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Best Buy + Windows Guru = Apple Store Experience?
CWmike writes "As part of Windows Vista's $300 million marketing rehab, Microsoft will hire an initial wave of 155 'Windows Gurus' to walk around Best Buy and Circuit City stores to answer customer questions and defend Vista's reputation against skeptics, reports say. Gurus will earn $20 an hour or more, plus benefits. (Apply here.) One way Windows Gurus will differ from Apple Geniuses is that they are not intended to be sources of free technical support for existing Vista users. 'The Guru role is to help sell Windows-based PCs. It is not to be an alternative tech support channel for Microsoft as this has no financial return beyond improved customer satisfaction,' Baker said. One reason: Windows Gurus could end up 'lightning rods for customers' frustrations with Vista.'"
The store by me has a nice Apple section as well.
.Mac at me. I told her I didn't need .Mac for my projects, and I kept looking at the external drives and the Time Capsules. Then she started throwing iLife in my face. I told her that wasn't going to do what I need to do. I said I work with a lot of SQL DBs and write everything in PHP. She actually said "But you won't need to do that anymore with iLife". I asked her if she had been listening to a word I had said, or if she was just picking up keywords and throwing back responses she thought fit best.
That being said, I go to the Apple Store that's a little further out of the way on some occasions. I usually get greeted and asked if I'm looking for anything specific. I'll say I'm just looking around, and they smile politely and let me browse.
Now, the "Genius" they have in the Best Buy Apple Section is more in line of the Windows Guru seems to be, a salesman. I walked into that section and she was absolutely relentless. She asked if I could help, I said I'm just looking. She asked what I was looking for, and I said I was just browsing various things I might need in the future. She asked what I do with the computer, and I told her I do some graphics and web design, and I was just checking out some NAS options. Then she starts pitching
Now I always go to the Apple Store when I need to buy things for my Mac. If the Windows Gurus will be anything like the Best Buy Mac Fanatics, they won't last long.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
When is "The Linux Store", one like the Apple stores, coming? IBM and HP and Sun could get together, fine tune various laptop, desktop, GPS, multimedia, cellular, console, and home management systems in 10 major cities:
San Francisco
Boston
Dallas
Houston
Los Angeles
New York
Baltimore
Denver
Phoenix
Atlanta
just to name some/around 10 cities. I imagine these and other companies could find a creative way to write this off as marketing. Rent or lease properties, them them like Gateway did and Fry's does, aim the products at people earning less than $35,000 a year, and MAKE DAMNED SURE that Gutenprint, SAMBA, Webmin, VNC, and other mixed-environment tools work. Get Compiz/Beryl/Metisse working like never before. Commit to being open 18 hours a day for 2 years. Tie it in to local unemployed/trainable people so cities and counties will allow some variances that otherwise would hamper such a project. Make sure smoothies and coffee and magazines are available, as well as some games, joysticks, and ESPECIALLY CAD apps, like Punch! ViaCAD, Medusa, and products such as 3dConnexion are on hand.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
what would be good is if everyone that uses Linux would go to BestBuy and look at Windows Vista PCs and mention that they prefer Linux just to get the idea/word across that they are not interested in Vista...
Who exactly would you be getting the word out to? I work for one of these companies and it's hilarious when idiots walk in and start ranting about random BS to me thinking I am somehow responsible for the production and engineering decisions of the products we sell or that I have anything to do with the company policies and purchasing decisions.
Look, we're mostly college students just there doing a mindless job to make a paycheck at the end of the week. We don't care that you have some love affair with Linux and that you think computers should come with it instead of Vista, do you want me to go get the laptop out of the lock-up cage or not is all I give a crap about.