn't about product placement, customer service, or actually succeeding. This is about some obsession (nee demon) of Balmer's. It?s a personal vendetta against Jobs, and his demon will take him and his company down with him. It is all totally pre-rational.
MS has a problem with their retail stores - it's called sales per square foot.
Apple, as I recall, sets the record in this metric. But they have the product to achieve high numbers.
What does MS have that they can sell at full price in a store? A Zune or game box? Wow.
I spent close to 20 years in retailing and the first thing I see is a need for the landlord to tie up a long term lease really tight, with very high early exit fees.
Does Microsoft ever come up with original ideas themselves? I guess the amount of money they have they can afford to just copy. They're original business plan was the right way to go financially, but you'd think with all that money they could eventually come up with some new ideas themselves.
Makes me think of that Steve Jobs interview where he blasted Microsoft for this very reason...
I guess money can't buy you originality or taste. We've seen it time and time again in their ads and products. Microsoft's business model: Copy Apple and others and then make the cheapest product around it with absolutely no style and sell it for extremely low profit margins. Then try to make up for lack of quality by creating shitty ad campaigns that just make them look even worse.
Oh so now we're posting youtube vids of what steve has to say about ms...
Gates acknowledges that Jobs has exceptional taste, while Jobs acknowledges MS was great at working with other companies. He says that MS was one of the few companies he was able to successfully partner with. He even goes on to even say that if Apple had that "in their DNA" it would have served them well.
So I think the lesson to be learned is that Apple and Microsoft should join forces to make Applesoft, and give the world the best of both worlds (just kidding.)
Gates acknowledges that Jobs has exceptional taste, while Jobs acknowledges MS was great at working with other companies. He says that MS was one of the few companies he was able to successfully partner with. He even goes on to even say that if Apple had that "in their DNA" it would have served them well.
So I think the lesson to be learned is that Apple and Microsoft should join forces to make Applesoft, and give the world the best of both worlds (just kidding.)
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
I CAN'T WAIT to see how Chiat/Day uses this for the next PC-guy/Mac-guy commercials.
"Hello, I'm a Mac."
"And I'm a PC. (knock, knock) Hello??!"
"PC, what are you doing?"
"(knocking on a door), Oh nothing, someone's on their way to let me in. You're not the only one who people will buy in cool, shiny, friendly, swanky stores."
"But people don't just like me for the stores, they like me because of how great I fit into their lives."
"Hello, (knock knock), it's me, PC. I run your software!"
"I don't think anyone's coming PC."
"Nope, I can hear footsteps, yup, I'll be in a fancy cool store just like you. I can smell that fresh Windows air already"
It will be interesting to see how many customers the Windows gurus will have to turn back because they can't fix the problem.
"Sorry, it's a hardware problem. Bring it back to where you bought it"
From this article it seems like they are only going to be focussing on the XBox/gaming hardware, so while they might refer people, the only people bringing hardware in will be gamers with their XBox hardware.
They might be thinking that if gaming is "taking off" with the iPhone that their new Zune hardware will similarly take off and in that sense they might be seeing these "Microsoft stores" as really just glorified gaming and entertainment stores that are focussed on MIcrosoft products to the exclusion of all others, but that's still pretty thin gruel for a retail operation to survive on.
Hard-core X-Box type gamers are a tiny minority despite the sales figures and *casual* gaming is what's taking off. The Zune might *look* a lot like the iPod, but it still doesn't have an OS or an SDK to speak of that is going to allow it the kind of success MS hopes for in that arena.
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
Actually the video made a clear point, Ballmer try to claim that during the early 90's they did not innovate because of their relationship with IBM, the real truth is that Apple at the same time was not innovating either, this was after Jobs and before Jobs at apple and we had John in change and he was only interesting in making incremental changes in products.
During this same time period MS had no model or roadmap to follow so they were left to their own ideas which the world got nothing until they figure out how to copies other companies.
I agree with you 100% on all points, I live in Laguna Niguel (across the freeway from Mission Viejo). This is Apple Country. Like you said there are several Apple Stores with in a 10-15 miles, all are ALWAYS packed no matter what time of day or night you go there. Practically everyone in South OC has an iPhone and most have Apple lap-tops. Ever go to a local coffee shop here or anywhere you have wifi...your apt to see plenty of glowing Apple computers. Like you said, it's a fairly affluent area so the quality &n reliability is more important than price.
Yeah I'm an OC local as well and you are right about everyone around here having an iPhone. I think we have about 25 colleges around town as well and Macs are quite popular now days with that crowd. But when you have a Mac or an iPhone you tend to notice others who do as well. Generally Apple fans like to check out the Apple store when they happen to be at the mall but PC people are of a different mind set. Not that there aren't millions of them even in OC but they don't strike me as the type that would go to a Windows store in their leisure time just to hang out.
