What Does Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment Prove?
Microsoft’s new ad push is called the “Mojave Experiment,” and the point is this: due to bad word of mouth, people have poor thoughts about Windows Vista, but when they actually use it (under a different name, Mojave) they think it’s God’s gift to operating systems.
It is true that Vista (which I admit I also have a limited, but largely positive, experience with) gets railed on by a lot of people who aren’t sure why it’s so terrible. But there is a reason for this: when Vista was released and people upgraded their computers from XP, stuff quit working. Hardware, games, everything: kaput.
One thing I have learned in my reading of tech blogs over the last year is that there is a disproportionate amount of anti-Microsoft and pro-Mac and Linux sentiment present in the higher echelons of the technorati. This certainly influenced my move to Mac, along with good experiences I’d had with Apple’s other products. But this anti-Microsoft sentiment has trickled down into the everyday user’s psyche, and Mac’s ad campaigns have certainly helped speed it up.
Microsoft’s counterattack is to get a bunch of Vista-haters in a room and show them a secret new operating system on excellent hardware in a very controlled environment for short amounts of time. Is it a legitimate measure of what a Vista experience really is? Of course not: operating systems are used for several hours each day, every day, for weeks, months, and years. After one bite of triple-chocolate cake, you make think you want the whole thing, but after thirty bites, you’re sick of it.
However, I can’t say fore sure that’s the case with Vista. I’ve heard Vista users who love it so much they can’t bear the sight of an XP machine anymore. After SP1 was released, a lot of the problems went away.
As a marketing gimmick, the Mojave Experiment could work due to the fact that there simply are a lot of people out there who think Vista is bad but have never used it. Getting some of those people to take a look at Vista when they head to Costco may lead to a change of heart. But Mojave may ultimately backfire when people realize that Vista’s name is in such ill repute that Microsoft has resorted to spending $300 million to trick people and show it on TV ads.
The Mojave Experiment proves one thing: Microsoft has been hurt by Vista and is desperate to stem the tide. It seems a lot of Microsoft’s moves lately have not been made from a position of power, but a position of sheer terror.
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