Microsoft Reportedly Poaching Apple Retail Staff 375
Eugen notes an article up at Ars reporting that Microsoft, besides copying Apple's retail formula, is now going after Apple's retail employees. "Microsoft is reportedly trying to hire away Apple's retail employees by bribing them with... wait for it, better wages. 'People that have spoken to The Loop on condition of anonymity confirm that Microsoft has contacted a number of Apple's retail store managers to work in their stores. In addition to "significant raises," the managers have also been offered moving expenses in some cases.' It doesn't end there: once the ex-Apple managers have jumped ship, they are asked to contact their top sales employees at their old workplaces and offer them similar positions at Microsoft's retail stores, also with higher pay. ... If you work in an Apple store near a soon-to-be-opened Microsoft store, apparently the software giant is giving you a free pass; no looking through job postings necessary!"
Moving expenses are already standard (Score:5, Informative)
A) A paid for move, arranged for you, including having all your stuff packed and unpacked, and a hotel to stay in for a month while house hunting
or
B) A lump sum cash payout to do it yourself (mostly attractive to fresh out of college types with little to move)
I suspect they already had a similar program for retail. It's not a new benefit.
Re:Moving expenses are already standard (Score:5, Informative)
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Ah, poaching is not pro-Apple spin. It's what Microsoft is doing and more power to them for doing it.
I know when I look to my former employers to hire away people I call it poaching, cause thats what it is.
But as is so often stated today "its only business," so tough luck if people leave.
Re:Moving expenses are already standard (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree, and I'm failing to see the news in the story here - the pro-Apple spin ("poaching" etc) is painfully apparent.
A lot of people on Slashdot do like Apple products and even some of the other things the company does. That said, I don't see any bias in the discussion here, or at least none that is not justified. "Poaching' is a normal term in the industry, not a slur against MS. I've seen plenty of comments about Google and other companies poaching employees. It just means hiring people away from your competitors or people in a similar field.
I bet if this was the other way round, the story would be citing it as proof that employees want to work for Apple, and saying that therefore Apple were great employers, and how nice they are.
This is called empty speculation. You have nothing to support this assertion.
I'm also confused at the snide dig of "besides copying Apple's retail formula" - so they invented some special retail now?
Umm, you don't think opening stores with a "Guru bar" where people can come and ask experts questions from within the retail store is not just a little bit influenced by Apple retail stores where you can go to a "Genius bar" and ask experts questions? I'm sorry but you have to be biased as hell to not see that as copying Apple's retail ideas.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
'Umm, you don't think opening stores with a "Guru bar" where people can come and ask experts questions from within the retail store is not just a little bit influenced by Apple retail stores where you can go to a "Genius bar" and ask experts questions?'
Certainly not invented by Apple.
This used to be standard operating procedure in most shops (with the broad exception of department stores, and even not always then) about 30 years ago. The shopper expected the clerks to have some knowledge of what they were
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I think this is more like McDonald's hiring Burger King managers than the usual tech employment, hence ne. This is retail, not what most /. readers would think as managerial positions.
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This is a lot like luring Lexus or Mercedes sales people to sell Ramblers. It won't take long before many realize they're selling junk yard class equipment and start sending customers back to the Apple stores.
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Stop OS trolling,
The current offering from MS aren't bad, perhaps not quite as good as the offerings from Apple, but they are getting close. The only real difference in these stores is that Apple offers labeled hardware, and MS offers 3rd party hardware (PC wise). The software offerings are mixed, Win7 is about as good as OS X (pains me a bit to say that), the Zune is basically what Apple is pushing (limited storage space, lots of superfluous extras), without the benefit of iTMS and iTunes (which is sad),
Two more differences... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Good post but I take exception with one thing:
The Zune desktop software in my opinion is vastly superior to iTunes. It's prettier, has a bunch of 'social' features (which sound stupid, but it's actually cool to see what your friends are listening to), and, in general, faster. I've heard that iTunes isn't such a bloated pile of cra
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And, best of all... (Score:2, Funny)
They'll be given forged paperwork and identification so they can still tell friends, family and potential employers that they work for Apple.
That's the market. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Insightful)
I wouldn't go for it (and I don't work for Apple), but money is money I suppose. For many, job satisfaction outweighs wages, to a certain point. There's also the time already invested in the current position to consider; even if you're not completely satisfied with your current gig, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
That's all true, but there's something to be said for getting in on the ground floor. Microsoft is trying its best to recruit the top salesfolk, and these're guys and gals who might well have their eyes on management slots. Joining a new, well-funded operation can be a good lure for the upwardly mobile.
