Microsoft to Woolworths: Return the 360s we sold you; we'll keep your money

+1 I LOL'd

Here too...

God those a terrible times we are living in :(.

Circuit City was already in trouble even before the economic situation

Blockbusters closing for more reasons than Economic hardship, blockbuster sucks, they should've moved faster to counter the online rental, streaming and on demand services.

And how exactly could they have countered it?

Breaking people's PCs?
Crashing people's internet connections?

The whole world's changing. You used to be able to pop down to woolies to get some sweets for the kids, stop at the bank on the way back, and get a movie for later that night.

Now you can do... none of that.

But these stores aren't representing just YOUR goods, it is also other people's jobs.

Internet businesses are run by fewer people and get more money...and you like it because it is just EASIER for you...

Selfishness brings about social change. When the rich horde their wealth...

War...has changed

war... war never changes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv5BYEOQYLo&feature=related

The only thing that got the world out of the last global depression was a global war.
Scary, huh?

"Scary, huh?"

Indeed, but consider that we also got rocket science, nukular power, an amazing boost in higher education, and a whole host of other goodies. Don't wish for death and destruction, but it does have it's benefits.

Oy, what doesn't turn the world into radioactive ash makes it stronger.

I always suspected that was George W's motivation behind getting into more conflict in the middle east.

THe thing is, though, those retail outlets supply more than just goods to you. They are people's jobs. The economy is a whole network of threads made of jobs and goods basically, and when one thread gets loose, the whole thing starts to unravel. That is what is happening right now, and what has been happening for quite some time, actually. The pace is picking up

It's nothing new. The economy shifts, imbeciles complain about job losses in old sectors but always forget about the new ones. What about all those poor pony express workers displaced by the telegraph? Isn't it awful what refrigeration has done to the milk and ice delivery industry? How horrible, e-mail is ruining jobs in the mail delivery business. Trains are killing stagecoaches. Electronic banking is playing havoc on armored car deliverymen. Blah, blah, blah.

Research a term called creative destruction. When innovations displace older methods of doing things, it usually means the new method is cheaper and more efficient. Resources can now be shifted to other uses and we now get more with the same. There will always be transition pains, people lose jobs, go through the inconvenience of learning new skills, and maybe having to relocate.

The worst thing we can do is try and stop these shifts. It's tempting, especially in democracies, to try and "protect" jobs, but all we get are out dated labor and, in many cases, societal drains. Not all jobs are good, we can hire people to dig holes and hire more to fill them back in (known as government work programs), but we get nothing in the end. Retail workers are diggers and fillers now.

Maybe it's time they start preparing to work at UPS or FedEx, when online retail increases, more delivery people are needed to get the product to the door.

@laughingtarget Wow, very well said. I agree with you 100%.

@laughingtarget

That was an amazingly insightful comment. I don't usually comment but I just had to throw that out there. Kudos!

Bravo, LT...Bravo. +1

More like.

http://sadtrombone.com/

...and you grandmother died. She had a heart attack after learning that your wife committed a suicide when she found a dead cat...

I need scissors 61.

Yeah but the microsoft employee's who's jobs depend on the xbox360 do...

MS Xbox division isn't going to be having lay-offs

Woolworths was on shaky ground before this manufactured crisis. They died off decades ago in the consumerist Mecca, America and barely surviving in the UK. This is hardly a surprise. No well run, healthy business has yet to go under from an economic downturn.

Originally an American company but then became exclusive to the UK retail market, thus they are a UK retailer but *NOT* a UK national treasure as some idiots keep saying (including the reporters on the news).