I hear you. I know this approach has worked for Microsoft in the past, I just wonder whether it works so well for them now. I think they probably don't want the stores to be a hodgepodge of products (trying to emulate Apple's retail image, or so it seems), so this suggests the need for cooperative OEMs. We'll see!
With Microsoft as the only viable PC OS for everyone, but the Jolt Cola guzzling twerps living in their mom's basement, what's likely to change?
One OS, one supplier, no viable choice.
I suppose in their store(s), MS will make an effort to select hardware that at least tries to be attractive.
I don't really pay much attention to generic PCs, but there are a few HP, Toshiba, Asus and Dell models that aren't quite as hideously stomach churning and eye burning as the vast majority of El-Cheapo? models or anything as barf-inducing as an Alienware machine.
With Microsoft as the only viable PC OS for everyone, but the Jolt Cola guzzling twerps living in their mom's basement, what's likely to change?
One OS, one supplier, no viable choice.
Are you implying that Apple should license OSX?
Another possibility: the OEMs might very well greet the opportunity to partner with Microsoft in a retail environment with a gigantic yawn (which is how I predict consumers will greet Microsoft retail stores, but that's just me). Of the OEMs, Dell is the only one I can imagine that might be enthusiastic about it.
Yeah, I know that one. People call me a computer guru, too.
Invariably someone asks me to "fix" their PC.
My response:
Step 1: Buy a Mac.
Step 2. Then I'll help.
They stop asking. Works every time.
I had a friend who asked me computer buying advice back in 2004. I told her to get a Mac, but she went out and bought a refurbished Dell...which promptly broke two days after she got it. Then she asks me how to fix it. My response?
"Okay, first you have to unplug everything. Now, open a window - this works best if you're on the second floor of your house by the way. Okay, now push the Dell through the window and buy a Mac like I recommended in the beginning!"
I had a friend who asked me computer buying advice back in 2004. I told her to get a Mac, but she went out and bought a refurbished Dell...which promptly broke two days after she got it. Then she asks me how to fix it. My response?
"Okay, first you have to unplug everything. Now, open a window - this works best if you're on the second floor of your house by the way. Okay, now push the Dell through the window and buy a Mac like I recommended in the beginning!"
LOL. Good one!
I love when people ignore your advice and complain to you afterward. They get no sympathy from me. Holding back a slew of "I told you sos" is tough!
You know...what if we're wrong? What if MS stores are a success? How many of us would be back peddling our statements about the stores since their announcement? Don't get me wrong, I'd be one of them saying "damn, I put my foot in my mouth" Just a what if.
I;m sorry but this what if is on par with what if aliens from other world really did land near Roswell, NM? Apple stores work because Apple controls the hardware and software. MS by contrast has little control over hardware quality and their efforts in the form of the Xbox are a joke at best. Even the infamous Packard Bell had a better failure rate (20%) than MS' efforts in hardware design (54%)
"This is Microsoft Xbox 360...which has died again."
That "review" was less how great W7 is and how much it will not suck like Windows Vista did. Remember the Vista prereviews gave little hint as to what the poor public was walking into ie just how badly the OS would suck wind and about every thing else.
"On a couple of these machines, glacial start-up and reboot times reminded me of Vista. And, on a couple of others, after upgrading, key features like the display or touchpad didn?t work properly. Also, Windows 7 still requires add-on security software that has to be frequently updated. It?s tedious and painful to upgrade an existing computer from XP to 7, and the variety of editions in which Windows 7 is offered is confusing"
If that is teckstud's idea of a "rave" I would love to see what his idea of a weak positive or condemning review is. I see much of the same cautious optimism we saw with Vista and hint that some of the things that turned people off Vista may still remain.
Reviews like Thom Holwerda's "Review: Windows Vista Ultimate" OSNews Dec 3, 2006 were far more optimistic compared to the crapfest everyone actually got and I see somewhat of an echo of those older in the majority of W7 reviews.
