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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.'"
We'd... um... like to be like that company... that sells that O/S... that every one like... likes.
So we're going to send out these expensive sales people... to hype our product... but not stand behind it like the other guys do... because that would... be like work, man.
FTA: The good thing is that Microsoft will be able to get Windows explained appropriately on the sales floor.
Oh my God, does this sound ominous. Any Best Buy employee explaining Windows "inappropriately" will be taken out back by a Windows Guru and "evangelized".
I'm a big tall mofo.
Only people in marketing could come up with the term "guru" to mean "someone who can't help, and exists to market to you until you give in".
And Microsoft misses one of the myriad small points in why Apple is seen positively by so many people despite having software release management run by a Crurotarsan.
So existing customer satisfaction isn't important to Microsoft? Who would have ever thought that?
;-)
Well, knock me over with a feather!
More like villagers with torches and pitchforks.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
While the application link is a nice touch, for some reason I think Microsoft may be wary of anyone coming in with a slashdot referer.
I'm not quite sure I understand the tactic here. Best Buy and Circuit City - last I remember - don't sell Macintosh PCs or Linux/UNIX PCs. Therefore, the person would be in the store to shop for PC's loaded with Windows.
/me raises hand
Can I apply??
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
That's cool, but do they meditate?
How could selling Vista machines possibly improve customer satisfaction?
I think I speak for us all when I say...
No.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
I use Apple and Linux at Home and Windows and Linux at work and I have to say that Apple (like Pixar) does a great job on polishing under the drawers; they don't do anything halfassed in the total experience. They control the product, the store and the whole experience for a reason... to make them look extremely polished and extremely in control.
Until Microsoft opens their own shops and controls their own hardware OEM, they can't quite duplicate the same experience that Apple has at their stores. They only thing they can do is create propoganda in a controlled environment. And Apple already has retail people and retail sections in Bestbuy locations so these MS people are going to have to compete on their turf; Apple people don't compete with anyone in their stores.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
"I'm really interested in Vista, but I can't afford it. Are there any cheaper alternatives?"
"Hey, can I still use X feature of Vista if I downgrade to XP? Why not?"
"Quick question -- when is the next operating system after Vista coming out? I'm really excited about that one. No, I don't know anything about it yet..."
"How does Vista compare to non-Windows operating systems?" (Open ended, should provide some laughs)
"If Vista is so good, why are you being $20/hour to stand around and tell me how good it is?"
Not to be overly cynical, but this sounds like paying a bunch of people to walk around and try to convince the user that the experience won't suck, has never sucked, and that I'm merely deluded.
I mean, how much of it will be true, and how much of it will simply sound like a sales pitch from someone who drank the Kool Aid?
Man, shopping in most electronics stores is annoying enough -- having some git wandering around stumping for Windows Vista is just one more nuisance to avoid. If I'm standing there looking at a PC, and after I've shooed the salesman away, I don't want to then have to deal with some MS shill.
Hearing that they won't actually be useful sources of information for existing customers only re-affirms my cynicism about this program.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
they are not intended to be sources of free technical support for existing Vista users
Until the people they convinced to buy Vista come back to the store in a black fart of rage looking for blood or someone to kidnap until their machine works like it did before.
Good. Freaking. Luck.
The apple stores centers around 3 things
1) The Genius
2) An army of employees running around to help people
3) A non intimidating open and easy to navigate store
Everything they do hight lights those two things, because they can do your credit card purchase remotely they can spend more time helping people decide. They reserve so much of the store for their training sessions and demo units that the Apple store does not feel like a big box store. I don't have to work my was past cameras, dvd's, home appliances, and video games to get to the computers.
The apple gurus are *not* sales folks and I have had them send me other places rather than buy an over priced adapter (ironically they sent me to best buy) meanwhile the 'The (Microsoft) Guru role is to help sell Windows-based PCs'. Yea thats what MS need more sales pressure at best buy...
"Ahh! Arrogance and stupidity in the same package, how efficient of you!" --Londo Molari
So someone bought a piece of equipment, and expected it to last more than 5 months. You tell him that if he wants a printer to have such an epic lifetime he needs to stump up some extra cash, and use the weaselly "just doing my job" defence to avoid taking responsibility for your own actions.
I can see why he was upset.
"as this has no financial return beyond improved customer satisfaction"
This just says it all about the entire Microsoft experience.
So does the $20/hr include danger pay?
Danger pay is covered, but they don't reimburse you for the cost of your soul unfortunately.
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
[Enter PC and Mac. Each of them has a friend.]
Mac, "Hey PC, who is your friend?"
PC, "This is my [Microsoft store tool]. She's here to tell everyone how great Vista is. I see you have a friend. What does he do?"
Mac, "This is my genius. He helps everyone USE their Apple and answers any technical questions that they may have. PC, does your friend answer technical questions? Does your friend do anything other than try to convince people to spend money on a product and then leave them out in the cold when they have questions about it? Huh? Does he? Or is he just another over paid, worthless, Microsoft marketing..."
PC, "Shut up Mac!"
Do people actually get out of bed for $20 an hour?
The median household income per resident in the U.S. is $26,036, which works out about $12.50 per hour per person for a 40 hour week.
