Microsoft Teaming up with RadioShack 259
ViceClown writes "Microsoft is teaming up with RadioShack in a sweeping 5 year deal to set up Microsoft 'stores' inside RadioShack brick and morter shops. Customers will be able to view demonstrations and sign up for MSN internet access. "
There goes the neighborhood! (Score:1)
*MS*NBC (Score:1)
I remember back when MSNBC launched there was alot of assurance of Microsoft Corp having 0 involvement in it newswise...
hmmm...
Re:There goes the neighborhood! (Score:1)
So it goes.
boo (Score:1)
Then again, who shops there? Most people I know order parts online or go to other electronic stores. Most RadioShack employees are clueless beings.
More (Score:1)
It mentions that MS are investing $100Million in Radio Shack's web site. Surely some mistake?
Oh boy (Score:1)
*Example, I got a package of 4 telephone wire spicers at Radio Shack for about $2.00. The next day I got a package of 25 for about the same price at Home Depot.
makes sence (Score:2)
Radio Shack... (Score:1)
Sweet Man (Score:3)
Here are two reasons:
1) It have wished and wished for an R/C Car that had a 'start' button. Maybe it will even shutdown and require a reboot every two laps.
2) I always hate being able to go to a store that has all the cool electronic bits and peices I want but never carries a good copy of "learning Win98." I mean, who in their right mind solders breadboard chips and circuits without their trusty Win98 for dummies books?
-Davidu
An obvious attempt to doom Radio Shack (Score:1)
--- Dirtside
The History of Microsoft partners. (Score:4)
Spyglass was to share the profits from the sale of Internet Explorer.
Digital was to benefit from NT. (Oh, and NT was going to be VMS done right.)
Sybase was going to benefit from its SQL partnership with M$.
Microfocus was offered a deal. M$ was to take 10% of its cash across the whole product line so Microsoft would keep selling its COBOL product.
Microsoft has a history of leaving its partners in worse shape than before they started.
Now, I'm waiting for Radio Shack to get the short sticky brown end of the stick. Cuz thats the end most EVERYONE else has gotten.
Re:Oh, Good, an alliance of obsolescence (Score:1)
They do have this strange ability to have that ONE really odd part that you must have. Radio Shack has saved many an ass at any time (At least, the ones that have that big wall of electronic components).
Good for Microsoft. (Score:2)
This is a good thing for Microsoft to do. Creating partnerships is a good way to benefit from the markets that the other company has.
Hopefully Radio Shack did this out of their own will and because Microsoft told them that if they didn't Radio Shack would be out of business in 3 years. Microsoft wouldn't violate anti-trust laws just after the Judge released the FoF documenting their transgressions in they past, would they?
Nah...
-Brent--
Hahaha.. BEWARE MICROSOFT!!! (Score:1)
Tandy has a habit of blowing deals left and right. IBM sold their machines in RS, now IBM refuses to even let Tandy service those machines. Compaq has had much lower sales than expected in RS.
The incredible universe (iu), McDuffs (md), Computer City (cc)... all BLOWN deals.. one every 3 years.
RS market share is dwindling. MS just wasted 100M.. ohh well!
Pan
Good for Microsoft. (Score:2)
This is a good thing for Microsoft to do. Creating partnerships is a good way to benefit from the markets that the other company has.
Hopefully Radio Shack did this out of their own will and *not* because Microsoft told them that if they didn't Radio Shack would be out of business in 3 years. Microsoft wouldn't violate anti-trust laws just after the Judge released the FoF documenting their transgressions in they past, would they?
Nah...
-Brent--
Seriously though... (Score:1)
Match made in heaven? (Score:1)
--joe
Re:Oh boy (oops) (Score:1)
Also, does this mean that the RadioHack clerks will now ask for your email address too, so M$FT can send you junk email catalogs?
New Microsoft Radio Shack! (Score:1)
-PovRayMan
Re:*MS*NBC and other (Score:2)
On a slightly related note, did anybody watch the "Smoke in the Eye" Frontline episode a couple of weeks ago? It was a pretty damming account of the Big Tobacco vs. CBS debacle. It showed pretty plainly that the 60 Minutes/CBS lawyers didn't want to report a bad story about the tobacco industry so CBS wouldn't have a huge lawsuit in it's books when the higher ups were trying to sell it to Westinghouse. An excellent example of what can/does happen when giant corps own the conduits of the news.
More overpriced shiznit! (Score:1)
It won't be long... (Score:1)
Build Your Own Cable Descrambler and Windows Stablizer!
