Microsoft goes bricks & mortar

It’s great news that Microsoft is planning on opening retail stores, much like Apple has done. They just haven’t decided when, where, or exactly what they’ll be selling. Since Apple has eaten into the personal computer market and basically licked the red off the candy of easy pickin’s Microsoft had experienced in its heyday, Microsoft has decided enough is enough. Fight fire with fire.

Competition is good for all companies involved. The big winners will ultimately be the consumer. Imagine walking into a Microsoft store, touching and feeling the wares, talking to a representative, and seeing the machines in action. Then, to be fair, traveling around the corner to the Apple store for more of the same.

Question: Since the reps at the Apple store are called Geniuses, what will the reps at the Microsoft store be called? Seers? Artists? Wise-guys?

In the end the real truth about both products will be more apparent. Neither product is perfect (…I saw that!) but when push comes to shove the obvious winner will be, and should be, Apple. The OS is better, more user-friendly, and faster. Even the cost will look good against Microsoft’s offerings, a factor unfairly compared between the two. By the time a user fills his PC up with all the programs and anti-spy and viral stuff, cost becomes almost moot. For those who need a cheap laptop or desktop, Microsoft will certainly fill the bill, and those products are necessary.

So sell on, Microsoft. Push that Vista. Tote that hard drive. And get a little drunk, because all the stores in the land can’t change facts. Hey, Microsoft IS good. PC’s work just fine. It’s just that Apple is better. That’s all.