MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Jul 18, 09 - 11:46 am Comment from: Boghog

What? You can't be serious. They have ZuneTang, Enderle, Thurrott, and all those developers, developers, developers!

Jul 18, 09 - 11:55 am Comment from: MacTony

It would be kind of fun walking by the almost empty Microsoft store before going into the buzzing Apple store.

Jul 18, 09 - 11:58 am Comment from: auramac

At least Best Buy has Apple products. The other day I took pity on a young girl in Best Buy who wanted a Mac to compliment her iPod, but her brainwashed father dragged her away from the Apple section to look at some cheap PC's. Felt like contacting Child and Family Services...

Jul 18, 09 - 12:01 pm Comment from: Boghog

@MacDailyNews Take:

Those colors seem to work for
IKEA!

Jul 18, 09 - 12:14 pm Comment from: jambo

I would love to see a MS store directly across a Mac store. We'll see which store has the most foot traffic. It won't be the MS store, that's for sure.

Oh sure, they will put up Xboxes galore to try to get the gamer traffic to populate the store, to at least make it look busy, but they won't sell much of anything.

Jul 18, 09 - 12:17 pm Comment from: Macaday

Experts on Microsoft products... spotty, never seen the light of day, teenagers unable to string 5 words together...

Gonna be a real fun store to go to!

Jul 18, 09 - 12:18 pm Comment from: Macaday

Seriously, does anyone wonder if Microsoft recognises what a high risk strategy this is?

Or do they have heads so far up their backsides that they think they really can generate excitement?

Dadaist logic: since Windows is 89% of OSs used worldwide and Mac OS X is 9% there will be 10 times more people in Microsoft's stores than in Apple's.

Jul 18, 09 - 12:51 pm Comment from: heartbreak

"Apple" store, jambo. You've been watching too many of those Microsuck laptop hunter commercials.

Oh joy! A Microsoft store nearby so it is possible to have a target at which to throw rotten fruit and veggies.

Jul 18, 09 - 01:00 pm Comment from: qka

The virtue of the Microsoft store will be that all those Xbox owners will have a place to return them to when they "Red Ring of Death"

Jul 18, 09 - 01:13 pm Comment from: Roberto

Sorry, wrong on your complementary colors.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4516498_work-complementary-colors.html

" ... It could use the stores to relaunch the Zune, a music player that competes against Apple’s iPod, but has failed to catch on with consumers. ... "

If the Zune is not selling, how is it competing against the iPod?

My neighbour owns a Volvo. It's a car.
Kimi Raikkonen drives a Formula One Ferrari. It's a car too.
If the Zune is competing with the iPod, then my neighbour is competing with Kimi Raikkonen.

It's orange not yellow

dum dum mdn fanbois don't know what complementary colors are

make me laugh

ha ha

Jul 18, 09 - 02:22 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

"If Acer is making a PC that they think is going to resonate with consumers more than a Dell computer, then they’ll show the Acer,"

Ummm, this is Microsoft, so whomever pays the most will get their clones on display.

Jul 18, 09 - 02:36 pm Comment from: AAPLguy

@lol
"dum dum mdn fanbois don't know what complementary colors are

make me laugh

ha ha"

from wikipedia:
"Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are of “opposite” hue in some color model. The exact hue “complementary” to a given hue depends on the model in question, and perceptually uniform, additive, and subtractive color models, for example, have differing complements for any given color."

"In the RGB color model (and derived models such as HSV), primary colors and secondary colors are paired in this way:
red and cyan
green and magenta
blue and yellow"

"Because of the limited range of colors that was available throughout most of the history of art, many artists still use a traditional set of complementary pairs, including:
red and green
blue and orange
yellow and purple"

Keep laughing, moron.

Jul 18, 09 - 02:39 pm Comment from: Ting

MS stores near Apple stores. Crazy as this may sound, it is a sound strategy for MS and may have a silver lining for Apple.

A look at the hospitality industry will reveal that in general, the most profitable restaurants tend to be those located near other restaurants. Standalone destination type restaurants generally tend to struggle to create a following and typically tend to cater for a niche market. It is because at macro level, clusters of restaurants provide choice in range, quality and price thus generating 'footfall' (the attraction of a large number of customers). A few malls even have restaurants located near food courts which in turn are located near the entertainment zone of the complex.

