So, when I read that Microsoft is getting back--yes, they used to have a store in San Francisco--into the , I can't help but notice they hired someone with 25-years' experience at Wal-Mart.

I can see it now, "Microsoft! Always low prices!" I will avoid the urge to take more potshots toward Redmond and just remind Microsoft that before Apple even thought of retail stores, I told Microsoft to open a bunch of their own. They were probably wise to not take my advice, but the store I had in mind would be very much like what Apple eventually opened.

Microsoft needs a way to help Windows users make the most of their computers, to learn how to podcast, edit photos, do basic accounting, and all the other tricks customers can learn at the . People also need simple technical support and a promise that if you buy a particular system it will do the same things when you get it home that it does in the store.

That need exists, but I am not sure Microsoft can fulfill it.

First, remember that in its space Apple is a monopoly of the sort people used to accuse Microsoft of trying to become. Apple controls its hardware, the operating system that runs on it, and many of the applications. So, when someone arrives at an Apple store, the company has a great deal to sell them, including the handful of third-party applications and peripherals it offers.