....For only 19.95 we will send you instructions that will tell you how to get hundreds of cable channels for free using parts obtained from any Radio Shack. New developments in the software world now make it possible for the same device to make your Windows computer run better than ever!! No more running all over town, get it all in one place!.....
Nose
-Common sense isn't.
Estimate of comments... (Score:2)
Oh goody (Score:1)
Guess it business as usual in Redmond (Score:2)
Right ?
I wonder why MS simply doesn't set up an online store for all their software ? It isn't like stores will stop carrying MS product if they do. MS could catch some of that margin for themselves. Like they need the money.
Well, if Win 2000 is as crappy as the RC2 indicates it might be, then they may actually need every penny they can scrape up.
Win 2000's DNS server managed to destroy all the domain records on my intranet (Linux 2.2.5 Bind 4) when I started it...that was a neat trick. I know everyone on the Internet will want that feature. It is time to upgrade to BIND 8 people. Worse Win 2000 Server didn't give me the option NOT to install its DNS Manager. Win 2000RC2 also uses 30% more RAM on my system immediately after a system startup. (104MB with 2000RC2, 68MB on NT4 same hardware.)
Oops, this turned into an anti-Windows rant...sorry. Then again Win2K deserves it more than any Windows to-date. Beta or otherwise
Still waiting... (Score:2)
That's the way buying computers used to work. You tried the Apple IIe, the Atari 800, and the Commodore 64 in your local department store, then picked the one you liked best.
Currently, consumers think they have no choice, Linux or no Linux, because they can't play with Linux in the store. If they could, then they could make an informed decision. Right now they have to go by the reviews on the Internet, which just isn't the same IMHO as actually getting down and trying the OS.
Now that all Intel instruction set based computers need not be the same, I think it's important to find a way to get Linux machines set up on display in major computer stores to help boost its growth even more.
They make a good pair (Score:2)
Radio shack is a retail outlet and might be a perfect host for Microsoft. Why would the software giant kill such a lucrative host that can push its warez? Radio Shack may be a poor place to buy parts (or anything else!) but they cater to the public and push credit so they may buy. Christmas shoppers and gift looking people for birthdays, etc., often find their catalogs attractive and take advantage of Radio Shack's offerings.
If you want electronics, there are many good places to find parts on the web. I'd rather take apart a television than go to the shack these days!
Re:*MS*NBC (Score:1)
KS
Is this interesting? (Score:1)
abcd (Score:1)
Seriously, why doesn't radio shack just die? Perhaps it's the same reason AOL is the biggest and most successful ISP? Oh well, it's not like anyone makes you go into radio shack while you're at the mall.
Re:*MS*NBC and other (Score:1)
think about it, if the story is reported by them first, then other news orgs will be less likely to make a big deal of it (since they weren't first), effectively giving MS an amazing ammount of spin control
Outdated... (Score:1)
You mean they weren't already? Sure, they've got stuff there that no one else has... because no one else will carry stuff as old...
Re: A little off-topic question (Score:1)
Re:Guess it business as usual in Redmond (Score:1)
Hey...didn't Apple....? (Score:1)
So what? (Score:1)
Sheesh. Might as well post "Coca-cola signs deal to put soda in every McDonalds," or "Hershey's puts candy bars in grocery store checkout lanes."
Yawn... (Score:2)
This turned out to be a big non event. It seems that the collective reaction has so far been: "So what?"
There was a lot of hype yesterday in the mainstream news. Both CNET and CNN were reporting breathlessly that some really really really big announcement from MS will be forthcoming tomorrow. Even Yahoo ran a little blurb.
It was going to be a major announcement about a mega-mega deal, I read yesterday, we promise.
And the announcement is ... [drumroll] ... Microsoft is going to sell stuff in Radio Shack.
Huh?
That's the big announcement?
By complete accident, I happen to find myself at www.radioshack.com earlier today (what a useless site, BTW). They had this splattered all over the home page. They had one of the fancy live webcast thingies going on.
Really, I must be missing something, but I don't see what the big deal is. The reason that only MSNBC is reporting on this, and only now, is because nobody else really cared about it, once they found out what was the big announcement.