I remember being in a Best Buy looking at laptops, and approached by a Microsoft employee working as a MS "evangelist" eager to tout the advantages of their new Vista OS. I predict that the Microsoft Store will go the way of the Gateway Store!
I can tell you that Microsoft's biggest rival right now is Google.
Keep trying to tell yourself you're in the big league, but you're still a super small player compared to Windows.
Your not saying anything new. Apple will not become what Microsoft is and Apple doesn't waste their efforts trying to. Apple concentrates on making the best products they can for the consumer. Something I wish could be said about Microsoft.
Anyone who is anyone in the computer tech industry knows Google is Microsoft's biggest problem.
I like Apple products because they seem to give a damn about my experience with them. Something Microsoft has never really understood.
What other choice do OEMs have but to take whatever Microsoft dishes out?
How many average users are lining up to buy computers with Ubuntu or some other Linux derivative pre-installed? Not many, I'd wager. Can they spell compile?
Anti-trust rulings or not, it's Microsoft's way or the highway.
Yeah no kidding. Come on folks, this isn't some place with liberty and justice for all! It's America!
It's like Back to the Future II, when Biff is about to kill Marty. Biff is holding the gun...Marty says:
"Oh yeah, Biff? What about the police? What are they going to say?"
Biff: "Kid! I OWN THE POLICE!"
Microsoft owns the police. And the government. And Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. And the Dept. of Justice. I want to see Apple completely turn the tables and have 90% market share but I just don't think that can happen. It's not a matter of technology. It's a matter of Microsoft being a big and rich company. They aren't going anywhere. Even if their products suck. They'll make people buy Office and Windows until next century. I just hope Apple scrapes to ~20% someday.
It will be interesting to see how the stores play out now that it appears they have a hit with Windows 7. Only time will tell.
They've advertised it as a hit. That means exactly what? We both know.
I've seen it and it looks tolerable, but it still is Windows. The more people who get on board with it, the more it will suck your life away through virus scans and anti-bear trapping software.
Comments
I hear you. I know this approach has worked for Microsoft in the past, I just wonder whether it works so well for them now. I think they probably don't want the stores to be a hodgepodge of products (trying to emulate Apple's retail image, or so it seems), so this suggests the need for cooperative OEMs. We'll see!
With Microsoft as the only viable PC OS for everyone, but the Jolt Cola guzzling twerps living in their mom's basement, what's likely to change?
One OS, one supplier, no viable choice.
I suppose in their store(s), MS will make an effort to select hardware that at least tries to be attractive.
I don't really pay much attention to generic PCs, but there are a few HP, Toshiba, Asus and Dell models that aren't quite as hideously stomach churning and eye burning as the vast majority of El-Cheapo? models or anything as barf-inducing as an Alienware machine.
With Microsoft as the only viable PC OS for everyone, but the Jolt Cola guzzling twerps living in their mom's basement, what's likely to change?
One OS, one supplier, no viable choice.
Are you implying that Apple should license OSX?
Another possibility: the OEMs might very well greet the opportunity to partner with Microsoft in a retail environment with a gigantic yawn (which is how I predict consumers will greet Microsoft retail stores, but that's just me). Of the OEMs, Dell is the only one I can imagine that might be enthusiastic about it.
Yeah, I know that one. People call me a computer guru, too.
Invariably someone asks me to "fix" their PC.
My response:
Step 1: Buy a Mac.
Step 2. Then I'll help.
They stop asking. Works every time.
I had a friend who asked me computer buying advice back in 2004. I told her to get a Mac, but she went out and bought a refurbished Dell...which promptly broke two days after she got it. Then she asks me how to fix it. My response?
"Okay, first you have to unplug everything. Now, open a window - this works best if you're on the second floor of your house by the way. Okay, now push the Dell through the window and buy a Mac like I recommended in the beginning!"
