The days of buying packaged software loaded onto CDs are numbered. Today, Microsoft quietly drove another nail into the coffin of packaged software by launching the Microsoft Store on the Web. After testing the software download store in Europe and Korea, Microsoft opened up its U.S. version today.
The store sells all Microsoft software from Office to Xbox 360 games. Instead of shipping the software in the mail, you download it over the Web. Just like you can download apps directly to your iPhone from the iTunes App Store, the Microsoft Store takes the same approach for its own PC and server software. (It does not distribute mobile apps or software made by other companies).
CEO Steve Ballmer hinted this would happen last week. But the company did not make a big deal about today’s launch, perhaps not wanting to alieante any of its retail distribution partners. . Microsoft program manager Trevin Chow put out the word on his personal blog, explaining the benefits of Electronic Software Distribution (ESD):
You pay for an ESD product just like you would for one that would be physically shipped to you. The big difference is that after your payment is confirmed, you can immediately download the product to your computer and install it right away. There is no longer any need to pay for shipping costs and waiting for the big brown truck to drive across the country. You’ll be able to enjoy your software almost immediately – all it takes is the download time of the product, which will vary depending on the size of the digital download.
The obvious fear for most users buying ESD products is not having the software on physical media to re-install the product at a later time. Microsoft Store solves this by letting you re-download the product until mainstream support for the product ends. Typically this is 5 years after the product is released. You always have the option of copying the downloaded products to physical media if you want to have it available longer than the mainstream support lifetime.
The store also sells Microsoft peripherals such as Xbox 360 consoles, computer mice and keyboards (those need to be shipped).
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good luck with that if you live in northern nevada and have at&t dsl.
we’re starting to have mainstream, everyday web applications that transfer data constantly and the good ol’ telecoms start clamping down on these ‘unlimited’ plans they’ve been hawking for the last decade. lovely.
my favorite thing to do is build an ecosystem and then make a policy decision that can effectively kill it right when it starts to blossom.
Is it running on Magento?
(just kidding)
It was realized too late. Luckily apple does not need a store, nor does linux. But why only for US Shoppers?
We actually have stores in the UK, Germany and Korea in addition to the U.S.
It takes an incredible amount of work to setup an online retail stores, especially when you factor in physical fulfillment. We’re doing our best to get to more countries!
Congrats Trevin!! I know you and the team have been working on this for quite some time.
-Bryan
Bryan Starbuck
It’s about time. Why does anyone still bother with packaging?
Anyway, I’m no Microsoft fan but I’m glad they’re doing this. Good move. Now they just need an embedded OS like Linux on a ROM in your laptop that will let you download and install Windows even if your HD is blank. haha
You mean I can’t download an xbox!?
So is this what was mentioned on CrunchGear yesterday as MS’s version of Valve’s Steam?
Funny that Microsoft beat Apple to it. Sort of.
I’d been expecting Jobs to announce that since AppStore for iPhone works, there should be one for Mac, too!
Of course, Microsoft is only doing this for its own applications, not for other developers. But since Apple ships a piece of hardware with no drive (the MacBook Air), they should certainly not have let MS trump them here.
This article implies that you can download XBox 360 games, which is not the case. Just Windows and Office at the moment. XBox and PC games still need to be shipped.
Currently, the bulk of products that are available for download are mostly in Windows and Office categories. However, we also have ESD offerings in other categories like Windows Live OneCare and Expressions Web.
Remember that this catalog is only what we have at launch and are constantly trying to bring on more products.
Also its not a big deal, I mean ADOBE has offered 2 options for years (one download now, two have the CD shipped).
Most choose download as its quicker.
I wish I could download GOW2 to my xbox… waiting for physical software sucks LOL
As Mr. Dorr stated above, you cannot download Xbox games (yet). Why do we need to do your research for you?
Don’t get me wrong, I think its great that Microsoft is doing this, but people like Valve and Adobe have been doing this for a while. So… great, I guess.. but not innovative or new.
Great strides one baby step at a time. It will be interesting to see how the phone/cable companies who provide the network to carry all this traffic eventually react to this as more of their bandwidth gets eaten up. I guess the consumers who are willing to pay for premium service - faster speed and higher priority (generally more bandwidth) might be charged more or that type of service might become more popular.
Or, maybe we’ll just get to the point where all of our software will be offered as a service. Back to time sharing?
Would not work well for my xbox 360 games. If I ever pay the $60 price tag for a game I know I can eventually sell the game on eBay. I doubt they will let me transfer over the title to anyone.
Then YOU are a PIRATE according to EPIC Studios’ president Michael Capps:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/a.....s-part-two
Great UI there… massive ad for Gears of War on the Office ordering page….
um what?
It has been taking far too long for more companies to start doing this. I much prefer downloaded software to packaged. The big benefit is the no need to put a CD in to use it. This is why I love Valve and Steam so much.
Just wondering what to do with the downloaded games for 360? How do you intent to make this available for games? Or is it going to be through Xbox live maketplace ? Apologies if this is a stupid question !. Coz at the end of the day , you will need to burn a dvd for the games , right ?
It should be cheaper to download it compared to getting the media sent out to you
Agreed. Although I would prefer a download, I think I would choose the physical product out of spite.
“It does not distribute mobile apps or software made by other companies”
Maybe there should be a site where it distributes apps by other companies…
Unless it comes with a cost deduction of at least 25% I do not see this taking off any time soon. I mean, if I am savvy enough to download it, I can download it for free. If I want to buy it over the internet, I can do so. So the only difference here is I get less value for the money - I get no backup, no security, no physical manual. So yeah… it better be cheap.
What happens in the event of a hard drive reformat?
In the case of a hard drive reformat, you’re able to go back to the Microsoft Store, sign-in, and re-download your previously purchased ESD products. You can re-download your products for the duration mainstream support lifecycle (which varies per product).
Your product keys are also stored perpetually in your Microsoft Store account, even beyond the mainstream support lifecycle.
Keep in mind that you always have the option to download your ESD products, and archive them to your own backup media.
Another nail in the digital coffin that bears our right of first sale :p.
“The store also sells Microsoft peripherals such as Xbox 360 consoles, computer mice and keyboards (those need to be shipped).”
Hmm. Was that a pun or were you telling us that they cant be downloaded digitally?
direct2drive.com has been doing this forever
I think Microsoft should do this long time ago, and too bad they don’t have the “app store” for their mobile OS.
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Still the same price? I would imagine the costs to come down when they don’t have to deal with that packing and pape literature. MS you sucker.