The new Microsoft Store in the US has gotten a lot of press today with the entire consumer booty available - desktop software, the Xbox console and its related game titles, the Microsoft Zune, and all of the company’s hardware, including mice, keyboards, web cameras, and joysticks.

Hardware aside, the most significant part of this announcement for me is the digital downloads. You buy something like Office or Windows and you can immediately download the goods. That is the impact of broadband – it’s now no big deal to download a gig or two. Imagine saying that even 2 years ago?

Hang on to your Vista DVD’s – they’ll soon be collectors items. Trust me. 

Another angle on this I hadn’t considered that Mary Jo covers is  how appealing this could be to netbook owners who have a device sans CD/DVD. One thing that irked me about that post though is the use of “ESD” or electronic software distribution. Seriously, can you imagine Apple calling this ESD? (Trevin does go for more simple language on his blog)

If we’re going to have consumer appeal we have to lose some of the jargon. If I mention ESD to my Mum she’s more likely to think narcotics than software!