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In Search of Microsoft GeniusesWhy the software giant should copy the Apple Store.

By Farhad ManjooPosted Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, at 6:31 PM ET

Windows logo. Last week, Microsoft announced it had hired David Porter, a former executive at DreamWorks and Wal-Mart, to lead its new retail division. It took about five seconds for the jeers to begin. Wait, Microsoft is opening its own stores? Seriously? Retail stinks; nearly every company on Earth is looking for places to trim, not to open more outlets. And then there's the fact that, once again, Microsoft is ripping off Apple. After the spectacular failure of the Zune, shouldn't they reconsider carbon-copying as a viable business plan?

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But let the critics carp. Microsoft's plan is smart. Though the company hasn't settled on the details of its strategy—Porter is charged with deciding when, where, and how to launch the retail operation—opening up a chain of shops could revitalize the firm's battered image. Microsoft has a problem: Everyone in the world uses its products, but few of us appreciate them. We linger on the difficulties—how much of a hassle it is to connect a printer to Windows Vista—and we forget about everything it does well. Excel is a pretty great spreadsheet program, isn't it? And Windows Vista does have a nice photo-management app, right?

These sound like small pleasures, but so what? Apple's retail operation is built on such trifles—one display shows you how easy it is to manage music on your Mac while another shows you all the useful programs you can download on your iPhone. With the help of a well-trained, enthusiastic staff, these demos add up to something sublime—walk through an Apple store and you're bowled over by elegant simplicity. Apple's stores reintroduced a generation of jaded Radio Shack and Circuit City shoppers to all that's pleasurable about technology.

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The world's largest software company needs some of that retail magic in the worst way. Microsoft has lately been pushing the idea that many of its troubles stem from a misunderstanding—that its customers simply don't realize how awesome its products are. Last year's strange Windows "Mojave" ad campaign argued that people would love Windows Vista if only they could be tricked into trying it out. This was laughable; customers who adopted the latest version of Windows were plagued by real difficulties: It didn't work with a lot of their hardware and software, it kept bothering them about security violations, and it hogged their system's resources. But Microsoft has since fixed many of those issues, and its upcoming Windows 7 looks to be a wonderful OS. What Microsoft needs now is a way to get that message across—and without coming off as needy and defensive. A chain of retail stores is an expensive way to reintroduce your wares to customers. But if the stores are well-designed, they'll be much more effective than commercials.

Let me be clear about what I mean by "if the stores are well-designed": Microsoft ought to copy Apple. And I mean a straight-up facsimile—copy it relentlessly, unabashedly, and completely. (Some might say this has never been a problem for the software giant.) There are a few successful ways to run stores devoted to technology, and there are many unsuccessful ways. Microsoft has already sunk money into a failure: In 1999, the company opened microsoftSF, a retail location in San Francisco's Metreon shopping mall. The store, which had the sleek design of a modern-art-museum shop, was filled with interactive displays, Microsoft knickknacks (clothes, hats), and boxes of software. What it lacked was personality—especially a gregarious, knowledgeable band of employees to help customers learn about the company's products. I don't think it's a coincidence that the store closed down just two years after its debut.

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Farhad Manjoo is Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society. You can e-mail him at and follow him on Twitter.

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