Re:That's the market. (Score:5, Insightful)
You also have to consider the future of the company - has Apple shot its load, or are there other must-have products in the pipeline? And a Microsoft store? Ever heard of Gateway stores?
The entire reason for Apple stores were those tiny niches at a CompUSA and other places, where Apple was relegated to the background as an afterthought. They wanted a place to showcase their products and not be presented as second-fiddle or second-tier. Also, it's a place for people to play and gawk at their stuff, play toys for gadget geeks.
Microsoft may have some things, but Xbox and Zune is at every Walmart. What exactly do they have to showcase that isn't at the big box stores (Yeah, I know ipods/iphone is at walmart, but the notebooks aren't...)
Re:That's the market. (Score:5, Interesting)
Gateway stores would have been far more successful if you didn't have to special order and wait for a computer. Had they spent the cash and had inventory at their stores, I'm almost sure they would have made a much bigger impact.
There is one thing Apple has that few other consumer level companies give, and that is service. Apple Numbers has glitches? Call Apple or hit a Genius bar, and it doesn't matter if it is the hardware, the app, or the OS, they will at least try to fix it. They may not be perfect, but this is better for the nontechnical home user than the usual "call the hardware/OS/app/software guy, don't bother us" that is common in the PC world. This is also the same reason why IBM, Oracle, Cisco and Sun rake in the big cash. For production, people don't want to try to figure where in their stack the issue is, they want it fixed ASAP regardless if it is an app, RDBMS, OS, or hardware problem.
Had Gateway offered this service where people could come in with their machine, and someone would be able to at least point them in a direction, be it a broken app, software, Windows, or the GW hardware, I am almost certain the stores would still be turning a positive ROI. Of course, this would mean tacking on a price difference to afford this, but perhaps Gateway might have been better off as positioning as a higher end computer place with personal service, similar to Alienware or IBM/Lenovo.
My question is, what can Microsoft do with their stores to make them worth the investment? Some ideas occur to me, but they are not really consumer level. One of them is partnering with HP or another PC vendor, and having preconfigured, turnkey appliances ready to go out the door. SMB needs to go with Exchange? Hit the MS store, buy a rack frame, DC, Exchange edge server for outgoing/incoming mail, Exchange edge server for OWA/POP/IMAP, and two servers for the central hub mailbox storage. Another business needs a large document repository? Sell a preconfigured, ready to go tower with SharePoint installed, and some consultant service time to get it up and integrated.
Consumer level, it is a lot harder. Perhaps preconfigured/preinstalled PCs that have more than just the basic bloatware. For example, laptops that ship with Enterprise or Ultimate Windows 7 editions, Office Professional, a no nonsense corporate edition antivirus utility. Another example would be a PC in a Media Center/HTPC case that is configured with the latest CableCARD stuff, large capacity, low-noise drives and mountings. Finally, another example would be a Windows Home Server box from HP that someone can buy off the shelf and start using as backups. In all the above examples, the key to customer sat would be having some form of support, either by phone or in person.
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Informative)
Ok, that's a long wait. The first time I read that I saw "half an hour". I've almost never seen lines that long and don't they let you make an appointment and at least go shopping elswhere if the lines are that long? How about this, I'll tell my genius bar story, I think it's basically the same story only I look at it the other way.
I bought a new MacBook online. When it arrived it didn't work, wouldn't even turn on. I called Apple's tech support and they had me bring it to the nearest Apple store, also they made an appointment for me. I went to the apple store, waited a few minutes for my 'Genius' who took one look at it and told me he had to swap out the RAM, which he did. Then I took my now working computer home.
Would I rather that my computer had worked in the first place? Yes. Have I spent hours on the phone with tech support from every other imaginable company where they did absolutely nothing to help without first having me do things like "unplug it and plug it back in"? Yes.
Y'know what, I have another story. A coworker of mine bought a laptop from Sony. When it showed up it the camera didn't work. Not the most important part in the world but it's nice to have your new thousand-dollar toy work out of the box. So she called Sony. I have no idea how long this took. In the end their solution was for her to ship the computer back to them so they could fix it. Remember how I live near an apple store? I also work near a SonyStyle store. Instead of doing the fix there, or replacing the computer as I suspect Apple would have done, they had her wait several weeks for the item she had just purchased. Could she have pushed them to replace the computer at their store? Probably, but it wasn't their first response.
