Washington — In a move that could herald of major changes in the software marketplace, in an attempt to curb down on its duplication, Microsoft last week opened an online store in the U.S, making it the fourth country that offers downloads directly from Microsoft.
Even though many of Microsoft’s products are liberally available to download from pirate networks and often advertised in spam emails, Microsoft has finally pinned a death knell for the practice of selling software on computer discs which buyers install on their machines, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant has opened a Microsoft Store on the Internet.
Steve Ballmer suggested that an online store was in the works a couple of weeks ago during a speech to developers in Australia, but forgot to mention that consumers would have to pay premium if they wanted to help save the planet.
Want to help save the planet when buying Microsoft software by eliminating the need for software in a plastic box, a plastic DVD and some basic printed materials?
Then you may well be interested in Microsoft’s new online store in the US, years after the rest of the planet discovered e-commerce, and after opening similar stores in the UK, Germany and Korea.
Announced in Trevin Chow’s blog, Microsoft’s Senior Program Manager, Chow explains that US customers “are able to buy first-party software and hardware directly from Microsoft offered in a comprehensive online catalog.”
The new Microsoft store, will sell a variety of Microsoft products, from Windows and Office software to hardware such as Microsoft mice, keyboards, and Web camera. As launched, the site has sections for Windows, Office, Entertainment, Hardware, Home + Reference, Design + Developer, and Business. You can buy everything from Windows Vista to a Zune.
The download option is being referred to as “Electronic Software Distribution” or ESD, which Chow explains; although anyone that has ever purchased any software online and then immediately downloaded it needs no explanation of the process or its benefits.
Chow in a blog post said: “buying ESD gives you the advantage of perpetual storage of your product keys.” In other words, Microsoft will store your product key so you can use it to reinstall your software at any time.
A price comparison was conducted on the Microsoft offering for some of its products using the list of comparative pricing sites are:
Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
Microsoft Store: $239.95
Viosoftware (via Bizrate) $165.87
Amazon: $222.99
Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1
Microsoft Store: $319.95
Royal Discount (via Bizrate) $222.98
Amazon: $249.99
Office Standard 2007 (Full: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook)
Microsoft Store $399.95
Software King (via Bizrate) $169.99
Amazon: $318.99
Most software packages can also be purchased for conventional home or office delivery. Xbox games are among the few titles that cannot be downloaded. Conventional hardware products, of course, must be shipped to the customer as well. As a side note, the site does not support tax-exempt sales at this time.
Microsoft also announced recently that it will release on online version of Office, essentially taking the software into the “computing cloud” as a service available on the Internet.