Microsoft Now Hiring Staff for Retail Stores

They could save so much money by just providing digital download versions of everything and just advertising it in stores...seriously who is going to go to a MS store (much less brick and mortar which are going away fast) who doesn't already know what they are looking for.

why aint they up here in Washington State ????it would be smart because of the economy

Once you leave retail you never go back.

They should open a fast food restaurant next, I sure would go for a
Vista burger right now with a large portion of zune fries!!

It would be nice to have someone else go through my operating system, manually looking up and disabling my unnecessary services.

I hope they really give apple a run for their money.

75 lbs? man, that's a heavy OS.../joke.
but hey, at least they're employing some people, as opposed to laying them off; anything helps..

True true. But didn't they just lay off a bunch of people because their "profits" were not as high as they expected. Could be wrong but I think that is what I read.

great! now i can buy crap directly from the toilet.

I hope the best of luck for those who works in MS retail place.

now just put some of those up here in mass and ill be happy to apply

Sounds like the place to send problem customers ^_^. Some people just aren't good with computers and need a bit of help so this is actually a good idea.

I wonder if theyll be able to sell office 07 in the USA on opening day..

I still think this retail project is a good idea for MS. Imagine if they could open beside Apple stores? People walk in the Apple store for a touch... Then walk next store and snag a Zune for $50 less. Go to the Apple store for a Mac, and leave with $500 in your pocket and a PC. This is exactly what Apple wouldn’t want to happen.

Indeed that would be nice, a central place to get software in general will be a great thing. I wonder if MS will limit the product line to MS products only, or sell anything that runs with windows. The latter would be a truly sweet deal for PC users.

Maybe they could hire back some of the developers whose jobs were transferred overseas.

Why did they setup in those locations? They are setup in the South West, but not in the good places in the South West. Instead of putting it in San Diego or Los Angeles, the big cities in the region with both being technological centers they tried to put it inbetween. However, its 1 and a half hours from San Diego, and going that way from Los Angeles will pit the consumer with massive traffic.

Hmmm so true! But I wonder if you meant it from a consumer perspective, or employment... Either way, you're 100% right!

"I hope they have all the games for windows games there. That would be so sweet to finally have a place to support pc gaming.. (praying)"

Huh? Have you never been to a Best Buy (or former Circuit City), Gamestop, Frys, or Microcenter? They all sell PC games, and in the case of Frys, I've actually found better PC game title deals there than online at both Amazon and NewEgg.

Anyway, I just don't see how this is going to be successful for MS. Your typical family PC user can't format and reload from their own OEM installation disc. So what are they going to do here, walk into a Microsoft Store, take home a fresh copy of Windows 7, and install it from scratch? I don't think so.

Finally, all of the above brick & mortar stores I mentioned already sell Microsoft software. How successful can this possibly be for MS? I can't imagine very. Mark these words.

I have a good idea, why doesn't MS do nothing to help people who aren't existing PC experts. How about alienating people who want to actually go into a store and have a "look and feel". Why not have an elitist viewpoint of only providing a service or an outlet for goods for people who don't need the help?

Stupid.

If Apple and Sony can setup a shop and they are praised for it then why are so many people demonising MS? Stop being fanboys and get on board, if you think it will hit sales at Best Buy or Frys then just think that the next time the spotty 15 year old doik who serves you in Frys had his last job in KFC and his next job will be in Burger King.

Money may not be the primary motivator for opening these stores. I think a lot of it has to do with marketing and customer relations. Some of you are comparing this to fast food but it's not like MS is going to open a store on every street corner. Unfortunately I don't live anywhere near the 2 locations MS has chosen however it would be nice to be able to ask questions regarding MS products to a person down the road who has been trained to respond by the same people actually building the software.

You don't get Dell fanboys going into the Sony Centre abusing the staff about expensive kit.

PC fans dont go into the Mac centre asking why all the latest games aren't available.

So why do I get the feeling that Mac and Linux fanboys will go into these stores and hassle the store staff, giving them unwanted abuse...

I live 5 minutes from the Mission Viejo store. Now I want to move.

I remember back in the 1980's when IBM opened retail stores to sell pc's and related items. That didn't last very long.