So the marketers at MS are seeking to create a similar presence with Apple. And in that, there could be an upside for Apple in that.

Afterall, if my 2007 MBP can convert two CTOs at the Winblows based tech companies I am advising...

You should have seen this executive's jaw drop on Wednesday. I nonchalantly grabbed his Canon EOS 450D and plugged it into my MBP. In just two minutes flat, I had down loaded the 34 pictures he'd taken (during the two-day strategy workshop I was conducting) into iPhoto and had projected them on the big screen for everyone to see. Jaw dropping for him as his Canon had never been anywhere near my MacBook Pro and I did it all without any installers, Canon apps or the recitation of Alan Shephard's prayer...

Lord, don't let me muck up!

That is the post-Gemini sanitised version

Just good old Macintosh plug and play!

Priceless!

So I'm getting them, one-by-one, from the strategic end. But is is amazing how Apple just have not got through to the business world the significance of their UNIX machine... Just why aren't they going for enterprise? Why the undersell? Are they waiting for the Gen Z army in the Trojan horse to do it?

Jul 18, 09 - 02:45 pm Comment from: ken1w

At the "Genius Bar" in a Microsoft Store near you.

"Sorry, this is not our problem. Please contact Dell tech support. Next!

"Sorry, this is not our problem. Please contact HP tech support. Next!

"Sorry..."

Ticked off customers walk out and right into the Apple Store, conveniently located a few stores away.

Actually, this will work perfectly with the "laptop hunter" ads that encourage potential customers to consider a Mac, then reject getting one because they are too cool and too stylish. The problem for Microsoft is that once they walk into an Apple Store to do what the ads suggest, a good percentage will get a Mac. "Hey, these ARE cool... and they are not that expensive!"

So these Microsoft Stores are yet another way that long time Windows users will be indirectly introduced to Macs. Way to go, Microsoft... Apple thanks you.

Jul 18, 09 - 03:03 pm Comment from: Mister Snitch

It's true - if MS tries opening the Windows Store (or whatever), it's just going to wind up being a Circuit City-type thing. Then they'll spend all kinds of money pretending it's something else altogether.

Jul 18, 09 - 03:10 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Whahoppen? Color theory slip your mind?

Blue and orange are complimentary colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BYR_color_wheel.svg

Jul 18, 09 - 03:19 pm Comment from: John Gee

Yeah, blue and yellow are primary colors.

Not that I need to mention this.

Jul 18, 09 - 03:20 pm Comment from: John Gee

MacDailyNews uses the three primary colors in their logo.

Now I'm wondering if there was any real color theory put into its design.

Jul 18, 09 - 03:25 pm Comment from: Harvey

Apple is already in the enterprise. Check out the US Army's web site (http://www.army.mil) in Netcraft, and you'll see it is hosted on OS X. Apple has a sales force that sells to the enterprise. It's just that Apple doesn't choose to project that as their public image.

Now look at this: Apple got certification for OS X as UNIX 03. Leopard supports Active Directory (better than Windows does, in my experience), and is adding support for Exchange in Snow Leopard. They also have a very well developed line of servers. This isn't for the home user, now is it? Or are there people running Active Directory Home Basic or Microsoft Exchange Personal at home? How many of you guys have an Xserve at home?

Apple is already in the enterprise, and the cat is obviously poised to pounce after Snow Leopard comes out.

PC makers have tried the store business before. The only one to survive so far is Sony with their Sony Style stores. Back in 1999 Sony was on top of their game and the SF store was pretty cool because it featured other electronics, and the VAIO line was slicker (and cost more) than other PC brands. Now VAIO just looks like any other PC. But if I were to guess what MSFT may come with, the Sony Style store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto right near the Apple store might be the closest thing. I don't live in the Bay Area any more. Anyone has any ideas how the Sony store is doing?

