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Software Vending Machines
anubis__ writes "CNN details a sort-of software vending machine named 'SoftwareToGo' that CompUSA is testing out in their Seattle, WA, Dallas, TX, and San Francisco, CA stores. The upside to this vending machine is that your CD is burned when you request it, so the latest patches available for the software you're buying might already be included with the installation. The downside, like anything requiring some level of technical aptitude in the US, is that the machines are avoided by the masses of shoppers." This has been in the works for a year or so.
The public has in the past shown an aversion to these sorts of machines. Complex vending machines look intimidating, usually are hard to use and the consumer if often afraid of "accidently" buying something or "breaking" the machine.
Thalasar
IF I want some burned software I can download it from the net - even after paying for it ;-)
But if I go to a shop I want a pressed CD - these hold longer.
Not games, or most desktop-targetted apps, because you can't burn their precious anti-copying schemes.
.pdf or README file.
And if it was going to be higher-end office type stuff, like OS's or DVD authoring, or ANYTHING that costs 19.99 or higher, and people are going to want the box, the official CD, and most of all - THE MANUAL.
Dead tree manuals are easier to read than some
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Wow. I can't tell you how many times I've said "Gee, I'd really like to buy software from a vending machine at a computer store". I mean, it's so much easier than just pulling it down off the shelf, and there are so few things that could go wrong with this.
OK, sarcasm aside, if I'm going to buy software from a store, I want the box, a paper manual, and all that other stuff that goes with shrinwrap software. If I wanted a CD-R and no printed materials, there are other ways to do it.
The downside, like anything requiring some level of technical aptitude in the US, is that the machines are avoided by the masses of shoppers
He's right on here. Despite being more convienient to a college campus and half the price, people just didn't want to use a machine. There is a different mindset for poeple who know what they want and shop online, most people, however, seem to want to look and touch before they buy.
Basically, if something comes with a cheat sheet, I could care less about a printed manual, but without a cheat sheet, the manual is a must.
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
The only real problem is that the one thing that would benefit the most from patching (OSes) will most likely be missing from the selection.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
In a few years, these are in every CompUSA, but selling those shareware/PD collections, game demos, windows service packs, maybe a linux distro. Cheap stuff, a couple bucks a CD.
They'll make a decent profit off of it, and people will like it because it's easier than scraping download.com.
NOONE is going to stick their credit card in a vending machine and trust it to spit out a $500 photo-editing suite or a copy of Windows Server. Well, some would, I wouldnt.
And as for games, well, people who pay retail prices for games want the box for teh shelf. Besides, as I already said in this story, you cant burn the copy protection.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I think the problem here is that CompUSA thinks people want traditional software from a vending machine. What people actually want is *cheap* software from a vending machine. i.e. I insert a five dollar bill into the machine, and a copy of Mozilla, Linux, iTunes, etc. pops out. I've now saved myself a huge download and burn processes, all for the low cost of a couple of bucks.
Jack the price up to $50-$200, and people will start expecting more. They'll want shrinkwrapping, manuals, free little dodads that come in the box, and other niceties. No way they're going to be thinking about getting *that* out of a vending machine.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
In the long term, say 6-8 months, I find that alot of my burned disks become unreadable User Error me thinks. I have cds over 5 years old, some scratched to hell, and I can still read them perfectly fine.
The Digital Couture Collection
This is a system that has only one real customer, the merchant. It's sole purpose is to make life easier for the retailer and provides very, very few benefits to the consumer. It has all of the hassle of buying from a brick and mortar store with none of the benefits.
The only advantage of a software vending machine to the consumer is that they always get the latest version of the software. In any reasonably stocked computer store this shouldn't be an issue anyway.
So why not install the machine in a library, put on OpenOffice, Mozilla, GIMP, GRASS, Knoppix, Blender, and anything else that takes a week to download via modem?
Think of all the things that could go wrong...
1. Bad burns. Who do you go to if you get a bad copy? Can you get a refund?
2. Who maintains the file server that the vending machine uses. I am sure a rouge CompUSA employee could easily throw a virus or two on the ISOs.
3. How do you get the CD key?
4. Who wants to stand there and wait for a CD to burn?
5. I hope they use a damn good burner, most will wear out rather quickly.
Not a sermon, just a thought.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
Do we know this?
Personally I think this is just another way to charge the same price for less product and less service.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
My God! We are reinventing the wheel.
When I had an Spectrum, a company called Labware created something like this. Its name was EDOS. Given that in 1988 computers used to work with cassettes (Spectrum, Amstrad, Commodore 64 & 128...), it recorded software to cassettes.
It was a computer with a tape recorder and was to be installed in software stores. When you wanted a program, the EDOS connected (through a modem) to Labware, downloaded it and recorded to the tape. Software didn't stay in the EDOS longer than the time it needed to record.
Here is a photo.
Where is the revolution, then?