Microsoft Company Store — Local services in Redmond

I've been here many times, as I lead tour groups. They are always disappointed. Then again, why does Microsoft need a visitor's center when everyone already knows about them?! So, it's a nice gesture - at best. Here is a basic rundown of what to expect:

There is a quick museum style window with a timeline of a few items including the atari and VHS stuff. Then there is a posterboard type picture of the original Microsoft guys - Gates is so young! Then a pic of them as a team now. There are interesting facts about each person. Then you proceed to a bank of laptops for use, I've done a few emails there, but it seems that often a compute isn't connected to the internet and you have to go to another one (if available). Then there is a small group of phones and mp3 players etc, and a few video game consoles where games can be played (that seems to be where all the students end up until it's time to go). There are a few other displays that have some interesting features to them, but nothing mind-blowing or amazing like one would expect from Microsoft.

Across the hall is a tourist/trinket store where you can buy your shirt/pens/waterbottle etc. That's it. What I wish is that they at least had a cool 'Microsoft' displayed somewhere in front of the building or something. My groups always want to take a group photo at Microsoft, but there aren't any decent places to do this that actually have 'Microsoft' displayed where we can all gather around it, smile and show our friends/family back home where we were.

Anyway, I don't fault MS for a lame visitor's center. They don't need it. I appreciate at least that they have something - and if they charged for it they would definitely need it to be a lot more interactive and interesting. It's about what I'd expect for something free and unnecessary for their...

Was invited to a conference through a Dyslexia group to discuss assistive technology. Teachers, parents and children attended. It was very nice for Mircosoft to host, but there were a couple things amiss. I found it odd that two different presenters made a point of telling their visitors how lucky we were to be at the Microsoft campus. It came off quite arrogant and pompous. They then offered limited snacks (not enough for the size of crowd attending) and then openly shamed parents for taking too many. I wasn't there for snacks and didn't partake in them, but found it odd that Microsoft made it such a big deal. Either graciously offer the snacks and make sure you have enough for your guests or don't offer them at all...but don't shame them. They also offered school supplies to the children there, but again, used a shaming platform and said "If you're not in need (what does that even mean in this scenario?) then please don't take them. How would the children or adults be able to decipher if they are in need or not? It's back to school time and kids "need" school supplies. These people were your guests and you treated them like they should walk on eggshells. If you're going to offer something, be prepared to accommodate those you invite and have enough for those invited. Don't put ambiguous stipulations on what's meant to be a gift and make people feel uncomfortable. However, Microsoft had no problem showing us their store and making sure we were in the market to spend money there. You can do...

Honestly, it left much to be desired. The small section that goes over the history and future of Microsoft is cool in some ways, but not as impressive as it could be. It, in many ways, feels like an afterthought. The store right next to the visitor center has decent pricing on a lot of different Microsoft swag, such as shirts, backpacks, pencils, mugs and anything else you can plaster a logo on.

My biggest issue and concern is they show off a lot of cool hardware/software in the visitor center, yet non-employees aren't able to buy either. No Surface, No Xbox, No Phones, No Windows, No Office and No Games. While I understand to an extent not offering a huge variety, it would have been nice to have the option of buying at least hardware there. Employee remarked, "You'll have to go the Microsoft Store in downtown Bellevue."

The area itself is pretty cool as a fan, but is very small and I can't picture myself being there longer than 20-30 minutes. For being such a big mark on the technology industry and Bellevue/Redmond itself, it would have been cool to see more history & insight into the tech giant.

You can do...