Foo - microsoft openng retails stores

Innovations from mocrosoft:

Netbios (LOL)
.net (java)
Various vista features (mac)
Surface table (Im pretty sure I saw this at least a year before ms showed it off by now I can't find any info n the company)
Microsoft retail stores (no wait, I covered that already)
Hotmail (or not)
Search (or not again)

I'm not a microsoft fan but the live search cashback discounts can be quite large

Another store to avoid. Don't forget Microsoft innovated the web browser security hole into the OS. Photo editors tht loose EXIF data, etc.
I made the mistake of buying Microsoft software in the past then upgrading to new verions which couldn't read files created by the old versions. I'll stick with open source from now on.

I tried to enter one of their stores. Strangley, it used a very complicated revolving door that looked really cool. However, when I was halfway into the store, the door turned blue and refused to revolve either forward or back, leaving me stuck and frustrated.

What about the blue screen? didn't they invented that?

I tried to enter one of their stores. Strangley, it used a very complicated revolving door that looked really cool. However, when I was halfway into the store, the door turned blue and refused to revolve either forward or back, leaving me stuck and frustrated.

Sir, have you tried rebooting the store? (MS Tech response of the future)

What about the blue screen? didn't they invented that?

That was copied too. Most any OS has some sort of crash debug.

Funny though my (work) laptop blue screened the first time I tried to type this.

I tried to enter one of their stores. Strangley, it used a very complicated revolving door that looked really cool. However, when I was halfway into the store, the door turned blue and refused to revolve either forward or back, leaving me stuck and frustrated.

OMG, the dreaded BDOD! The only way out is to call 911 and have them extract you...but don't worry, your short term memory is wiped out in the process, so you won't remember any of the pain.

Various vista features (mac)

:lol:

Plus, one of the guys heading it up used to be a higher-up at Wal-Mart.

And we all know how awesomely cool Wal-Mart has been. :twitchy:

Microsoft has done a lot of innovations. Stuff that comes to mind:


DHCP -- everyone uses this, and before this protocol, its precursor was pretty bad to say the least.

Active Directory -- Out in 2000, and is an integral part of almost any organization's infrastructure.

Exchange -- No product can even come close to what this does, except perhaps Lotus Notes.

Hierarchical storage. This isn't used much these days, but since Windows 2000, one can make an array of tapes look like a hard disk volume. It was a very cool feature back when a hard disk had 4-5 GB, and a $40 tape had 40-80 GB of space depending on compression.

SMB/CIFS -- This has totally kicked the smack out of the other network file sharing protocol out there, NFS. Mainly because NFS was designed to share files between machines, as opposed to CIFS and user-level authentication. Of course, NFS v4 has user authentication, but CIFS rules the roost these days.

Office -- one of the biggest things that Word 2007 that helped me through a semester of paper writing was the fact that it could store a database of sources, and be able to put them in proper MLA format, with the proper citations linked, and generating a proper Works Cited page.

As for the retail stores, Microsoft needs to sell stuff at the stores, and find something to get people in.

I'd seriously recommend they do a Zune line revamp, because there has not been much press about the Zune since December 31 of last year when the 30GB Zune went catatonic for 24 hours. MS needs to get people onboard to make stuff that a Zune can drop onto, similar to how everything has an iPod dock these days, including car dashboards. Perhaps merge PlaysForSure (now Vista Compatible) line with the Zune, so one's Napster subscription can play on the player, and one's Zune Marketplace tracks can play on a Windows Mobile smartphone.

MS needs to look at devices, and try to get makers to get Windows Mobile everywhere, even the free phones that people buy with a 1-2 year plan. This way, WM appmakers have a wider platform to write (and sell apps) on, which will generate a critical mass. Compared to the iPhone, designing Windows Mobile apps is so much easier. You write code in VS .NET, make an executable, copy it to the phone, run it. Or you can make a cab file, or an installer that installs on the PC and syncs with the phone. Its a pleasure to work with. Apple can have the high end smartphone market, Microsoft needs to get Windows out there in volume.