How is a combination toy and software store competition for a full-featured computer and accessory retailer?
Microsoft's slavish dedication to copying just about ANYTHING it sees a competitor making a buck at would be pathetic if they weren't able to outspend their competition into oblivion. If they actually created something new, novel and useful, they'd be all set. Seriously, a Microsoft store? Why?
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
In an entire thread of everyone slamming MS, I figured I'd show that even Jobs acknowledges there are positive traits in MS that Apple should have copied (cuz i mean lets be honest, how dull is it when everyone says the same thing ;P.)
It's wrong for a company to learn from another one's success? Look at what Pepsi is to Coke for God's sakes.
There are plenty of things MS excels in that Apple does not, and many of those things stem from their ability to work with other companies so smoothly. For instance, one of the things gamers are excited about is Windows 7 treating the GPU as a "real peer" to the CPU, more efficiently delegating work to 3D graphics cards better than any other OS. In other words, better gaming and a better overall experience throughout the OS when a video card is present. You think they came up with this on their own? They worked with other companies to perfect stuff like this.
What you see on the surface is one thing. I think whatever Microsoft does right is never talked about here (but then again, why would that be discussed?) Instead, what's mentioned is their downfalls over and over and it begins to add up and look as though they offer nothing to the consumer in terms of innovation and product value.
I live in this neighborhood, and I can tell you now that this is where Microsoft will die and be buried.
First, there is a Best Buy store nearby. This is the heart of Orange County. There are currently 4 Apple Stores with 15 miles, and the demographics in this area of the county is very rich. Man, many private schools, most using Apple computers. Kids around here spend their days surfing, skate-boarding, biking, hiking, and they make movies of these activities which of course are edited on Apple computers.
The fact of the matter is that I left my job about a year ago voluntarily to sell used Apple computers. My business which I run out of my house alone has exploded, earning over 10 times my former corporate salary. Here is the point; over 90 percent of people who purchase these used macs from me are first time MAC USERS. These converts are fed up with Windows PCs. They hate Microsoft with passion.
So all I can is this; Come on down to Orange County Microsoft to die and be buried. Mission Viejo Police department will have to work overtime to maintain order on the opening day, I can see it all now. Yea right. I promise to take the picture of the opening day and post and send it to AppleInsider so you guys can see how stupid this Microsoft idea is.
I am surprised that the "very rich" are buying "used macs", "pre-owned" maybe!
Comments
First, there is a Best Buy store nearby. This is the heart of Orange County. There are currently 4 Apple Stores with 15 miles, and the demographics in this area of the county is very rich. Man, many private schools, most using Apple computers. Kids around here spend their days surfing, skate-boarding, biking, hiking, and they make movies of these activities which of course are edited on Apple computers.
The fact of the matter is that I left my job about a year ago voluntarily to sell used Apple computers. My business which I run out of my house alone has exploded, earning over 10 times my former corporate salary. Here is the point; over 90 percent of people who purchase these used macs from me are first time MAC USERS. These converts are fed up with Windows PCs. They hate Microsoft with passion.
So all I can is this; Come on down to Orange County Microsoft to die and be buried. Mission Viejo Police department will have to work overtime to maintain order on the opening day, I can see it all now. Yea right. I promise to take the picture of the opening day and post and send it to AppleInsider so you guys can see how stupid this Microsoft idea is.
I agree with you 100% on all points, I live in Laguna Niguel (across the freeway from Mission Viejo). This is Apple Country. Like you said there are several Apple Stores with in a 10-15 miles, all are ALWAYS packed no matter what time of day or night you go there. Practically everyone in South OC has an iPhone and most have Apple lap-tops. Ever go to a local coffee shop here or anywhere you have wifi...your apt to see plenty of glowing Apple computers. Like you said, it's a fairly affluent area so the quality &n reliability is more important than price.
Makes me think of that Steve Jobs interview where he blasted Microsoft for this very reason...
YouTube Video: Steve Jobs on Microsoft
I guess money can't buy you originality or taste. We've seen it time and time again in their ads and products. Microsoft's business model: Copy Apple and others and then make the cheapest product around it with absolutely no style and sell it for extremely low profit margins. Then try to make up for lack of quality by creating shitty ad campaigns that just make them look even worse.
I agree 100%. I suspect that it would void a warranty on a dell if they cracked it open.
Day 1, bringing in my macbook pro with bootcamp and getting some help with something windows 7 ish.