Jul 18, 09 - 03:47 pm Comment from: John E

actually their stores should do very well if they have staff that can help people get their PC's to work - for free, like Apple "geniuses" do. because an awful lot of people really need that kind of help to get Windows to work.

and they can have info presentations too from third party OEM's and software vendors, which Apple does not but should. people like that.

plus besides software for sale they can have a desk to sell MS 'live' services, etc. because those are so messed up and hard to understand, that will help a lot too.

they won't be selling much hardware. they can't discount prices from MSRP. you go to Best Buy for that.

but if the one-to-one customer service is a good as Apple - and free - overall the MS stores will be a big plus for them. and there are plenty of Windows geeks to fill the place up.

so scorn from Apple for the MS copycats would be the wrong response. highlighting differences is smarter. can you get your computer hardware repaired or warranty replacement on the spot at the MS store? nope, you will still have to buy the Best Buy or HP or Dell service plan for that.

but what else?

being close to Apple stores may backfire. it may result in more curious Windows users checking out an Apple store for the first time. Mac users can't avoid Windows retailers anyway, so there is nothing new there. and direct competition like that usually helps the smaller outfit more.

I can't believe Microsoft has to open a store when they have over 90% market share of the desktop.

What a bunch of unimaginative and uncreative copycats

Can M$ not think of anything else than try to imitate Apple ?

Jul 18, 09 - 04:35 pm Comment from: alansky

Microsoft couldn't match two green socks! Green as in green with envy!

Jul 18, 09 - 05:13 pm Comment from: The Other Steve

There are "THOUSANDS of far smaller firms" making computers with Microsoft?

I know it's a big world and all but thousands?

Jul 18, 09 - 05:37 pm Comment from: MusicDoc

@ Mr. Reeee,

Before you get TOO far up on your high horse, maybe you should check the spelling of "complementary."

Jul 18, 09 - 05:45 pm Comment from: loloontheair

Soon you will find an idiot at M$ to say they should have their own brand of PCs...

Jul 18, 09 - 06:35 pm Comment from: TheMacAdvocate

I can't fathom the reasoning behind why Microsoft would try to enter the retail space, but it is characteristic of the piss-poor decision making in Redmond. Jobs recruits the man who invented the Gap model of clothier; M$ hires some Wal-Mart lifer. The innovation department at Microsoft has 2 rooms: one with photocopiers and one with typing monkeys. It really is entertaining to watch them suck on a basket of fail every time they step outside of the business units for which they don hav some monopoly power.

@jambo
Where can I find one of those Mac stores?

Jul 18, 09 - 08:18 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

I can't wait! Finally a place where on weekends I can relive the excitement and magic of Excel on the Dell running Vista in my cubicle at work. I hear the 'Zune Korner' in each store will be mind-blowing. I'll be converting MAC sheep and I-Pod lemmings by the truckload.

Your potential. Our passion.™

@Zune Tang®

"Zune Korner", finally a place to squirt!

Jul 18, 09 - 11:53 pm Comment from: Lolcat

Something tells me if Microsoft has a kiddy corner, do not leave your child at a machine for a second.

Jul 19, 09 - 12:05 am Comment from: alansky

In the RGB model, blue and yellow are complementary colors. Blue and orange are complements in an older system based on a much more limited range of colors.

Jul 19, 09 - 01:24 am Comment from: YoYo

Seems simple to me, just put all the Microsoft products in the store and be done with it. Nice blue tables for people to try things on, some guys in the back answering your questions about the products.

One advice though, don't use Dell, Acer, HP etc. PC's if you are showing your software. Better use hardware that works, isolates you from the PC hardware companies, and is neutral. My experience is that for example, Dell owners don't like it if demonstration is done on HP. Better use a Mac, it's neutral, no conflicting brand stickers or colors, and it works.

Jul 19, 09 - 01:39 am Comment from: alsoran

To see the complement of any color, open any app in OS X that has a color wheel then press control-option-command-8

Don't try this with a windoze pc.

These Microsoft shops are going to be like gigantic neon signs pointing to the Apple Store.

I actually kind of feel sorry for MS at this point. Almost. The only thing they've ever been good at is forcing their products on the market by playing dirty and leveraging their monopoly. Now that the market is beginning to reject their products and they find themselves facing real competition, they're running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Microsoft has absolutely no idea how to deal with this.

They've poured so much time and money into marketting over the years that MS's corporate culture now believes its own hype. The entire company is living in a bubble.

