Owning at PC World

[heiowge]

There's a new outlet for PCWorld, Currys and Dixons near us in Chester. It does all manner of electrical goods at knock down prices. I decided to have a look see since I had a spare half hour before hospital visiting.

The shop's PC section had a ton of components and I was having a look at the PC towers, hoping for a barebones package since I was looking to replace my desktop at some point. I wasn't hopeful and when I saw the number of Windows PCs, I had a feeling I was going to be out of luck.

Next thing I knew I was targeted by the sales rep - a guy in his mid 20s. He asked what I was after and I let him know I wanted a system that I could build on without having to fork out for windows. I knew mentioning Linux was a mistake since I had to leave for the hospital in 5 minutes.

"You don't want Lie-nux, it's cr*p!" he spouted. "We had a netbook with that and no-one got it to do anything!" So I defended the side and got him to tell me what was wrong.

"You can't use MSN or Skype". I told him I had access to MSN and AIM and Facebook chat through Empathy, or Pidgin if I wanted. And I use skype every week.

"Yeah, but my machine runs windows 7 faster." When I enquired, it seems he was comparing a netbook with linux to his tripped out 8GB DDR3 desktop with a GB graphics card etc.

I told him that my PC dual boots and that my Ubuntu desktop is far faster than Win7 or XP on it. And that's with full Gnome. Under LXDE, it rips the snot out of it. Plus my Win7 setup crashes at least twice every time I use it. And I'm sick of malware and paying for software. I told him my whole PC budget would be blown on software if I went with windows.

He sneered about paying for AVG on linux. When I told him I don't bother with AVG as there were far better on linux, not that it was necessary since windows has something like 3000 viruses for every one linux has.

He replied with something like "ah, but every system has it's vulnerabilities..." I told him about the article a couple of years ago pitting Vista against OSX against Ubuntu at a hacking competition. And I beamed when I told him just how his favourite OS fared there.

He told me his tech guys wouldn't touch Linux and "they are fully trained". He didn't like it when I asked "By monkeys?"

I could go on, but I have to say for every argument he came up with, I owned him! I love messing with the under-trained. Imagine how he'd fare up against someone who scores more than 4 / 20 on the linux IQ test!

[Rhakios]

He told me his tech guys wouldn't touch Linux and "they are fully trained".

Well, they are fully trained to deal with computers with Windows on, so of course Linux would give them problems. I don't imagine for one minute that PCWorld are going to give their techs full training in the fundamentals of computer science. If they did, they'd be recommending everyone to install some form of BSD.

[bobthebob1234]

LOL should go in there with a laptop or something having just installed some *nix with just a command line stating it has a problem...

[RedWillow]

Next time you're in that store, see if you can find the same sales guy and tell him to check this URL out:

Guess which OS the PCWorld webserver uses!

[nelz]

Isn't baiting PC World sales staff a bit cruel, rather like poking small children with sticks?

[heiowge]

Maybe. But in his case, he started it! He deserves everything he got for keeping the argument going.

In all fairness to the guy, I admitted that windows had the edge in games and maybe a Mac with graphics apps, but as I told him, I have very low spec needs for graphic stuff and I have a PS2. If I can't even be bothered to get a PS3, why would I pay for the advanced hardware needed for games for windows.

Oh, and he told me about his PS3 hard drive that he'd filled up with download games. I told him that sort of thing worried me, in that if it goes down, he'd lose his downloads when they fix it.

His answer? Get insurance with PC World so they back up the stuff before fixing it. He didn't like me saying I didn't need to pay someone to back up my PS2 games if it broke as they were all on disc. And a replacement console cost less than the insurance!

[M-Saunders]

Hah. Go in next week in disguise, find the same guy and say you're contemplating either a £500 Windows box or a £1,000 iMac. I'd wager he'd suddenly tell you how Windows is totally pants, and good for nothing, and you'd be so much happier with the more expensive computer.

Then start an argument involving Amigas... and win

M

[AndyBaxman]

Isn't baiting PC World sales staff a bit cruel, rather like poking small children with sticks?

Nah, most children are far more intelligent

Nearly as much fun as baiting those irritating "survey" cold calls. The last one I had was obviously angling towards bombarding me with offer to change my electricity supplier, so I offered him the following information:-

Name: Mike Hunt
Address: Completely fictitious.
Age: 89
Sex: Female (He was either too thick, or too polite to wonder at my deep voice, and why my name was "Mike".
Current electricity supplier: I generate my own with solar panels and a wind turbine.
How much does your electricity cost? Nothing
Current gas supplier: Generate my own (Biogas generator using household and garden waste)
How much does your gas cost? Aside from the complaints from the neighbours about the smell, nothing.

And so on.....

Well, if they think its OK to waste half and hour of my time, I don't see any problem with wasting half an hour of theirs....

[Bazza]

Hi Mr Saunders...

> Then start an argument involving Amigas... and win :)

Ahhh, still the most elegant OS of them all.

And I still build and code for it... :)

[khakilang]

The sale people were probably told and trained what to sell and their income is base on that. No point argue with them because it is their company policies and the term and condition they had with Micro$oft or with any particular vendor. That is why I usually build it myself or if I can get it without any OS.

I wonder if I can buy a Mac without the OSX? What would the sales person face look like when I want to install Linux on Mac machine?

[Rhakios]

A good salesman will sell the customer what he wants (especially if he knows what he wants) rather than argue with him. Such customers are likely to return when they get what they want.
In the event that they know they cannot satisfy the customer, the good salesman will politely tell them so, offer some advice on an alternative vendor and leave the customer with an overall good impression. Argumentative little sh1ts will just attract people who want to bait them.

[heiowge]

I'll try and get a pic of him next time - just for open season!

[leke]

This situation reminds me of something I read a while back:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/micro ... /19152634/

And the test/training...
http://linuxinnovations.blogspot.com/20 ... es-to.html

I think BestBuy is like the Currys/Dixons of America

[CJLL]

"You don't want Lie-nux, it's cr*p!" he spouted. "We had a netbook with that and no-one got it to do anything!"

Yup, that half @rsed Linpus Lite rubbish. If Acer had done a better job like installing Ubuntu fully loaded then they'd still be selling them.

No one questions tablet computer's lack of windos, simply because they are not designed to look or feel like regular computers. And the unwashed public will willing accept very broken platforms - flash games on the iPad anyone?

[M-Saunders]

And the unwashed public will willing accept very broken platforms - flash games on the iPad anyone?

Huh? The iPad is broken for NOT having Flash? I'd say the exact opposite. Installing Flash breaks any platform, being such a buggy and slow piece of crap. And it's not like iOS is short of games...

M