Still As Life

Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Watch has some really great advice in his top 10 recommendations for 2008. It's just a pity that chances are, Microsoft won't take much of it on board.

I particularly like number 2, and I think this is something that would be really beneficial. There is nowhere that properly showcases Microsoft products, and while I'm not a big Microsoft supporter myself, I can see how this is a big problem. Look at any of the Apple stores, or even Myers and David Jones, they all have big Apple showcases, with Apple products setup so that customers can try them out.

Sure, at say Harvey Norman, there are heaps of Windows computers setup and on display, but often times the sales people don't really know that much about the computers. If Microsoft could properly showcase all of their products together and show off how well they work together when they are setup properly, as Apple does, it would no doubt benefit their sales, as well as customer satisfaction, as they would actually be able to see how things should work together and setup their own purchases the same way.

There is a lot of operating system functionality and software functionality in Windows and other Microsoft products that people don't know exists or just don't understand, so it never gets used, or when it does, it doesn't get used properly.

In addition, the Microsoft website can sometimes be difficult to navigate when you are looking for help on specific things unless you know where to look. For many people this is discouraging and so they give up on things because they don't understand them.

If Microsoft were to open some retail outlets and improve help and support through their website and other retail stores, it would really help out their customer satisfaction and overall sales. If people are happy with a product or service, they will recommend it, and often a recommendation from a trusted person will be worth much more than any advertising campaign will be.

Perhaps I'm completely wrong here, but I don't believe I am. Go to Myers or David Jones, and the Apple section always has far more people around trying out the Mac's than the Windows section that has everything locked in display cases.

Last time I was at Myers, I counted over 20 people surrounding 3 iMac's, 2 MacBook's and 2 MacBook Pro's, the Windows section was completely empty. That's a big difference.

As Joe says, "Think simple. Be social."

Labels: rants, software, technology