--
Re:Is this interesting? (Score:1)
Re:Radio Shack... (Score:1)
Re:*MS*NBC and other (Score:1)
For the most part, the content of hard news is of little concern--most people are intelligent enough to notice if there were discrepancies between an MSNBC article and a similar article on the New York Times. The problem is the articles that they do print. Look at the MSNBC Slashdot response [msnbc.com] article. As was pointed out in an earlier news post on here, they took a few relatively meaningless quotes off of Slashdot and represented them as the ideas of an average Slashdot user. The result? Someone that reads the article thinks that the Slashdot community is a pretty inarticulate bunch--the average 'net user won't take the time to hunt through /. to find the article in question.
This, of course, can be applied to any subject. A version of Netscape has a security flaw? You can bet they'll slap an article up. The fact that MSNBC posts a relatively harsh article on MS when every other site on the net is doing the same? Not surprising.
~=Keelor
radioshack.com (Score:1)
Another sad day... (Score:2)
Now, Microsoft's ripping Apple off yet again (this deal looks disturbingly similar to Apple's Stores-Within-A-Store at CompUSA, Fry's, and Micro Center). It'll be interesting to see how they do this one.
Re:makes sence (Score:1)
If MS starts to make good revenue on this, they will eventually want more. That's how their apps started. They tested the waters of app developmenet, an found that they could make a lot more money there. So they use their business/marketing smarts to kill the competition and take over the market. You might see the same here, and RShack will take the brunt of it.
Steven Rostedt
Re:Match made in heaven? (Score:2)
Hear hear!!!! Because we all know what excellent, knowledgeble salespeople work at Fry's!
I'm glad I live 40 minutes from Fry's!
-----------------------------------------
My analysis (Score:2)
This is actually convenient. I can avoid everything at once.
Looks like they're pushing MSN stuff only (Score:2)
This is a pretty smart move. Selling Win98 in Radio Shack would probably not be a bit hit, but nowadays at least my local Radio Shacks are havens for clueless people who for some reason desperately need cell phones. Great audience for pushing the consumer connectivity stuff.
Re:okay... (Score:1)
Targeting the poor.... (Score:1)
On the surface unwise, but whats the real angle? (Score:3)
From the miniscule press release it sounds like they're trying to sell MS wireless and internet access but how many computers does Radio Shack really sell? Radio Shack isn't exactly the first place most people run to for finding an ISP either.
Microsoft doesn't usually make unwise marketing moves, so there's got to be an angle, I'm just not seeing it. Were there any other people trying to get their software or services in Radio Shack that Microsoft is effectively keeping out? Red Hat? Apple? AOL?
Re:Another sad day... (Score:1)
Re: A little off-topic question (Score:1)
Steven Rostedt
just like banks in grocery stores (Score:1)
than Microsoft can pop up inside of Radio shack.
No big deal I guess. Anyone know if MS owns or has interest in Radio Shack?
You forgot one ... (Score:1)
The comment that tells you what all the other comments will be about.
Steven Rostedt
Re:abcd (Score:1)
alright alright....I suppose if I start out at 2 I should actually have something to say heh heh
Re:Sweet Man (Score:1)
Microsoft/Radio Shack partnership (Score:1)
Shops in shops (Score:1)
Of course, Microsoft is a completely different animal and Radio Shack is at least in the same ballpark of supply but I still don't think it's a really great idea. Maybe as a stepping-stone for Microsoft to open their own high-street stores, just test the water first?
On an semi-related note, when I was younger, I heard a lot about how RadioShack(USA) was so cool with all this electronics stuff to buy. Their sister-chain here (Tandy) is pretty disappointing with electronics components stretching to audio cables, a few resistors and LEDs and some chips (that you would have to go to a proper component store to get the support components for anyway). As such, I was really looking forward to actually visiting a RadioShack in the States but to my dismay, it was almost just the same. Oh well, maybe it's just one more thing where I missed the window on when it was good (Like I hear that MTV was actually something to enjoy watching once upon a time)
Oh well, at least now there's plenty of Maplins (though they've started to get a little to heavily into consumer electronics) and Frasers (a small shop in Portsmouth with excellent stock and prices)
Erm, relevance? What's that?
Rich
Alternatives to RadioShack?? (Score:1)
Radio Shack employees (Score:1)
True story, from about ten years ago: an electrical engineering student buys a beautiful old vintage ('40's) radio and finds that it works fine except for the power indicator light bulb being burned out. Uncertain whether this particular model of light bulb is still being made, he measures the juice flowing through the socket (60V AC) and takes the bulb to the local Radio Shack, hoping he can just pick something up without having to mail order it (waiting several days and paying shipping for a $0.60 part being a pain in the neck). He asks the clueless clerk whether they stock a replacement bulb; the clerk can't find anything with that model number in their catalog, at which point the customer mentions that it had 60V AC going through it. "Oh, that explains it," says the clerk. "We only have DC light bulbs." The student goes back to the dorm and tells his roommate (me) this story. I fall over laughing.