What I'm not trying to say is that Apple is perfect, but they have a better commitment to helping solve customer problems then lots of other companies I've dealt with.
I'm not sure what you expect to buy with such better support then. I'd rather wait 30 minutes to see a pretentious tech who can fix my problem than an hour for a phone support tech who spends three hours trying instruction manual fixes and can't.
Re:Look at Sony stores (Score:4, Informative)
and they can afford to staff it well with AVERAGE annual sales per sq ft of ~$4000
for comparison: Best Buy = $971, Target = $300
Average Mall Store sales (for other stores) are around $400 per sq ft.
ref from 2006: [ifoapplestore.com] "so Johnson then offered some comparison between Apple and electronics retailer Best Buy. An Apple store does 67% of the revenue of a typical Best Buy store, he said, in just 10 percent of the square-footage."
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What exactly do they have to showcase that isn't at the big box stores?
Geniuses. The complaining that goes on with PCs is that they have problems. Apples have problems too, but they have nice, friendly geniuses at every store. You don't whine about an Apple problem that lasts for six months, you bring it to the store and the genius fixes it for you right there, in the store. Microsoft needs to get support people in the field to do the same thing.
I don't know if it'll help, or if it's too little too late. People have 15 years of (mostly true) perceptions of PC's being "
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Um,
I don't know about you, but working for a company with that much cash laying around can't be ALL bad. If Microsoft is determined to do retail right (and I honestly have no idea if they're in it for the long haul...), they'll spend whatever money it takes to get it done.
See Xbox for a prior example of something Microsoft "couldn't possibly do as well as the other guys" that turned out to be lucrative for the employees involved. They've got the cash, so if you can get in on that gravy train, I say, more po
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An interesting thing is, Apple pays really well for retail - I believe the starting wage is $12/hr if you're just floor sales, and I believe the Geniuses get paid starting at
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Interesting)
Starting wage is over $17/hr at a nearby Costco. (I'm in BC, Canada)
Apparently it goes up quite quickly beyond that. Certainly makes Walmart's starting wages look horrible!
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Under a certain wage level, making more money can add substantially more happiness and freedom than simply being happy with what you're doing. YMMV of course, and being extremely unhappy with what you're doing can be exceptions too.
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Funny)
Money can't buy happiness, but it can get a reasonable facscimilie.
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Insightful)
I know MS isn't particularly liked around these parts, but how exactly do you conclude that these people will be less happy at MS than at Apple?
This is retail we are talking about. Sales people tend to be extremely flexible as to the product they try to sell. Its not like they actually have to use the products they sell.
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I don't work for Apple or Microsoft, and I'm pretty practical when it comes the merits of both companies' platforms
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One major determinant of job satisfaction is the reason why you work where you do, and if that reflects why people use each company's respective products, it'll go something like this:
People who work at an Apple Store work there because they want to .
People who will work at the MS Store will work there because they have to .
Re:That's the market. (Score:5, Interesting)
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>the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
In capitalism there is no devil, just your worth vs. what you can get in the market. I see a lot of sharp kids in the Apple store and theyre making what? 10-12 dollars an hour? If MS or whomever offers 15/hr then they should go for it. Both are faceless profit driven corporations who create and market products. Dont let emotions get in the way of a smart decision.
Re:That's the market. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:That's the market. (Score:5, Funny)
Yes there totally is, he's in the details.
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Yes there totally is, he's in the details.
Or in this case, the retail.
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In capitalism there is no devil
I see you've never had to work for a living.
Ethical Business Tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
Poach Justin Long, FTW.
Everybody has a price.
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"I'm a PC, and this is what I can really do."
Re:Ethical Business Tactics (Score:5, Informative)
It'd be a bit weird. See, the "PC guy", John Hodgman, has actually been a Mac user since 1984 - except for a brief period, which he summarized as:
Re:Ethical Business Tactics (Score:4, Interesting)
Having listened to the audiobook version of Hodgman's books a couple times, whenever I read anything that he has written, I cannot help but hear him narrating it in my head. He certainly has created a unique persona for himself ( I mean this in a good way.)
Re:Ethical Business Tactics (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, cause it's the milktoast hipster dofus that makes those commercials funny.
This is like buying Craig from South Park
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Gateway Stores (Score:5, Funny)
I remember Gateway stores were poaching from local retailers like Circuit City... the grass died on both sides of that fence.
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Maybe, but this sort of thing once killed Borland as a company (Microsoft poaching Borland employees), so this has worked in the past for MS.