I had a friend who asked me computer buying advice back in 2004. I told her to get a Mac, but she went out and bought a refurbished Dell...which promptly broke two days after she got it. Then she asks me how to fix it. My response?
"Okay, first you have to unplug everything. Now, open a window - this works best if you're on the second floor of your house by the way. Okay, now push the Dell through the window and buy a Mac like I recommended in the beginning!"
LOL. Good one!
I love when people ignore your advice and complain to you afterward. They get no sympathy from me. Holding back a slew of "I told you sos" is tough!
You know...what if we're wrong? What if MS stores are a success? How many of us would be back peddling our statements about the stores since their announcement? Don't get me wrong, I'd be one of them saying "damn, I put my foot in my mouth" Just a what if.
I;m sorry but this what if is on par with what if aliens from other world really did land near Roswell, NM? Apple stores work because Apple controls the hardware and software. MS by contrast has little control over hardware quality and their efforts in the form of the Xbox are a joke at best. Even the infamous Packard Bell had a better failure rate (20%) than MS' efforts in hardware design (54%)
"This is Microsoft Xbox 360...which has died again."
good try but FAIL!
A one line blurt does not a rave make.
Nothing compares to a rave like this:
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20091007...lp-you-forget/
That "review" was less how great W7 is and how much it will not suck like Windows Vista did. Remember the Vista prereviews gave little hint as to what the poor public was walking into ie just how badly the OS would suck wind and about every thing else.
"On a couple of these machines, glacial start-up and reboot times reminded me of Vista. And, on a couple of others, after upgrading, key features like the display or touchpad didn?t work properly. Also, Windows 7 still requires add-on security software that has to be frequently updated. It?s tedious and painful to upgrade an existing computer from XP to 7, and the variety of editions in which Windows 7 is offered is confusing"
If that is teckstud's idea of a "rave" I would love to see what his idea of a weak positive or condemning review is. I see much of the same cautious optimism we saw with Vista and hint that some of the things that turned people off Vista may still remain.
Reviews like Thom Holwerda's "Review: Windows Vista Ultimate" OSNews Dec 3, 2006 were far more optimistic compared to the crapfest everyone actually got and I see somewhat of an echo of those older in the majority of W7 reviews.
I can tell you that Microsoft's biggest rival right now is Google.
Keep trying to tell yourself you're in the big league, but you're still a super small player compared to Windows.
Your not saying anything new. Apple will not become what Microsoft is and Apple doesn't waste their efforts trying to. Apple concentrates on making the best products they can for the consumer. Something I wish could be said about Microsoft.
Anyone who is anyone in the computer tech industry knows Google is Microsoft's biggest problem.
I like Apple products because they seem to give a damn about my experience with them. Something Microsoft has never really understood.
Good Luck.
What other choice do OEMs have but to take whatever Microsoft dishes out?
How many average users are lining up to buy computers with Ubuntu or some other Linux derivative pre-installed? Not many, I'd wager. Can they spell compile?
Anti-trust rulings or not, it's Microsoft's way or the highway.
Yeah no kidding. Come on folks, this isn't some place with liberty and justice for all! It's America!
It's like Back to the Future II, when Biff is about to kill Marty. Biff is holding the gun...Marty says:
"Oh yeah, Biff? What about the police? What are they going to say?"
Biff: "Kid! I OWN THE POLICE!"
Microsoft owns the police. And the government. And Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. And the Dept. of Justice. I want to see Apple completely turn the tables and have 90% market share but I just don't think that can happen. It's not a matter of technology. It's a matter of Microsoft being a big and rich company. They aren't going anywhere. Even if their products suck. They'll make people buy Office and Windows until next century. I just hope Apple scrapes to ~20% someday.
It will be interesting to see how the stores play out now that it appears they have a hit with Windows 7. Only time will tell.
They've advertised it as a hit. That means exactly what? We both know.
I've seen it and it looks tolerable, but it still is Windows. The more people who get on board with it, the more it will suck your life away through virus scans and anti-bear trapping software.