The buried point... (Score:3)
"...found a home connectivity partner, offering not just services but innovative technologies as well.
Where else in the country is there a place to go specifically for "home connectivity"? I know my house is connected, but I did that myself from hacking together DSS, Cable Modem and a nifty little p90 linux gateway. But what do you do when you're joe schmoe, and don't have the knowledge to do it yourself?
Now the average guy may have somewhere to go to get it all in one package. Sprint, Microsoft, RCA, etc... One stop shopping for all the hardware and software to wire your home. All run by a simple Microsoft interface.
This may actually be a good thing. Something my mother could do. What's easier to understand? This:
1) install linux
2) configure network scripts to run dhcpcd
3) Setup dhcpd sever on eth1
4) ipchains -q
5) debug terminal
6) and the list goes on...
or this:
1) push power
2) push start button.
3) Something bad happens, repeat.
Us dorks might have Architecture issues with the system, but the average guy just wants it to work.
"You want to kiss the sky? Better learn how to kneel." - U2
"It was like trying to herd cats..." - Robert A. Heinlein
Re:*MS*NBC (Score:1)
I first noticed the story via my CNNfn Slashbox (the MS-phobic can, at least temporarily, peruse CNN's 12:10 Redmond-time take here [cnnfn.com] -- there's no time stamp on the MSNBC.com story, but surely they had no "world exclusive"). While I'd love to put MSNBC in the conspiracy-theory in-box, I'm pretty sure this story (actually a Waggener Edstrom press release [tandy.com]) reached every organization at roughly the same time.
--
SHACK (Score:2)
SHACK, after all, evokes imagery of a crappy,
run-down, outhouse type of thing. Well, it's
appropriate but not a very strategic marketing move.
I think Microsoft should change their name
to reflect the partnership. Junk-ass-stuff, or
Dubious-Morals-Software, Inc. Something like that.
------------------------------------------
yes (Score:1)
Whoops!! correction... (Score:1)
3) If something bad happens then repeat.
I do not mean to imply that something bad *would* happen each time the box was turned on. =)
"You want to kiss the sky? Better learn how to kneel." - U2
"It was like trying to herd cats..." - Robert A. Heinlein
Re:Match made in heaven? (Score:1)
Just do what I do (Score:1)
Me: Cash.
Cashier: And how do you spell that, Mr Cash?
Me: Cash. I'm paying you with cash.
Re:The buried point... (Score:1)
M$:
1)push power
2)push start button
3)something bad happens, goto 1 (indefinitely)
or Apple:
1)push power
2)start surfing
Re: A little off-topic question (Score:1)
Yeah, but Digital bought into the whole NT thing.. They even ported NT to the Alpha.. Digital, the once mighty minicomputer giant, then started losing a lot of money, and were bought by a PC company.
-joev, former DEC employee, who actually worked in Digital's NT marketing group...
Actually, I forgot two... (Score:1)
Worst of Both Worlds (Score:2)
public class SlashdotRant
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{ String microsoft, radioshack;
if ((microsoft == overpriced_software) && (radioshack == overpriced_hardware))
{
microsoft + radioshack = worst of both worlds;
}
else
{
System.out.println ("It's still not worth it. Shop somewhere else.");
}
}
}
Woohoo. Posting in java. I feel like a geek, and I love it!
The humanity! (Score:2)
1. Lie.
2. "Sorry, that's not something I have to give you. If you want to push it, I'll take my business elsewhere."
Number one has the effect of pissing off the schlepp that lives in my old apartment. Number two has always gotten me out quick, with item in hand.
Seriously, I fail to see how this is a good thing. Bookstores and computer stores are already swamped in MS books and paraphenalia- a partnership w/ RS is only increasing their reach into one area they don't control. Isn't this spreading the monopoly?
When I think "quality", MS is the last thing on my list- why RS would want to promote a substandard product is beyond me. Since the whole environment of the store seems to be more for electronics hobbyists and people trying to connect their cuisinart to their Dreamcast through their Amiga, one would think it an ideal environment for Linux.
Combining a desktop monopoly with the vast database of customers that Radio Shack has is a disturbing thought. Microsoft wanting to get their mitts into that, possibly? Ouch. "Sympathy for Microsoft!" junk mail, anyone? Anyone?
Only Death is Silence.
Acceptance is Surrender.
