Microsoft to take over entire BestBuy computer section in 600 stores

[40hz]

So it begins...

In the movie Serenity, the utterly amoral hatchet-man for big government justifies his 'scorched earth' destruction of everybody who ever aided (or even knew) the crew of Serenity by saying: If your enemy goes to ground, leave him no ground to go to.

Apparently Microsoft has grokked the pragmatic wisdom of that approach with this recent move as reported by eweek (full article here).

Microsoft, in a new take on the store-within-a-store model, will take over the entire computer section of 600 Best Buy stores.

Microsoft, tweaking the store-within-a-store concept, has announced plans to build Windows Stores inside of 500 Best Buy stores in the United States and another 100 in Canada.

Unlike the traditional store-within-a-store model—boutique sections, such as those Samsung announced in April it will set up in 1,400 Best Buy stores and Apple already has in place at the retailer—Microsoft's will be a "department-level takeover," Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela said in a June 13 blog post.

Taking over the entire computer departments, the Windows Stores will range from 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet and be the "premier destination for customers to see, try, compare and purchase a range of products and accessories, including Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, Xbox and more," wrote Brandon LeBlanc, the author of the post... <more>

Soon to be arriving at a BestBuy near you! Wait for it....

[Stoic Joker]

I wonder if MS will at least educate the BB staff for a change. I went into the local BB last week because I needed to pickup a WAP quick for a client. Before I could make it to the network devices isle I was accosted by (a grinning idiot) one of their staff...who wanted to know what he could help me find.

I told him I was looking for a Wireless Access Point. He didn't have a clue what one was...and started heading for the cellphone trinkets department, stopped, panicked, and asked me what it was.

I explained that it was simply a network bridge device that connected wired and wireless media ... He was basically thorn at this point ... I gave up and left.

Fortunately the Staples next door had one.

[wraith808]

That has to do with the fact that you were accosted outside of the department more than anything else.  Those stores are very silo'd in their education... ask me how I know.

If the person had any hint, however, he would have paged someone to help.

And, since 40 brought up Serenity again...

In the movie Serenity, the utterly amoral hatchet-man for big government justifies his 'scorched earth' destruction of everybody who ever aided (or even knew) the crew of Serenity by saying: If your enemy goes to ground, leave him no ground to go to.

-40hz (June 19, 2013, 07:55 AM)

And, following that logic through, there's another quote from the Operative that might fit Microsoft...

I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster.What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.

[40hz]

^Such a high price to live "in a world without sin." 

[Stoic Joker]

That has to do with the fact that you were accosted outside of the department more than anything else.

-wraith808 (June 19, 2013, 01:00 PM)

Actually I was in the right department. But typing in haste I left out the part where he went to ask a senior someone else what a Wireless Access Point was... and between them they still couldn't put it together. It did however give me time to peruse the isle unmolested and establish that they had none in stock.

Hay if I was looking for a layer 3 managed switch, I could see why a new guy might lockup a bit...especially if he was from the TVs department. But for something as common as a WAP...in this day and age...(for a guy in his 20s!!!)... Sorry I'll not be giving quarter.