Introducing the Microsoft Store

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

William — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:55:41 GMT

I'm certainly very happy to see this - been waiting for it for years. I note that in the US there's been a Microsoft store for some time.. And yes, great site!

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

William — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:57:46 GMT

Just to follow up - just been thinking - it looks a tad bit terrifying - i mean, it looks extremely like the sort of "warez" sites you get in spam email! How are Microsoft going to be confident end-users aren't going to get conned in the confusion?

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

James Senior — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:43:50 GMT

Hi William,

Do you really think it looks like a Warez site? I don't - looks fine to me!

Which bits in particular are you talking about?

James

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

laurent — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:34:20 GMT

Great but what is the difference with http://windowsmarketplace.com/ ?

Another Microsoft store like.

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

Jas Dhaliwal — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:56:10 GMT

Wow!

Very clean and beautiful site!

Just wish the prices were a tad lower! ;-)

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

Mark Payton — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:37:53 GMT

Are you sure the thing's for real - entering the URL as www.microsoftstore.com returns a 503. I'm sure it's fine, but it's a little odd that the obvious URL doesn't redirect to 'emea...'.

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

James Senior — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:04:18 GMT

Hi Mark, agreed the URLs are not perfect, yet. Will feed it back to the team.

Cheers

James

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

Quikboy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:36:23 GMT

Nice. Definitely better than I'd expect of most Microsoft sites. Here's what I like :

- Clean and simple : Like the Engadget page. No busy graphics, lines, images, or whatever. Just straight to the point.

- Download option : Very eco-friendly

What I don't like :

- Lack of items : Microsoft's a huge company, and that's all there is to sell? What about things like Xbox 360, Zune, Webcams, Mice, Keyboards, programs like Encarta, OneCare, and a bunch of other stuff?

- UK & Germany only. Don't know why Americans can't purchase.

- No other small extras : Ratings? Reviews? Quick-loading screenshots and demo video? (bonus if it appears instantly, instead of new page). Makes experience much more enriching.

- No actual retail store : I want to see MS make spectacular retail stores. Full product demos live. Xbox 360 Arcade, Zune Zone, very sleek and awesome computers running Vista & Office among other programs to try out, Surface tables, real Help & Support area, among other neat things. Flagship locations in major cities. That's how you bring the experience closer to people.

- Other small UI things : Each item in a list should alternate in light/dark shade, to make it easier to read. "Windows" section contains a graphic of woman and child, which should be omitted (focus on the product, not pictures of people which can be distracting).

- Missing items - "Home + Money" has no Money products. "Design + Developer" has no developer products.

- Prices - I always though Windows + Office prices were bloated. My suggestion, if it means anything: One copy of Windows should cost no more than $250 (US). Each individual office program should be $20 each. Cheap, I know, but since it doesn't always come on computers that are bought, people who want to buy it should have a cheaper price. That way there's no need to resort to piracy.

That's what I have to say. Hope you can read it all.

re: Introducing the Microsoft Store

James Senior — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:40:26 GMT

Hi Quikboy thanks for all your great feedback, I'll make sure I pass it on to the Microsoft Store team.

More products are coming soon...

Cheers

James