So they make mindbogglingly bad decisions like this one, the kind where your jaw hits the floor and you shout "Holy shit, these guys CANNOT be this out of touch!".

But they are. And that's as funny as it is terrifying.

Excuse me guys I think that some people here are forgetting what the RGB colour model actually is. It is relevant only to broadcast colours as an attempt electronically to represent the true visual range we see in the real world, only a fool would consider it an accurate one however. But then Mac users would understand that far more than PC users considering our involvement with design and managing accurate colour rendering on monitors. This colour model has no relevance to the printed colour range as we perceive them at all. Unless all aspects of a store where those colours exist are in the form of TV screens then the RGB colour model does not apply. Somehow I doubt that Microsoft are likely to be that innovative.

@Ting- clever use of Shepard's Gemini quote! I didn't expect to ever see that here, and I was watching "When We Left Earth" last night...

Orange and blue are/were my high school colors.

@JohnE- MS should do what Apple did, and actually take the time to design the stores rather than just throwing them up and hoping for the best. A Genius Bar-type help desk would do them wonders, but I think they'd be wayyyyy oversubscribed due to the problems I see with everyday (read: non-techie) people and their PCs. If they're to succeed, they'd better not turn anyone away, lest they leave a bad taste in their customer's mouths.

Jul 19, 09 - 07:33 am Comment from: Road Warrior

First, let's take care of the Zune Thang: "I hear the 'Zune Korner' in each store will be mind-blowing. I'll be converting MAC sheep and I-Pod lemmings by the truckload."

Zune Thang, you are going to go to a Microsoft store to convert Mac sheep? Gee I did not know things were so bad.

Second, the real question people seem to be asking is what sort of computers (if any) will the Microsoft store have...Acer? Dell?

Well why not a smattering of all of them that can run Windoze... Acer, Dell, and of course HP and Macs.

Simple.

Excuse me guys I think that some people here are forgetting what the RGB colour model actually is. It is relevant only to broadcast colours as an attempt electronically to represent the true visual range we see in the real world, only a fool would consider it an accurate one however.

It gets worse and worse! Additive mixture of colours is perfectly accurate as one of the two physical methods of mixing colour. The other is subtractive mixture of colour.

However: In school children often are told red, blue and yellow are elementary colours, what happens to be true, but they are from two different mixing methods and thus can't be used to generate any shade. Those colours are also used in artist's colour wheels, because they always were. Ever wondered why skin looked so awful in paintings in primary school? It was either yellow, orange or light brown, right? That is due to a lack of magenta, which you just can't mix with red, blue and yellow, but which is a part of the tone of skin.

And if you had ever developed a colour print, you knew that if you make a picture less blue, it gets more yellow, not more orange.

I know this is only the internet, but seriously: Before you teach something, learn it!

Microsoft is so out of touch with the reality they've created for their user base they have no idea what they're setting themselves up for. The best thing they ever did for Apple was roll out Vista; the second best thing which may very well be their last will be to open these stores. It won't be a utopian shopping experience, it will be a magnet for people with problems looking for free tech support and help.

Imagine possibly walking in as a potential customer and all you see are people with broken computers standing in line trying to get help. People complaining, waiting, unhappy.

Yeah 84% marketshare....84% of the market they've been insulated from because they haven't given the general public a physical access point to get to them, but they're about to change that.

I need to buy more Apple stock.

ummmm.... MS could also have macs running windows in their stores. And the opposing Apple store could have a mac running windows as well.

M$ is attempting to capture what they think is Apple's mojo: youthful vitality. They think that by trying to be Apple they will be cool. They will be cool to some but they will never be Apple.

Bring on what you got, M$. You have no class and you have toilet paper dragging from your shoe.

Jul 19, 09 - 01:49 pm Comment from: flappo

they'll have microsuck retards at a retard bar where you go to get insulted , ripped off and told they're closing in 10 minutes so hurry up or get out

yes , i can see this being a massive success

( for apple )

Jul 19, 09 - 02:03 pm Comment from: LateRegistrant

I got some complementary tickets once, and they weren't very colorful at all.

This will fail just like Vista. Then MS will need to come up with yet another failure to follow.