I was looking for a mini-notebook the other day for my mom-in-law at a Best Buy when I happened to hear a senior sales guy telling a newbie the 411 on selling PCs. “You sell them either Vista, or, if you have to, point them to the Macs because those computers work. That XP stuff is old junk and Linux doesn’t work.”
Oh did I have words with him! And, as I talked with him, once more I was reminded about the difference between a used car salesman and a computer salesman: the used car salesman knows when he’s lying.
As our conversation continued I discovered that while he knew many people were unhappy with their Vista PC purchases — he told me most of them complained about older software and hardware incompatibilities — Vista was still the newest operating system so, it was, somehow, the best.
And, this mind you, was from someone who’ve I seen selling PCs at this particular store for more than five years. If this is what experienced sales help is like, God help poor customers who come in and just want a good computer for their money.
It wasn’t that this guy was shilling for Microsoft. It was that he really didn’t know any better. With help like this is it any wonder why good people make bad operating system choices?