Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has admitted defeat in part by announcing that it will have customer service specialists inside retailers like Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) to ensure PC customers get help with all their questions. Apparently, floor associates from those retailers and others just aren't the kind of experts Windows Vista needs to keep prospects from buying Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) machines.

You see, Apple staffs its own retail stores with "Geniuses" who really know Apple products inside and out. On a few recent visits to Best Buy, there were some very knowledgeable sales associates (who seemed very passionate) helping customers "see the light" when it came to Apple products. In those same visits, different associates seemed blase about all the different desktop and laptop PCs that used the Windows Vista operating system. It reminded me of a non-commission salesperson trying to steer a customer into a Chevy Cobalt or a Nissan Sentra. Who cares as long as a sale is made, right?

The newer Microsoft reps inside retail stores is part of the software giant's $300 million marketing campaign that involves a rather stupid Seinfeld-shoe store ad and these new "Microsoft Gurus" inside stores -- all 155 of them. Microsoft's Tom Pilla said that these new gurus won't be paid on commission, but on their "ability to translate the technology to a language consumers feel comfortable with ... there's an ease-of-use I don't think we've done a great job of communicating when (customers are) using Windows and when they have Windows in their lives," he said.

Very well said, Tom -- I don't think a single Windows customer I know considers the operating system technology sexy or inherently comfortable -- but just plain boring yet functional.