It does. Dell's warranty is baloney. If you open the case of a Dell, the warranty is considered void, but to be honest, I don't think they have a real solid method of checking this sort of thing. I've worked with people's Dells before, and when I took it apart I saw nothing that would indicate I had unscrewed anything, or opened the case. Normally you'd see like a torn sticker, or the top layer of varnish on the screws scratched (to see that a screw driver was pushed into them.)
What you said about bringing in your mbp with bootcamp to learn about Windows 7 sounds more up their ally and I don't see why they wouldn't be able to help with that. Microsoft is a software company after all, and I suspect these gurus will be more informed in this area.
Here we are at a Microsoft store. Here's $2000. Buy a laptop from them.
What, you can't? They don't sell them! Wow. Just wow. How was it in there?
Dark, cold, unwelcoming? A wall of red rings of death?! Someone threw a chair at you! Wow.
Hey, come next door ...
When will these guys say something that actually conveys some meaningful information?
But I think we know this isn't about product placement, customer service, or actually succeeding. This is about some obsession (nee demon) of Balmer's. It?s a personal vendetta against Jobs, and his demon will take him and his company down with him. It is all totally pre-rational.
Apple, as I recall, sets the record in this metric. But they have the product to achieve high numbers.
What does MS have that they can sell at full price in a store? A Zune or game box? Wow.
I spent close to 20 years in retailing and the first thing I see is a need for the landlord to tie up a long term lease really tight, with very high early exit fees.
Does Microsoft ever come up with original ideas themselves? I guess the amount of money they have they can afford to just copy. They're original business plan was the right way to go financially, but you'd think with all that money they could eventually come up with some new ideas themselves.
Makes me think of that Steve Jobs interview where he blasted Microsoft for this very reason...
YouTube Video: Steve Jobs on Microsoft
I guess money can't buy you originality or taste. We've seen it time and time again in their ads and products. Microsoft's business model: Copy Apple and others and then make the cheapest product around it with absolutely no style and sell it for extremely low profit margins. Then try to make up for lack of quality by creating shitty ad campaigns that just make them look even worse.
Oh so now we're posting youtube vids of what steve has to say about ms...
Ok then. Take a look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1wP6v4maL0 at about 4:18 or so.
Gates acknowledges that Jobs has exceptional taste, while Jobs acknowledges MS was great at working with other companies. He says that MS was one of the few companies he was able to successfully partner with. He even goes on to even say that if Apple had that "in their DNA" it would have served them well.
So I think the lesson to be learned is that Apple and Microsoft should join forces to make Applesoft, and give the world the best of both worlds (just kidding.)
"If I gave a team of programmers $50,000,000 and said 'design an OS,' the Windows format (DLL's, Registry, etc.,) would not even be considered!"
And that's b/c it's a dog! Always has been and always will be!
Oh so now we're posting youtube vids of what steve has to say about ms...
Ok then. Take a look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1wP6v4maL0 at about 4:18 or so.
Gates acknowledges that Jobs has exceptional taste, while Jobs acknowledges MS was great at working with other companies. He says that MS was one of the few companies he was able to successfully partner with. He even goes on to even say that if Apple had that "in their DNA" it would have served them well.
So I think the lesson to be learned is that Apple and Microsoft should join forces to make Applesoft, and give the world the best of both worlds (just kidding.)
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
No, Baldmer, this STILL won't make your ailing dinosaur operation look "cool."
MS is truly out of ideas.
Whoops, that's not entirely true. They've still got that Big-Ass Table(TM) . . . somewhere.
"Hello, I'm a Mac."
"And I'm a PC. (knock, knock) Hello??!"
"PC, what are you doing?"
"(knocking on a door), Oh nothing, someone's on their way to let me in. You're not the only one who people will buy in cool, shiny, friendly, swanky stores."
"But people don't just like me for the stores, they like me because of how great I fit into their lives."
"Hello, (knock knock), it's me, PC. I run your software!"
"I don't think anyone's coming PC."
"Nope, I can hear footsteps, yup, I'll be in a fancy cool store just like you. I can smell that fresh Windows air already"
[Apple logo fades in on white]
[background audio: "knock, knock, hello?"]
It will be interesting to see how many customers the Windows gurus will have to turn back because they can't fix the problem.
"Sorry, it's a hardware problem. Bring it back to where you bought it"
From this article it seems like they are only going to be focussing on the XBox/gaming hardware, so while they might refer people, the only people bringing hardware in will be gamers with their XBox hardware.
They might be thinking that if gaming is "taking off" with the iPhone that their new Zune hardware will similarly take off and in that sense they might be seeing these "Microsoft stores" as really just glorified gaming and entertainment stores that are focussed on MIcrosoft products to the exclusion of all others, but that's still pretty thin gruel for a retail operation to survive on.
