To enter the Microsoft Store you must sign a disclaimer and accept an End User License Agreement.

While Microsoft has far more to sell than Apple, most of it is software (the Windows flavors, Office, the countless things that no one has heard of), and a lot of it virtually no consumers ever buy for themselves (who bought their own WinMo license?). All of their hardware is already available in other stores. It's a neat concept, but there's not much reason for a consumer to visit

I can't wait to see this happen. There will be a very high demand to speak to a Microsoft.... Question answerer

And instead of forty flavors of iPod, there will be forty flavors of Zune. Other than their branded keyboards, mice and the like, whose hardware will they be showing?

If anything it'll be a great place for MS to show off things like Surface to the consumer. I've never played with that but have wanted to try it for a while.

@Megalomania:

Xbox beta demos (not that they'll have them, but probably). That's enough reason for a lot of people to visit.

Penny-Arcade cast its gaze upon the Microsoft Store idea and churned out an amusing comic, found here:

[www.penny-arcade.com]

There is a long, vibrant history between Microsoft and Apple's tick-for-tack warfare. What I find kind of appauling is how Microsoft's well of creativity seems to be running dry in how they compete anymore. Rather than coming out with the new, brilliant idea, they seem to be content just more-or-less copying Apple's latest, and in some cases such as the Gadge/Widget, name it in a way that makes it OBVIOUS that its merely a copy. This Microsoft Store seems to strike me the same way; another tick-for-tack.

@H3ion: They will be showing their major hardware parners. HP/Lenovo/Dell for computers, etc.

The stores are mostly a showcase for their products, and I look forward to them. It will be nice to find a place that has their Server OS on hand in a pinch, or any number of other MS products that stores dont sell.

@Megalomania: ALL apple products are sold in electronics stores and they have their own store...Bose products are sold in electronics stores, and they have successful stores, along with numerous other companies.

You go to a brand store for their expertise in the product, not becasue you cant get the stuff elseware.

The Windows Store will be a great place to sell discounted Vista! How about special Ballmer autographed Zune?

Bill Gates is still considered the #1 Geek of the World--not really true, but perception is everything. Maybe they could sell Bill Gates action figures. Yes, Clippy is included!

How about a Linux store?

The real problem with a Microsoft store is the biggest question nobody seems to be asking: why would anyone buy products directly from Microsoft?

The "answer bar" - I imagine the only reason it wasn't called the "bing bar" is because it would be far too easy to call it the "bang bar"... as in "when you go to the bang bar, be prepared to bend over and take one because you're about to get screwed!" but i digress.... the bing bar overall seems like a good idea. I can imagine the lines of customers with their BSOD plagued laptops and computers.

Otherwise, I just don't see Microsoft competing directly on price. Why buy from Microsoft when you can easily get the same product at a better place almost anywhere else?

Apple products are more consistently priced whether you get them from the Apple store or Best Buy or wherever. Of course, the third party accessories and such are generally a rip off... but the same is true for Best Buy, the late Circuit City, and I'm sure the Microsoft Store.

So it might be a great place to show off some new Microsoft software and such... it might generate some hype and publicity... but I just don't see the stores making a lot of profit.

@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: The range of stores that sell most Apple products is vastly smaller than those that sell Microsoft products. Naming 10 stores that sell an Xbox is far simpler than naming 10 that sell Mac Pros.

@Megalomania:
Best Buy vs The Microsoft Store
Guess which store won't sell out of Microsoft products come the winter shopping season?

Hell,
________ vs The Microsoft Store

That should be enough reason in itself.
If you're STILL whining/bitching, then you're just hating to hate.
(Which in itself is a sign of immaturity.)

@WraithSama: I don't get why Apple naming their customer service counter the "Genius Bar" is so clever. Apple didn't create (or perfect) the idea of customer service.

Besides, isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

@jan_itor:
(Repost from above, but it bears repeating.)

Best Buy vs The Microsoft Store
Guess which store won't sell out of popular Microsoft products come the winter shopping season? Hell, ________ vs The Microsoft Store.

That should be enough reason in itself.

@H3ion: They are calling them showcases, not stores and the focus will be on showing off product lines, not selling them... Damn expensive showcases - high rent locations and all. The Apple Stores turn a profit. These places will be money sinkholes.

@WraithSama: This copying is taken to embarrassing levels... Can't they design their own icons?!?

I imagine these will be Zune, 360 & Windows Mobile centric. I doubt they're going to be showcasing server SKU's. I bet the stores come and go like fireworks stands & Christmas stores.

Unlike Apple, you don't need an vendor store to test drive Windows. (And yes, I realize Best Buy sells Apple computers).

"It looks full of fun toys and shiny objects, like an Apple Store but... better. "

Possibly gaudier/louder/more headache inducing, but I don't know about *better*.

@Coop: You presume that Microsoft will have something people want. I'm not a Mac guy, only run Windows, but I can't remember the last time there was anything that Microsoft had that I couldn't wait for.