Re:*MS*NBC (Score:1)
i wonder if MSNBC is *obligated* to hype every lame MS press release.
Re:The buried point... (Score:2)
I've recently come to realise the wisdom behind a teacher's quote at my old school.
"The man in the street? Sometimes, I wish they just left him there!".
The sensible point behind the quote is that it's not necessarily the case that having all ignorant - or I should say, unknowing - folks coming to Linux is a good thing, rather that there will be some to whom other packages are better suited. Simply because, Linux wouldn't be Linux with that sort of market-awareness: the whole thing could go down the pan pretty fast, as it hits the increasingly-commercial arena.
Where are the geeks yelling 'let's keep linux free!'? (Apart from me, that is
Re:makes sence (Score:1)
engineers never lie; we just approximate the truth.
Re:Oh, Good, an alliance of obsolescence (Score:1)
Windows 95/98/2000 kernel is older than Dirt (Dirt, of course, having been invented in 1994, just after MS-DOS 6.0
Gee when did the linux kernel get made? When did Unix get invented?
Oh hang on, all those things actually have improvements over the years - even the *evil* microsoft empire seems to continue development on the NT kernel.
It'd be better for everyone ... (Score:1)
(o.k. a cheap shot, I couldn't resist)
Re:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
Radio Shack the lacky (Score:1)
Also is mine the only Radio Shack where the employees think they know everything, but know nothing. I HATE getting into arguments with Radio Shack employees. I could go in there and say I am going to invent an Astral Demoleculizer to travel to another dimension and the employees at my radio shack would insist that I am buying the wrong parts to make it work even though they obviously don't know anything about Astral Demoleculizers they feel the need to be right. It really annoys me.
*NOTE*: If you are with a Government agency I do not know anything about Astral Demoleculizers and have by no circumstances built such a device and traveled to PS389 to read the blue book. Honest.
Re:Alternatives to RadioShack?? (Score:1)
Maybe in order to be successful in that market, you have to relentlessly collect addresses and phone numbers of your clientele.
Re:*MS*NBC (Score:1)
Re:Radio Shack employees (Score:1)
Someone has led you awry (Score:2)
Radio Shack has always sucked, as has MTV. Ok, at one point back in the early 80's MTV sucked _less_ but it still sucked.
Microsoft has always sucked too, so I can see the commercials now:
Hey! You got your Microsoft in my Radio Shack. No, you got your Radio Shack in my Microsoft! (voice over) MS RadioShack! Two sucky things that suck tgoether!
This is not so bad... (Score:2)
I guess what I am getting to is this - just because it is Radio Shack and their 6000+ stores does not make this a good deal for either party. RS is becomming more and more of a K-mart/TG&Y like place. You ain't gonna find the top quality stuff there, and everybody knows it. If MS wants to be associated with that image, more power to them.
Re:There goes the neighborhood! (Score:1)
Not die, just change (Score:1)
Re:SHACK (Score:2)
Re:Alternatives to RadioShack?? (Score:1)
Anything that I'd buy at Radio Shack, I'd rather buy somewhere else. I only shop there if (for some reason) I need to buy inkjet cartridges and I don't feel like going all the way to the local computer store.
Re:Not die, just change (Score:1)
Re:okay... (Score:1)
What does this really mean? (Score:1)
$5 says those Radio Shack batteries stop working in my Palm Pilot, and will only work in a wince device.
So will Windoze be OEM'd as ``Realistic OS''? (Score:2)
Get real!
Get Realistic OS!
;)
Radio Shack (Score:1)
The last time I walked into a Radio Shack was last year, and I was looking for some cat5 cable... I asked the man working the counter if they had any eternet cable, and he looked at me, puzzled, and asked "Internet cable? I don't think we have that."
Ugh. The microsoft deal seemed inevitable, or at least something like it was. Radio Shack is no longer the place it used to be. It's kind of sad.
Top Ten annoyances at the new MicroShack... (Score:2)
9) Sound level meter now constantly asks "Are you sure you want to use that decible setting"?
8) RC cars now automatically attempt to seek and destroy nearest DOJ agent.
7) Old Tandy computers are back, running Microsoft BobCE (tm) as ther OS. Dual processor models availaible, in the BobCE Twin model...
6) Now asked for name, address, and full list of licenced Microsoft products in house.
5) Salesmen required to wear Microsoft Bob masks to appear more friendly.
4) Required to show proof of MSCE to buy most electronics.