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No, poaching Ashton-Tate (to get dBase) was the biggest factor in Borland's demise. Overestimating the power of C++ was another (i.e. delaying Windows versions of their products to write them in C++).
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Somedays... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Somedays... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish anything Microsoft does would still surprise me...
Yeah! How unethical of them to try to hire workers away with better pay!!
This isn't particularly newsworthy, I don't think it's unusual for retails stores moving into an area to go after the employees of their local competition. It makes sense for MS to go after employees experienced in the market they're entering, I'd expect they're looking for employees from any technology retailer, not just apple.
Heck, this is giant corporations competing to hire the little guy, this is the part of capitalism we're supposed to like!!
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I think people just find it amusing. You're not going to see Apple poaching Microsoft employees en masse, for example.
I don't think people are suggesting there's something wrong ethically with the situation. If MS can pay the employees better, that's great.
I can just picture the line of black-clad employees clapping and cheering and giving high-fives everytime a customer walks into an MS retail store...
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I think people just find it amusing. You're not going to see Apple poaching Microsoft employees en masse, for example.
I don't think people are suggesting there's something wrong ethically with the situation. If MS can pay the employees better, that's great.
I can just picture the line of black-clad employees clapping and cheering and giving high-fives everytime a customer walks into an MS retail store...
Though it wasn't long ago that there were some stories here about google poaching a lot of MS developers.
The reason Apple isn't trying to poach MS people is that Apple is the established player, they have their own people.
I'll agree that most people found it amusing or uninteresting but I think the poster I replied to was certainly reacting with an anti-MS slant.
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It's one thing for companies in a fairly diverse competitive market to do this, it's quite another when a convicted monopolist does it.
Re:Somedays... (Score:4, Funny)
Did you hear they are bringing out a tablet. And the Zune phone is all but guaranteed, to go along with there new Zune MP3 player, which has a big screen that takes up the front of the player.
That is new right? Nobody else is doing anything like that.
And, cue commercial... (Score:2)
"I used to be an Apple genius, but I SWITCHED!"
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Does it come with a free lobotomy, or do you have to smack your head into the wall 10 times?
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I think Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] got this one right.
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But why? (Score:5, Interesting)
First of all this is coming from a Mac user. In fact im typing this on my macbook now.
Evidently the Mac Stores outside my area are quite different than the ones here. Here they are rather pretentious sterile cubes with one or two employees willing to show you why you really need that $3000 loaded macbook pro rather than the $999 macbook so junior can do his homework faster. 3-4 other people standing around and one guy at the Mac Genius table arguing with a guy that dropped his Iphone in water and expects a free replacement anyway. I have yet to find any employees outside the genius bar that actually know anything beyond their scripted demo, and the guy at the bar is usually too busy explaining something mundane to be of much help if you do not have a scheduled appointment.
Have the "I'm A Mac" commercials permeated the consciousness of Microsoft to the point that they themselves feel that no one but nerds and suits use windows? What good is a mac entrenched hipster selling windows?
Re:But why? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a longtime Mac user and I say best of luck to those that jump for more money. Who can blame them? Times are tough and money is important for most people. Besides, there is a greater chance that those that are Apple loyalists who know the products well will stay. And it's not like there is a shortage of college kids for Apple to tap into to replenish the ranks. Maybe we'll even see better Apple stores with more direct competition from Microsoft. I don't see how either side loses.
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Perhaps they are hoping these guys will help shape the setup for the stores. Basically, they steal the way Apple does things with there stores, rather than having to reinvent it all.
So let me get this straight (Score:5, Funny)
I go into a Microsoft store, and what I can expect is... a store of people vastly familiar with the Mac but with little Windows experience.
Genius.
Re:So let me get this straight (Score:5, Funny)
It's all part of Apple's master plan!
They're letting these people get hired away. Makes Apple's tech support easier when someone can walk into a Microsoft store have someone get their iPod working with Windows 7.
interesting new angle (Score:5, Insightful)
It's interesting that they are initially hiring the managers, and not the salesmen, something which hasn't really been addressed in this thread. They're not after the salesmen, at least not initially, they're going after management. That makes one wonder if the motive is (A) to drain the management at apple or (B) to enhance it at microsoft? (or both equally?) Third possibility is that they don't care so much about the managers and are only interested in hand picking out the cherries in the retail or genius bar area as stated in the article.
