Microsoft Teaming up with RadioShack

ViceClown writes "Microsoft is teaming up with RadioShack in a sweeping 5 year deal to set up Microsoft 'stores' inside RadioShack brick and morter shops. Customers will be able to view demonstrations and sign up for MSN internet access. "

Comments

Sweet Man

[davidu]

This is the best news ever!
Here are two reasons:

1) It have wished and wished for an R/C Car that had a 'start' button. Maybe it will even shutdown and require a reboot every two laps.

2) I always hate being able to go to a store that has all the cool electronic bits and peices I want but never carries a good copy of "learning Win98." I mean, who in their right mind solders breadboard chips and circuits without their trusty Win98 for dummies books?

-Davidu

The History of Microsoft partners.

[mr]

Lets see:
Spyglass was to share the profits from the sale of Internet Explorer.
Digital was to benefit from NT. (Oh, and NT was going to be VMS done right.)
Sybase was going to benefit from its SQL partnership with M$.
Microfocus was offered a deal. M$ was to take 10% of its cash across the whole product line so Microsoft would keep selling its COBOL product.

Microsoft has a history of leaving its partners in worse shape than before they started.

Now, I'm waiting for Radio Shack to get the short sticky brown end of the stick. Cuz thats the end most EVERYONE else has gotten.

On the surface unwise, but whats the real angle?

[substrate]

I've got to wonder what the real angle on this is. What's the point of a "Microsoft store in a store"? It was a wise move for Apple, the alliance with CompUSA actually made software and hardware more available to a lot of people. In just about every store I've come across that sells software there's already a highly visible display unit with oodles of Microsoft software stacked up. So any market share they pick up will be miniscule (hard to get market share in the consumer arena when you're already at 98% or whatever) in exchange for 100 million dollars.

From the miniscule press release it sounds like they're trying to sell MS wireless and internet access but how many computers does Radio Shack really sell? Radio Shack isn't exactly the first place most people run to for finding an ISP either.

Microsoft doesn't usually make unwise marketing moves, so there's got to be an angle, I'm just not seeing it. Were there any other people trying to get their software or services in Radio Shack that Microsoft is effectively keeping out? Red Hat? Apple? AOL?

The buried point...

[Capt Dan]

I think the really interesting point is not that Microsoft and Radio Shack are teaming up and Microsoft will now be everywhere. It is this:

"...found a home connectivity partner, offering not just services but innovative technologies as well. ... And customers gain end-to-end connectivity solutions from Microsoft and RadioShack -- brands Americans trust to make technology accessible and understandable."

Where else in the country is there a place to go specifically for "home connectivity"? I know my house is connected, but I did that myself from hacking together DSS, Cable Modem and a nifty little p90 linux gateway. But what do you do when you're joe schmoe, and don't have the knowledge to do it yourself?

Now the average guy may have somewhere to go to get it all in one package. Sprint, Microsoft, RCA, etc... One stop shopping for all the hardware and software to wire your home. All run by a simple Microsoft interface.

This may actually be a good thing. Something my mother could do. What's easier to understand? This:
1) install linux
2) configure network scripts to run dhcpcd
3) Setup dhcpd sever on eth1
4) ipchains -q /z ^4 198.162.1.1:24;=)
5) debug terminal
6) and the list goes on...

or this:
1) push power
2) push start button.
3) Something bad happens, repeat.

Us dorks might have Architecture issues with the system, but the average guy just wants it to work.


"You want to kiss the sky? Better learn how to kneel." - U2
"It was like trying to herd cats..." - Robert A. Heinlein