3) Radio Shack computers now overpriced and unreliable - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
2) New Microsoft demo of Microsoft Laser Pointer 2000 accidentially blinds entire mall security force.
1) New toy of the year - RC Paperclip.
Re:The buried point... (Score:2)
while(1){
system.Reboot();
}
There *IS* something in it for Microsoft (Score:2)
It's the connectivity, stupid! Microsoft has invested millions already into companies that provide cable modems... they have also invested heavily in DSL companies such as Northpoint, who signed a deal with Tandy/Radio Shack to market their wares in Radio Shack.. what that means is that Microsoft's fledgling DSL service can work with Northpoint's national DSL service in offering high-speed connectivity across the nation, and of course the default ISP for these "great deals" will be MSN. Radio Shack will have their own install trucks and personnel to bring DSL to the masses, probably using the newest, most consumer-friendly type of DSL which allows respectable bandwidth and telephone calls over the same line. In other words, Microsoft wants to dominate your desktop, your web browser, your gate way to the net, and even make a profit off of getting you connected.
Contrary to what some people think, DSL is a good thing, and getting a lot better real soon. Sure there is the possibility of fast access on cable modems, assuming that all your neighbors don't want on the 'net too... but do you really want to share your bandwidth (and your "secure" network) with Billy down the street? Already, there is information showing that DSL is faster than cable modems during evening hours. Why? Because little Billy is watching that streaming porn again...
Personally, I hope a lot of you are right and that this flops, but I suspect that many drones will jump on the bandwagon once the price range hits about $40 a month... Hey! They can offer three months of free service with every upgrade to Windows 2000! Whee. The idea of using a good DSL modem to deliver MSN is kinda repulsive, no?!? It's like racing your new sports car with the great paint job over gravel roads. Pretty grating...
Tandy 2000: Microsoft already fucked 'em once (Score:2)
The Tandy 2000 featured an 80186, which is an 8086 with built in UART and DMA controller. The Tandy 2000 also featured a 640x480 color display at a time when the CGA was standard. All in all, it was about 4 years ahead of its time.
I remember a strange thing about the announcement: it was "85% IBM compatable." Huh? Who would make a "sorta compatible PC"? What software would it run reliably?
Well, it would run all this great new software for a new environment called "Windows." The slight differences in hardware would be hidden by "drivers." Cool, huh?
Except Microsoft didn't ship Windows 1.0 in time. When it did, it sucked. Worse yet, Microsoft decided to put Windows on the backburner in order to produce a new operating system with IBM called "OS/2."
The net result is that Tandy ended up with a warehouse full of Tandy 2000's they couldn't sell. It put them out of the computer business pretty much permanently.
The IBM PC didn't kill the TRS-80, Microsoft did.
Makes perfect sense (Score:2)
Microsoft sort of provides the same users experience in software.
lessee (Score:2)
1) the desktop client
2) the server
3) the proprietary protocols
4) the physical stores
that doesn't sound a like a recipe for choice to me...
Match made in heaven... (Score:2)
Y'know, Radio Shack has had so many chances to be a really good, useful store, and they have screwed it up horribly every time. They could have been a great parts repository for people into electronics, a/v, and radio, but the substandard quality of the parts and their blockheaded sales staff truly makes the Rat Shack a last resort for even the smallest purchases (yeah, I'll grit my teeth and go in there for the RCA Y-cable, coz its faster than mail order...)
Likewise, Radio Shack has been around since the very beginning of the personal computer revolution - I wrote my very first program around 1980 on a TRS-80 Model III - but they've just never seemed to "get it". They could've made a killing if they'd jumped the gun selling good quality PC accessories rather than overpriced "Tandy" brand (aka Tandy crashtastic floppies for $30+ a box).
And I just can't resist adding yet another rant about their policy of polling customers for name and address. My last Rat Shack experience was as follows: I needed a pair of mid-range headphones in a hurry, and RS was conviently located. Bought a pair of headphones for ~$40 US, took them home, and one channel didn't work. Went back the next day for an exchange - this time I tested them in the store. ANOTHER defective pair! At this point, I wanted my money back, but had to argue with the salesbeing for a while because it wouldn't give me a refund until I divulged my name & address. When I finally revealed my identity as "Zarathustra Rosenthorpe", the salesbeing finally relented.
As far as the Microsoft partnership is concerned, the deal may get them a little more exposure with Random P. Consumer, almost certainly at the expense of a further tarnished reputation. I expect to see MS displays popping up in McDonalds and 7-11 any minute now...
Re:Another sad day... (Score:2)