@vitonfluorcarbon:
I can't remember the last time anyone expected the store to wholly rely on the patronage of a single person, who isn't a accurate representation of the general populous.

Well, except for a Lamborghini store. :-p

@fantomesq: money sinkholes... not entirely unlike many of the products they will be selling

How often will the store need to be rebooted to keep it operating properly?

Once you reach the question bar, you are greeted by someone named "Mark". You ask your question, but do not understand the answer due to "Mark's" severely thick foreign accent. Just the same as calling MS customer service, you are forced to surrender and find the answer on your own...eventually.

So a great deal of the time the store will close at random and often in the middle of a transaction?

I hear there will only be demo models but nothing for sale. So why go there? Once you do Mac, you never go back!

DOWn, baby, DOWn!

I don't see the point of opening their own stores. I mean, every store that sells computers is a Microsoft store, really. Go to Best Buy and you can buy a copy of Windows, or a computer with Windows installed, or a Zune, or an Xbox.

I can already predict what's going to happen.. Lines of people wanting to get their Xbox units fixed. Or people that downloaded porn somewhere and now their computer is infected with some virus.

Maybe Microsoft should just open customer service centers instead. One thing I like about the Apple store is the Genius Bar concept. A lot of consumers generally prefer a more personal face-to-face experience when dealing with technical support.

I predict the Genius counterpart will be the Smart and Cool Person.

The Genius Bar? The Smart And Cool Person Hangout Spot.

@Coop: Someone has sand in his pants.

It might be that Microsoft has a lot of things in the pipeline that will display well and sell at stores, but since there isn't a rabid circle of fanboys (for lack of any better term) talking about it endlessly no one really talks about it.

But no, there is no palpable level of excitement over the next generation of Zune, or Windows 7.

You gotta hand it to Apple. Why bother advertising? In fact why bother having stores? Slip a few rumors out there and watch the fanboy drool flow like wine.

I think a Microsoft Store will end up looking like a Sony store coupled with a Best Buy. Since Microsoft doesn't make any hardware, it can only display its own software alongside products that are made by other manufacturers. I think it would probably strike up some partnerships with HP or Asus, and those companies would get real estate space inside the Microsoft store because Microsoft needs the ability to display Windows. This would make it something like a Best Buy, where you have a variety of products that you can choose from, and it just so happens to be in a store.

It could also be like a Sony store in that it peddles everything Microsoft, and a lot of displays are interactive (like you can play the PSP and the PS3 in a Sony store) but not much else is going on. Sure, you can buy something at the Microsoft store, but it's probably more expensive there anyway, and nothing ever goes on sale.

I'll stop by the Apple store if I need to check something online, or if I need to pick up something new - but generally, unless you need it right then, it's easier to buy it from the Apple store online or somewhere else.

Im thinking that you will need to que up for the question and answer bar and when it is your turn you step behind a curtain and you are whisked to India.

@doosie: "You are about to enter the store. Are you sure you want to enter? ALLOW / DENY"

With a former Wal-Mart Exec running the effort to establish these Microsoft stores, I'm sure a world-class, consumer-friendly retail chain is the only possible outcome.

@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: Who will treat the Microsoft stores as ugly step-children in comparison to more high-volume stores like Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Resulting in medium to high prices compared to these larger volume retailers, which will negatively impact the MS stores, since many PC people are more interested in pinching pennies over making a value purchase.
Microsoft doesn't own enough part of the value chain to be able to offer customers much they can't get elsewhere. And thanks to their baling wire and chewing gum approach to development, they will find their CS experts spending most of their time removing viruses and trojan horses from customers bringing in their computers to be fixed.
But, all colors of Zune will be represented. Yay!

@WraithSama: As you note, it's more tack for tack, since all the copying is in one direction.

@pecan 3.14159265:

Since Microsoft doesn't make any hardware, it can only display its own software alongside products that are made by other manufacturers.

There are tons of XBox 360 users that would argue with your statement.

I was going to inject a snarky comment about those users being RRoD'ed but I decided to take the high road.

@jan_itor: I don't think the point is to make a profit of store sales. I think they're trying to combat the general presence of Apple. Right now everywhere you go you see apple stores, ipods and mac books all shining the apple logo brightly. There really isn't any equivalent right now for MS. I've never seen anyone use a Zune.

I think they're feeling themselves sliding slowly out of the limelight and this is their attempt to move back in. I also beleive that was the point of Bing and this recent Yahoo deal. Not to beat google, but to get their brand back into the minds of people.

@consumed: As long as I don't need to authenticate myself and prove that I'm a Genuine Human Being.

I would like to declare that Windows 7 is the BEST OS ever made by Microsoft (those who are currently using it know why). It is what Windows 95 SHOULD have been. Rock solid stable and feature packed. FINALLY Microsoft got it right.

@Trai_Dep: They should rebrand it Win-Mart®, come to think of it.

@WraithSama: Uhhhh... the copying goes all the way back to Win 1.0, it's not a new thing