Opinion: Windows of lost opportunity

We've always refused to become an Apple reseller, with very good reason. It's not that we don't think the pretty Macintosh is a bad computer. Far from it. It's just that we know there's no trail of after-sales support calls to extract the last dollar from punters who buy one. We know this to be true, because we insist on supplying all our relatives with a Mac when they want a new PC. The last thing you want is a relative calling with Windows problems you can't charge them for.

So we stick to selling Windows PCs, to ensure that our customers are required to pay eternally for essential assistance. That was working fine until Windows 7 arrived. The phones have stopped ringing. No wonder Mr Gates quit Microsoft and dedicated his time to charity. Selling Windows 7 is pretty much the same deal. Peanut profits at point-of-sale and never hear from the ungrateful punter again.

We used to get calls about virus attacks. Quick-fix sale of some nice anti-virus software. Not any more. Anti-virus is built into Windows 7. We used to get calls asking for help to retrieve lost documents and photos. Not anymore. Backup is built into Windows 7. We could always rely on a few calls from anyone who bought a new printer. Not anymore. Install themselves don't they. And networking? Guaranteed after-sales income generator, was networking. Not anymore.

Windows 7 even figures networks out by itself. And even when it doesn't, all the customer needs to do is find a ten-year-old who knows how to un-install the network driver and reboot. Network restored. Lucky if the kid even gets a free ice cream out of the deal nowadays. Yep, here at Rabid Reseller we're pretty dismayed with Windows 7. What were they thinking at Microsoft? Don't they like resellers?

Mind you, the folk at Redmond do seem to like ISPs. The size and regularity of the updates they shovel down the line cause spectacular blowouts of all but the most gargantuan download quotas. But it's not just Windows. The whole Office suite is now so easy to use and stable that nobody needs help to publish their own picture book or prepare a complex budget that would shame any government. What on earth is going on?

The whole concept of IT is that it's supposed to be too complicated for anyone to understand except the experts. That's why they invented computer resellers. We are the experts. This is where you come to buy the stuff, and it's where you come back to when it doesn't work as advertised. Everyone knows that's how things are. We're fairly sure it's written into the constitution - or at least it should be. IT that just works is downright dangerous.

Can you imagine a world where PCs always work when you press the power switch, don't need any technical support and hardly ever break down? Stuff like that will just end up being sold in department stores.

Oh, wait...
Gotta go! Closing down sale!