All of this comes as no surprise to anyone. MS has already done what they do best, copy success. They did it with the ads, it only makes sense that they're doing it in the retail stores, best they can. It'll probably turn out as well as it has been for the most part lately... poorly.
Tossing my wild speculation into the pot, I'd say it looks like they want to see if there's something superior about apple's way of managing a retail store that they can assimilate into their stores, by way of transplanting a few managers over. The salesmen really don't matter in this, it's the managers selecting and hiring the salesmen that counts. There's too much churn in retail to accomplish much by stealing your competition's retail staff, and the gains are too short-lived. Should be interesting to see how this new application of "embrace, expand, exterminate" works for MS... (and I'm interested to see how Apple reacts to it? pay raises? no compete agreements? both?)
Re:interesting new angle (Score:5, Insightful)
It's so much cheaper to hire a manager, and ask them who their top sales reports were and hire them immediately, than it is to interview all the sales people and find out who were the best sellers.
Re:So let me get this straight (Score:5, Insightful)
While this is mostly true, it's also beside the point. Microsoft doesn't care about whether their hired retail staff will know anything about Windows. They already have huge market share. People buy Windows because they are either (1) too ignorant and scared to use anything else (be it Mac or Linux), or (2) they are gamers and have no need for people to sell them a Windows box, they'd buy it anyway. The entire point of these MS stores is to say F**K YOU APPLE. It is ALL about leveraging Microsoft's vast financial resources to hurt Apple as much as possible. They don't care if they lose huge amounts of money doing it. That is why Zune exists, why their advertising is all about underpricing Macs, why they propose opening stores right next to Apple Retail Stores, and now why they are actively trying to poach Apple Retail Store management. It is warfare, pure and simple, because Microsoft senior management knows they have lost the innovation battle. They've lost it for the better part of this past decade.
Many companies--not just Microsoft--don't simply use their wealth to generate more wealth. They also use it to actively deny their competition from succeeding. Profit is not the only motive in a free market. Sometimes--perhaps quite often--success is measured in terms of how completely and efficiently you are able to punish others for even daring to go up against you. You don't have to win outright, just make your enemies suffer more than you. And that kind of attitude is perfectly exemplified by what we already know about Ballmer's chair-throwing, monkey dancing personality.
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Microsoft doesn't care about whether their hired retail staff will know anything about Windows.
They will care once their own retailers start suggesting Mac OS X to potential customers.
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I'd definitely mod you up if I had points. This is classic Microsoft business strategy at work. They don't bother innovating to differentiate themselves, they just use pure muscle to try to smash their competition.
Re:So let me get this straight (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh please, give the pretention a rest. Some people use Windows because they prefer it and it works better for them. I'm not ignorant or scared, I just want to use software which doesn't exist on Linux and happen to dislike the OSX desktop. At home I have machines running XP, OSX, Win 7 and Ubuntu - but my primary machines (desktop & netbook) are both Win 7. Personal preference, doesn't make me stupid.
Good idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps this is the only way I wish my life was a little more like Dilbert
wrong approach... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why this will fail: Apple's staff are only able to do their jobs (selling Macs, increasing brand loyalty) due to the tools they have- the product. If Macs and the software that runs them weren't so fundamentally appealing to consumers it wouldn't matter who was walking the floor- nothing would sell. Apple's sales approach is distinctly hands-off anyway. If this is how Microsoft hopes to copy Apple's success, they are approaching it completely backwards. Besides, Apple's managerial staff typically comes stra
Apple to MS Transferable Skills? (Score:4, Interesting)
Lets see, Apple has top to bottom control, OS, Developer Tools, Software, multiple lines of hardware, services.
Microsoft has OS, Dev Tools, Software and ...........no iPod, iPhone, Accessories, Laptop or Desktop hardware worth speaking of at the moment.
Now just what is Microsoft going to be selling? $300 boxes of Win7 while Amazon sells for less?
Once the experiment is over where do the "Genius'" work?
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If the laptop hunter ads are any indication, the stores will be full of HP Products.
Re:Apple to MS Transferable Skills? (Score:5, Insightful)
>Microsoft has OS, Dev Tools, Software and ...........no iPod, iPhone, Accessories, Laptop or Desktop hardware worth speaking of at the moment.
Zune HD, HP laptops, Thinkpads, Office, Windows upgrades, HTC WinMo phones, Xbox 360, etc. The same way I can get third-party software and hardware at the Apple store.
