Mojave experiment: Vista from a different viewpoint

[lanux128]

it seems like Microsoft is trying a different approach to get Vista more endearing to the users. there is no content on the website yet, though.


from Slashdot

[mouser]

thank god Microsoft has figured out that the cause of people's problems with vista have nothing to do with the actual operating system, but rather that they just need more trickery in their marketing campaigns.

it's almost enough to make me think that apple's marketing campaigns aren't really the most vomit inducing.

[40hz]

thank god Microsoft has figured out that the cause of people's problems with vista have nothing to do with the actual operating system, but rather that they just need more trickery in their marketing campaigns.

I especially like how they've dealt with the embarrassment of low Vista sales figures by pulling XP off the market, but allowing you to "downgrade" a Vista license if you still want XP. Now all those XP sales have been magically converted to Vista sales, and XP no longer outsells Vista.

Man, with brains like these guys have they should be running for office.

Here's an interesting post about the whole Mojave "experiment":

Microsoft has managed to prove that if you have a friendly expert on a controlled machine (with Vista pre-installed) showing a carefully selected subset of Vista features to an ignorant XP user for a few minutes, the XP user will often say he finds Vista acceptable. Wow.

Full post at: http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/07/mojave-experiment-bad-science-bad.html

[Dirhael]

I don't think they will change public perception much with this campaign, but Vista is nowhere near as bad as many out there seem to think...and yes, many of those bad-mouthing it have not used it. Also, the Windows Vista you are using today is a far cry from the version first released. Could it have been better? Well sure it could, but for the most part I do prefer it to XP (for one thing, it's a whole lot better at multitasking than XP ever was). The fact that it actually deals properly/natively with wireless networks is also a big "+" in my book, because XP never did.

[cranioscopical]

Mojave -- no reason to desert XP!

[40hz]

Mojave -- no reason to desert XP!

Think "Sahara" instead of "sayonara" eh?

(I dunno. I think it more logical for a man to go to the PX to get dessert, rather than the other way around...)

But wouldn't it be more correct to spell it "Mo' Jive" rather than Mojave?

[Shades]

Mojave -- no reason to desert XP!

Yep...using Vista is probably just as much fun as eating sand. Or didn't I get it correctly?

[cranioscopical]

I think it more logical for a man to go to the PX to get dessert, rather than the other way around...

Now you're pudding my leg!

[cranioscopical]

Yep...using Vista is probably just as much fun as eating sand. Or didn't I get it correctly?

Not a grain of truth in it!

[cthorpe]

Desert puns aside... I do think there is something to this campaign.  I know a lot of people who bash Vista without ever having used it or seen it.  Heck, I used to do it without ever spending any time with the OS.  I was sure that it was a resource hog, slow, prone to crashes, DRMed, insecure, mean to children and puppies, annoying, bloated, uncompatible with all pre-existing hardware and software, offensive to old people, and a downgrade from XP.  I recently bought a new computer, and I'll admit that I was concerned about Vista coming pre-installed.  I even downgraded to XP shortly after getting the PC.  Once SP1 came out, however, I decided to give Vista another chance.  I had more crashes and problems under XP than I do under Vista now.  It is my OS of choice.  I'm not too proud to say that I was wrong.

Carl

[Stoic Joker]

I started playing with Vista back in its alpha days, switched to it shortly after it RTM'ed and have never looked back. I have no complaints... other than Zoom can't seem to write a 64bit driver for my modem...which is hardly Vista's fault.

There has been a rather intent poison-pen campaign going on with some of the Tech writers bashing Vista for no real reason other than to bolster their hit rate...and I think that Mojave was/is a rather clever way of MS to combat that tilde-wave of FUD. It also responds to Apples school yard antics in an "Adult" fashion instead of sinking to their level for a nose to nose (Double-Dog Dare Ya...) pissing contest. ...Even if I would love to see somebody in an MS T-shirt beating that little apple hipster to a pulpe...

[40hz]

I recently bought a new computer, and I'll admit that I was concerned about Vista coming pre-installed.  I even downgraded to XP shortly after getting the PC.  Once SP1 came out, however, I decided to give Vista another chance.  I had more crashes and problems under XP than I do under Vista now.  It is my OS of choice.  I'm not too proud to say that I was wrong.

I think one key factor here is that you bought a new computer. And I'm surmising (possibly erroneously?) that it is also set up as a personal machine and not wedded to an enterprise network?

Many of us who make our living supporting environments with multiple users and locations, mission critical applications, and "zero downtime" commitments feel very differently. And "pride" doesn't factor into it at all. I think that Vista may be fine for use as a  consumer product. But for general deployment as a corporate desktop, I'll have to keep my reservations.

I've worked with Vista since early beta. I'm a TechNet subscriber; I've read Vista Inside Out (not skimmed or referenced - read it); I own and use  the Resource Kit; and I travel with the Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant in my laptop case; I'm even comfortable navigating the registry and using Process Explorer. I only mention this to show I've done my homework and don't base my opinion on blogs or magazine op ed pieces.

Now it is true that Vista has gotten "better" since SP1. Or at least it did after some critical issues with SP1 got identified and sometimes worked out. But I still maintain it is problematic.

I'm not trying to bash Microsoft. (I go back with them all the way to MS-DOS 2.1). I think they are an amazing organization - smart, tough, and astute. But quite frankly, I expect more from them considering the brains and resources they have at their disposal. I can forgive them their mistakes. We all make them. But I will not make excuses for their products or business practices. I respect them too much to do otherwise.

Now I'd be ready to party if they guys over in Redmond were to say something like:

"Hey look people, we bit off a little more than we could chew with Vista and we screwed up royally. We weren't trying to create problems for our customers. We were only trying to bring you the greatest OS the world has ever seen. But in the process the thing got a little bit away from us. Sorry we dropped the ball. But we're going to make it right for you. And we hope you'll stay with us so we can prove it."

But they didn't say that. And they won't.

Microsoft operates under a siege mentality. "This is war - it's us or them" has been central to their culture since back when they decided they wanted the whole pie for themselves and went and pulled the rug out from under IBM and OS/2. So instead of some up-front dialog, we get stonewalling, waffling, and insinuations that we "don't get it."

So sorry if I'm  not buying into the Mojave argument. It's a choreographed event and press photo op. It's marketing - not tech. And if the argument for Vista SP1 runs something along the lines of "New and Improved - Now Sucks Less!!!" then I'll just keep XP for now and wait to see Windows 7 - or whatever they end up calling it.

And if that doesn't work out, there's always Apple OS X, BSD, or Linux to fall back on.

"We will get by." - Jerry Garcia