Microsoft

[Brian Ellis]

MS's announcement they are going into the retail computer business, so they can push their own software, seems, to me, that it is unlikely to work. Customers may not like being restricted to MS-supplied software and I suggest that installing anything else that is not MS-approved will void their guarantee.

The retail computer business is hairy (cf. Circuit City, Gateway etc.). I doubt whether they can be competitive.

[Dr Mordrid]

Wrong segment, wrong time.

Doomed as surely as Zune is.

[cjolley]

I thought it was Apple's decision to produce a closed system so as to capture hardware profits that lead to their niche market position.
It would be passing strange if MS went the route Apple did back when MS won the platform war against Apple.

[Mehen]

This might work out OK - might mean a lot less crappy third-party software on store bought machines.