41,000 a year for a job with a low entry skill is "not bad"? Are you serious? It's 5k above the national average wage.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I don't understand your story. Why would you have to buy a warranty to cover a failure 5 months after purchase? Wouldn't the original manufacturer's warranty cover it?
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
People need to remember that you CAN be pissed off at a poorly performing / defective / overly expensive / ugly products. It's perfectly OK to be angry.
What is NOT acceptable, under any conditions, is to take it out on the person who sold it (unless of course they were responsible for the construction / repair / destruction / damage / defilement / or it being vista). Gas is an ass-rape, but it's NOT the fault of the pump-jockey earning minimum wage.
The printer broke, it's not this guy's fault. He tried to sell the store's standard extended warranty, which would have saved aggravation (bad timing on the breakage), and unless this guy pointed it out in an asinine way ("If you bought the warranty like I told you to, you'd be fine, but you're cheap and screwed now, ain't ya?" type response), it was simply not his fault.
BTW: I don't work retail. I just sympathize with people getting blamed for things well beyond their control. I don't sympathize with them being dumber than dirt or the crappy attitudes many have.
When all else fails, use fire.
Don't have the energy or desire to determine all that.
I need a twinkie and some diet squirt.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
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"
And the products would, you know, not suck.
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
The overall expenditure on this "campaign" seems relatively minor in the scope of the whole "rehab" effort.
Assuming the full-time hours stated in TFA, and that they continue this for a whole year (not stated):
$20/hr=$40k/yr
155*40k=6.2 mil
6.2 mil = A little over 2% of their total rehab effort
What sucks even more from the perspective of being one of these "salespeople" is that you, unlike the other store salespeople, don't even have the opportunity for commission, which must make it even harder to internally justify the act of promoting Vista to unsuspecting saps.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Just what MS needed....
I get it now. If you disagree with the majority on
19. All positions require the successful completion of a thorough background check and multiple-panel drug test prior to the start of your employment.
I think you're reading this requirement wrong. "Successful completion" of a multi-panel drug test means that you need to show proof that you are actually taking some sort of mind-altering drug or they won't allow you to work for them. The reason for this is simple: Being willing to work as a Windows Vista evangelist without being under the influence of narcotics is a sure sign of dangerous mental illness.
When people start to realize that these "gurus" won't help them with their problems, they will get more irritated than with the usual clueless Best Buy salesdrones. After all, what do you expect a guru to do? Answer questions!
So they will either have to figure out some kind of transition to make those gurus available for tech support (which of course means a lot more training), or end up doing more damage than good.
EagerEyes.org: Visualization and Visual Communication
What happens when the customer comes back NEXT weekend and tries to get the "guru" that gave him the advice to buy the Vista box?
Okay, grab a different "guru". Why can't you answer my question? The other guy said that it WOULD work.
It's not going to take many episodes like that before this becomes a disaster for them.
Each year, during the holidays, I work for a subcontractor of HP in a Best Buy, Circuit City, whatever, to be a rep for HP products. For $20 an hour, ten hours a week I fix displays, keep track of inventory, help people with buying decisions, etc.
At no point was I told to exert undue pressure on someone to buy. Or to misrepresent the product. Or talk down competitors. I am there to demo products, and give my honest opinion.
This just isnt as ominous as people make it out to be. Standard practice, from any other company.
It can be go tiem now plees?
I'd be livid if something I bought for $500 broke after only 5 months use, and if I then found out that because I was living in a country with barely any consumer rights I had no way to get this sorted out in a fair manner. I'd rip someone's guts out if they were in any way associated with that purchase.
You have a reasonable expectation at purchase that the goods will last a certain minimum amount of time.
(Empaasis added)
Do you also feel that one should have reasonable expectations about what scenarios will lead to having one's guts ripped out?
A: I'd like to return this $500 device which broke after only 5 months use.
B: Did you purchase the extended warranty?
A: No.
B: Sorry, the basic warranty only lets you return the product within 30 days of purchase.
A: I am livid for having found out that I live in a country with barely any consumer rights.
B: Hey, I hear you man. I'm actually a member of several consumer's rights groups, and have written quite a few letters to my political representatives.
A: I am going to rip your guts out, since you are associated with the purchase.
B: What? Are you serious? Hey, man, look, I'm just a poor college kid. I only got $20 bucks on me; but if you let me call my parents, I can try to get $500 bucks. I'll pay you out of my own pocket if it'll mean you won't kill me.
A: Rip. Guts. Out. Anyone associated.
B: Aaaaiiieeeee!
None of this has anything to do with actual software. It has to do with image. Strung out felons tend to not help create a good image.
Yeah. Stoners are bad publicity.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
The reason for this is simple: Being willing to work as a Windows Vista evangelist without being under the influence of narcotics is a sure sign of dangerous mental illness.
$20 an hour or more, plus benefits? That's awesome for a job that doesn't seem to require much in the way of education or experience. I've never even used Vista and I'm tempted to apply 'cause it requires less effort and pays better than my on campus research/tutoring gigs.
open source modern art: laser taggi
Sure you can
"With Vista, you will find yourself working harder than you ever have before"
"I cannot recommend vista too highly"
"I am pleased to say I am a former user of vista"
http://notanumber.net/