Hard-core X-Box type gamers are a tiny minority despite the sales figures and *casual* gaming is what's taking off. The Zune might *look* a lot like the iPod, but it still doesn't have an OS or an SDK to speak of that is going to allow it the kind of success MS hopes for in that arena.
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
Actually the video made a clear point, Ballmer try to claim that during the early 90's they did not innovate because of their relationship with IBM, the real truth is that Apple at the same time was not innovating either, this was after Jobs and before Jobs at apple and we had John in change and he was only interesting in making incremental changes in products.
During this same time period MS had no model or roadmap to follow so they were left to their own ideas which the world got nothing until they figure out how to copies other companies.
I agree with you 100% on all points, I live in Laguna Niguel (across the freeway from Mission Viejo). This is Apple Country. Like you said there are several Apple Stores with in a 10-15 miles, all are ALWAYS packed no matter what time of day or night you go there. Practically everyone in South OC has an iPhone and most have Apple lap-tops. Ever go to a local coffee shop here or anywhere you have wifi...your apt to see plenty of glowing Apple computers. Like you said, it's a fairly affluent area so the quality &n reliability is more important than price.
Yeah I'm an OC local as well and you are right about everyone around here having an iPhone. I think we have about 25 colleges around town as well and Macs are quite popular now days with that crowd. But when you have a Mac or an iPhone you tend to notice others who do as well. Generally Apple fans like to check out the Apple store when they happen to be at the mall but PC people are of a different mind set. Not that there aren't millions of them even in OC but they don't strike me as the type that would go to a Windows store in their leisure time just to hang out.
Now it will be easy to get those red-ringed Xbox 360s fixed!
Microsoft's slavish dedication to copying just about ANYTHING it sees a competitor making a buck at would be pathetic if they weren't able to outspend their competition into oblivion. If they actually created something new, novel and useful, they'd be all set. Seriously, a Microsoft store? Why?
Ummm... Why wouldn't I post a YouTube video? Don't understand what you mean there as it was relevant to the topic.
Your points have nothing to do with what I said or what Steve said in the video. My point was they don't innovate and instead use their financial success with their OS to now just copy Apple and others usually a year or so after the fact.
Look I'm not hating on MS just to hate. I actually love my XBox 360 and have no problem using a PC except that I prefer the OS X experience instead, but it seems like year after year they come out with a similar product or service about a year after a main competitor does and their only sales tactic is that it's cheaper.
In an entire thread of everyone slamming MS, I figured I'd show that even Jobs acknowledges there are positive traits in MS that Apple should have copied (cuz i mean lets be honest, how dull is it when everyone says the same thing ;P.)
It's wrong for a company to learn from another one's success? Look at what Pepsi is to Coke for God's sakes.
There are plenty of things MS excels in that Apple does not, and many of those things stem from their ability to work with other companies so smoothly. For instance, one of the things gamers are excited about is Windows 7 treating the GPU as a "real peer" to the CPU, more efficiently delegating work to 3D graphics cards better than any other OS. In other words, better gaming and a better overall experience throughout the OS when a video card is present. You think they came up with this on their own? They worked with other companies to perfect stuff like this.
What you see on the surface is one thing. I think whatever Microsoft does right is never talked about here (but then again, why would that be discussed?) Instead, what's mentioned is their downfalls over and over and it begins to add up and look as though they offer nothing to the consumer in terms of innovation and product value.
I live in this neighborhood, and I can tell you now that this is where Microsoft will die and be buried.
First, there is a Best Buy store nearby. This is the heart of Orange County. There are currently 4 Apple Stores with 15 miles, and the demographics in this area of the county is very rich. Man, many private schools, most using Apple computers. Kids around here spend their days surfing, skate-boarding, biking, hiking, and they make movies of these activities which of course are edited on Apple computers.
The fact of the matter is that I left my job about a year ago voluntarily to sell used Apple computers. My business which I run out of my house alone has exploded, earning over 10 times my former corporate salary. Here is the point; over 90 percent of people who purchase these used macs from me are first time MAC USERS. These converts are fed up with Windows PCs. They hate Microsoft with passion.
So all I can is this; Come on down to Orange County Microsoft to die and be buried. Mission Viejo Police department will have to work overtime to maintain order on the opening day, I can see it all now. Yea right. I promise to take the picture of the opening day and post and send it to AppleInsider so you guys can see how stupid this Microsoft idea is.
I am surprised that the "very rich" are buying "used macs", "pre-owned" maybe!