They of course wont be selling any of these. Like Apple these consumer goods are props. They will be selling you a lifestyle. I expect MS to heavily promote the "home digital hub" solution theyve been talking about for the past 3 or 4 years. A Windows home server + Xbox plugged into the tv, Exchange at work, WinMo in your pocket, Zune in your ear, Win7 on your laptop, 25gigs of free skydrive space, etc.
I also expect classes on MovieMaker, Outlook, WinMo, Win7, Bing, etc to be big.
Essentially, its retail as advertising. As capitalism ages everything essentially becomes the fashion industry. All style, perhaps a chance of substance.
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Well, they have an ipod, the zune. They also have the xbox, lots of hardware. They are bringing out a phone and maybe even a tablet.
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kdawson sucks (Score:2)
Is this a bad thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
They're paying people more for their expertise. Why are we upset about this? This is really a stretch as far as Microsoft hatred goes on Slashdot.
They're looking for retail managers with comparable experience and offering them higher wages. Nobody has ever refuted that Microsoft was a better employer than Apple.
Re:Is this a bad thing? (Score:5, Funny)
This is really a stretch as far as Microsoft hatred goes on Slashdot.
Nothing is too big a stretch when it comes to MS hate on SLashdot. It is the rubber band that never breaks.
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Plus the Apple Stores have been an undisputed success story in a field littered with failure (Dell, Gateway, etc.). Microsoft is smart to hire folks that have some experience with what's been successful. I doubt it has much to do with what OS they use at home - heck, Microsoft stores may very well have a small space devoted to their Mac software.
I'm not a fan of the Redmond folks, but this looks like a smart business move on their part.
Re:Is this a bad thing? (Score:4, Insightful)
I suppose it depends whether you'd rather produce a quality product you can stand behind, or make loads of money by ripping off the public at large. The quality of the work has something to do with being a better employer after all. I know I'd rather work for Apple.
Re:Is this a bad thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I hear it's really fun when Steve Jobs wanders into peoples' offices and starts threatening them.
I'm sorry, but I work for money and benefits. I completely disagree about Apple making quality products- they are simply a well polished technology recyclery.
oh i disagree in measure (Score:2)
no really, i do. Or Win32 APIS will always be enough for everybody or something.. mumble mumble...
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They're paying people more for their expertise. Why are we upset about this? This is really a stretch as far as Microsoft hatred goes on Slashdot.
Maybe you read something in to the article? I didn't see any MS hatred at all. Only what you noted - Microsoft trying to hire away top experience from a competitor. If you want to read something nefarious (or hateful) in that - that's your baggage.
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I was talking about the comments, not the article.
Re:Is this a bad thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think people are saying it's a bad thing as such. I think most just think it's amusing and it perfectly illustrates how MS lacks innovation and just copies what other companies like Apple are doing, despite the best efforts of MS fanboys to defend them.
Instead of coming up with your own high quality products and ideas, just muscle in on other people's. That's the MS way.
WOW (Score:2, Informative)
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Be careful (Score:2, Troll)
The employees that receive those offers should be careful. Apple is deeply committed to their stores, they are not going to disappear overnight. On the other hand, who knows how long those "Windows" stores are going to be open? And what are those stores going to sell again?
If you jump ship now, you may very well end up with a stain on your résumé when one anonymous exec at Microsoft decides (for some reason) to close all those stores.
Bribery? (Score:2, Insightful)
It's About Interfering with Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
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I wonder if that's the type of thing that will be good for the sales of both companies. Sort of like having the "auto mile" where lots of car dealerships are. When you're in the market for a certain type of product you go to the place where lots of competing stores are. It makes comparison shopping easier. Instead of going online or to BestBuy a customer might just go to the place where the Apple and
One way to sell against Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
Birmingham Apple Store (Score:5, Funny)
Yummy... (Score:5, Funny)
Yummy, poached Apples!
Wait a minute, oh Apple employees. Well, I hope they're not boiling the employees in water or cider with cinnamon and sugar.
Good for Them (Score:4, Insightful)
Pay Them In Laptops (Score:2)
Non-free A competes against Non-free B (Score:3, Funny)
you'd have to be crazy (Score:3, Insightful)
thats like leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers to play for the Detroit Lions (with all due respect to Mr Foote)
Really like I'm going to leave the most successful retailer in the country to join some faltering companies crazy retail experiment.
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Doesn't Microsoft already do that themselves?
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the spirit of the non compete isn't to stop you changing jobs anyway, they are there to protect the employer from being raped by the employee eg. taking clients and information with them.
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