Microsoft To Open Retail Stores

chaz373 writes "CNET reports that Microsoft is going retail. In the 'Beyond Binary' blog Ina Fried reports, 'After years of brushing off the notion, Microsoft said on Thursday that it will open up its own line of retail stores. Without detailing the plans, Microsoft said it has hired David Porter, a 25-year Wal-Mart veteran, to lead the effort. Sources say that Porter's mission will be to develop the company's retail plans and that the effort is likely to start small with just a few locations.'"

Comments

Following Apple

[INeededALogin]

Yes... Apple has had lot of success with its retail stores, but it already had the reputation and recognition to drive people to the stores.

For Microsoft, I fear that they are going to be just like the Sony stores.... Better Location than the Apple store, but considerable less people in the store.

Re:Following Apple

[nizo]

Anything that drains more money from Microsoft is a good thing. Microsoft is their own worst enemy (wow, my sig applies today).

Why?

[internerdj]

I get Mac stores since they sell their image...oh, and proprietary hardware. But a specialized Microsoft store, even though I like some of their products, doesn't make sense to me. I can pick up Microsoft software at nearly anywhere already, and some of it that I don't even want comes on my computer every time I buy a new one.

Some Questions I Would Have:

[Webcommando]

The article does touch on PC makers showcasing wares in the store. The idea of a MS store creates some questions in my mind.

First, what PC's will be showcased? I would think the high-end systems mentioned would be a great idea. There are plenty of mid and low end systems at current electronic retailers.

Secondly, can someone walk out with a PC? And if so, is MS going to do any service at the store? This is what the Apple store has going for it; a full service shop.

A few people have tried with only limited success (anyone remember the Gateway stores?).

It was a nice store

[peter303]

At that time the Sony metro-center was trying to be a high tech playground. It had innovative video games, a new movie theater, a theme restaurant, action figure store, and the MicroSoft software store. I stopped by there to get free email updates. I store was in the center of "Dot com land" or SoMa lofts for high tech work and living. Lots of people from Stanford and Silicon valley lived there because it was just a train ride up the pennisula, with a urban ambience. That area faded a bit after the dot.com crash.

Re:Apple = Gap, Microsoft = WalMart

[DerekLyons]

Yep. It shows how much Apple is really about style and sizzle, and how much Microsoft is about utility and usefulness.

Sales tax

[nobodyman]

Well shit, does this mean that I will need to pay state sales tax when I purchase Microsoft products online?

Re:Wow.

[TheRealMindChild]

Regardless whether your intention was humor or not, I have a tiny story relating. I DID try to get my 5 year old daughter to start using Linux. All she does is play web games like playhousedisney.com and noggin.com. I thought it would be perfect. Guess what. NOTHING worked. Flash/Shockwave completely broken. The Java games (as few as there were) constantly broke. So I eventually reinstalled windows, gave her a non-admin account, and made firefox the default shell so explorer never launched. Works great.