That looks like their old closed-down Metreon store. This is what they look like in California.
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Microsoft Planning 75 New Retail Stores to Take on Apple
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That looks like their old closed-down Metreon store. This is what they look like in California.
I think that's an bad comparison. The Gateway stores actually acted as an inspiration to Apple's own retail endeavors. They even had their own Genius bar thing going. The problem with Gateway was that you couldn't walk in, buy a computer, and walk out. It was still all build to order and shipped to you. The was a huge flaw. The only inventory in the stores were an occasional refurb and some accessories. Why waste a trip when you could just buy it online? And in most cases, people looked in the store, but bought online anyway so the stores were not driving sales per square foot and running at losses.
I see Microsoft having similar issues with their attempt at retail stores. While they may have inventory to sell in the stores, who cares? What is compelling about a MS store over going to Best Buy or a discounter to get the same merchandise? They can try to copy the Apple Store environment (copying is all they do and they're not even good at it), but Microsoft has an awful corporate culture and I don't think they understand their customers as people to bring that to life for them as an "experience" or a "destination" place. As for hardware, since they don't make any, how are their employees going to speak to it with the finesse Apple's staff can? Just not likely.
Well Mr Gates, it because THIS is an Apple fan site,MANY, including me, have left MS for
, because of issues, with PC's,they no longer have with Hope that clears it up for you Rasputin.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
Sweet!
Now I won't have to mail out my Xbox everytime I get red ring!!!!!
Sweet!
Now I won't have to mail out my Xbox everytime I get red ring!!!!!
Hmm. It's like Payless Shoes next foor to Famous Footwear. One is a designer imposter store... kind of this this MicroSuck Store.
So really, what's your point? It is well known that MS makes the serious money on the business side. The huge volume licensing deals are their main source of income. And even though they claim huge numbers of copies sold for stuff like SharePoint, many corporations have thousands of unused licenses. Sold, but not used. Let's face it: they are not, and never will be, a cool consumer brand.
That's why people are questioning this whole idea of MS retail stores. If you make money in b2b, why open up retail stores? It's not as if their entire product line in b2b is doing so well either. They should concentrate on that. Linux is gaining ground every day. Many shops are only keeping NT servers to run Exchange and SharePoint; everything web-based goes to Apache on Linux asap.
And you have to admit, the way they are copying the whole concept and design of Apple Stores really does come across as desperate. They should aim higher and do better than that.
Still, it might be a nice for Nokia to finally get a foothold in the US. What's left of Nokia, that is. That's about the only unique selling point these stores will have.
I don't hate MS and my machines with XP and 7 have been rock solid for the most part, but I am disappointed in the lack of vision behind the products. It really does seem like they're low on ideas nowadays. Kinect is nice. But the reason it stands out so much is that all the rest is so mediocre. That's worrying.
Huh. Every time I go to our local mall that has a MS store (Fashion Valley San Diego), it's pretty much empty, whereas the Apple Store about 5 doors down is usually packed.
Also, there is some kind of funny smell in the MS store, and the one time I had to go in to see about getting my son's XBOX repaired, we immediately felt like we had to go to the Apple store to cleanse off the MS funk.
Although I will admit it looks like they have a good time when they get a Kinect dance off going on!
Also, there is some kind of funny smell in the MS store, and the one time I had to go in to see about getting my son's XBOX repaired, we immediately felt like we had to go to the Apple store to cleanse off the MS funk.
Although I will admit it looks like they have a good time when they get a Kinect dance off going on!
Notice most the people in the last photo are ALL MS store employees in their brightly colored T-shirts.
+1 Windows 7 is rock solid and so is XP. I'd agree that Vista was a huge mistake.
Well Mr Gates, it because THIS is an Apple fan site,MANY, including me, have left MS for
Hope that clears it up for you Rasputin.
What does that have to do with the question. Just because you are a fan of Mac does't mean that you can't like Windows. I have both and each have their strong points.
Like the Zoon (sic) I was nearly unaware that MS stores even existed; Im sure theyll pull the plug on that soon-ive never seen one in all my 4 years in 2 different colleges. And I live in Seattle, near Redmond-all Apple needs to to do is open a downtown Seattle store and that will make it 6 in the greater Seattle area-plus one large surviving independent Apple store;
Apple even has a store in Bellevue less than 4 miles from MS HQ-many a MS employee has been spotted in that store-i guess by ID tags-
The only reason Apple didnt build one right next door to MS is that it is not zoned for retail, thus no other stores around-just apts and houses and woods
ah so much shame-this state/seattle exports MS, Boeing (weapons) and Starbucks to the world- sorry, forgive us; Amazon is the only ok one we export;
"cool" to dis MS?-they are the dinosaurs-and they have knived so many in the back; Apple is the start of the Mammals-the future
Apple even has a store in Bellevue less than 4 miles from MS HQ-many a MS employee has been spotted in that store-i guess by ID tags-
The only reason Apple didnt build one right next door to MS is that it is not zoned for retail, thus no other stores around-just apts and houses and woods
ah so much shame-this state/seattle exports MS, Boeing (weapons) and Starbucks to the world- sorry, forgive us; Amazon is the only ok one we export;
"cool" to dis MS?-they are the dinosaurs-and they have knived so many in the back; Apple is the start of the Mammals-the future
A lot of tech stores have a similar look and layout. It's just a style. Apple didn't invent it. You go into a supermarket, and they will look near identical inside, you go into any number of stores that fill the same purpose and they'll look similar. If something works, why be different for the sake of being different.
Glad to see Microsoft opening up more stores, it's not just Apple that has dedicated fans, Microsoft also has it's big fan base.
Ok. Now I really believe that you are deliberately trolling. You have to be or you are legally blind.
that would be true except
apple is as good to computers as
microsoft is as good at advertising and imaging
Microsoft stores are going to be the primary locations for the spread of the Ballmer worm.
http://scoopertino.com/mac-virus-al...&utm_campaign=Feed:+Scoopertino+(Scoopertino)
http://scoopertino.com/mac-virus-al...&utm_campaign=Feed:+Scoopertino+(Scoopertino)
If they understood that customers were people they would have improved winodws a long time ago
Well Mr Gates, it because THIS is an Apple fan site,MANY, including me, have left MS for
Hope that clears it up for you Rasputin.
Mr. Dave,
Many, including me, appreciate the merit of both OSX and Windows. Disregarding either would be foolish. No need to be snarky with well intentioned MR members.
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Am I a bad person because it makes me feel better when people react negatively to fanboy antagonism for the sake of entertainment?