Mojave Goes Prime Time
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News Brief. OMG. I saw a "Mojave Experiment" TV commercial on Scifi HD last night. |
Either, I don't watch enough prime-time TV, or Microsoft suddenly has two broadcast advertising campaigns for Windows. Either way, this is a shocking development. It's exactly what I didn't want to see from Microsoft: Mojave Experiment as advertising Windows Vista.
I shouldn't complain, perhaps. Mojave is better than nothing, which has been the situation for about 18 months.
To recap for the one or two people who missed the "Mojave Experiment": In late July, Microsoft launched a marketing campaign based on a focus group with about 120 participants. Focus group moderators presented to participants a new, unreleased Windows version: Mojave. But they were really shown Windows Vista.
In the Web version, which was longer than the TV ad I saw last night, participants were asked to rate Windows Vista on a scale of 1 to 10. One woman circled a big zero on a notebook for Vista and later a 10 for Mojave. Microsoft dropped the "this is Vista" bomb after participants ranked Mojave.
Recently, one Mojave participant told me: "They sandbagged us." The person asked not to be identified.
The commercial was cut very well so that it had surprisingly good impact—meaning the "decide for yourself" message came through loudly. I'm still queasy about the idea of making real customers look really stupid. But, hey, any Vista marketing is better than none. Given that at this point the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld commercials communicate nothing obvious about Vista, Mojave is something.
For all I know, maybe Mojave is some Windows marketing folks' response to seeing Bill and Jerry concepts presented by ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. "What? We're doing a Windows campaign where we don't talk about Windows?" If that were my reaction, I'd be looking for something else, too.
The Mojave Experiment is bigger than Microsoft executives and employee bloggers first let on. I never believed the "it's not part of the $300 million marketing campaign" blog bull—not with the supporting road show and now TV ads. But that's OK. The commercial looked good, said something positive about Vista and, perhaps most importantly, mentioned the operating system.
Successful products sell a lifestyle. Apple has effectively done this with the iPod and iPhone 3G. What is the Microsoft lifestyle? I really want to know. Over the summer, I spent about 55 to 65 percent of my computer time on a Mac because of the iPhone and my taking over Apple Watch. But it's time to get back on Windows Vista for even more time.
Initially, I'll be using an HP Artist Edition Notebook—Pavilion dv2800t—with 2.2GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 14-inch display (with 1,280-by-800 resolution), 128MB discrete nVidia GeForce 8400M GS graphics (shared to 767MB), 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive (5,400 rpm), multi-DVD burner (with LightScribe) and Windows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 64-bit. The Windows Experience Index rating is 4.0.
I'm in the process of switching this weekend. Timing is good. There's going to be lots of Microsoft stuff to test over the next few months. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is reason enough to go full-time Vista, and I'm surprisingly impressed with the new browser. IE8 looks like the browser IE7 should have been. On Tuesday, Microsoft plans to release new Zune firmware and software. Popfly is improving and Live Mesh inches toward release. Then there is Windows Live Wave 3.
I'm also anxious to put Vista 64-bit through the rough rigors following SP1's release. My initial reaction: 64-bit is the real Windows Vista. The OS handles differently than does its 32-bit counterpart. But that's a topic of another post.
Microsoft conducted the Mojave Experiment. I am setting out on the Microsoft Lifestyle Experiment. My hypothesis: There is a Microsoft lifestyle. Whether that hypothesis proves true or not depends much on how well new and updated Microsoft products and services work together.
In closing, a request: If you participated in the Mojave Experiment, please contact me by e-mail using the link below. I am collecting the real reaction of participants for a future blog post. You can be anonymous to the public, but I will need to know who you are and verify that you participated in the focus group. Given how much marketing video and B-roll Microsoft has put up on the Mojave Experiment Web site, identity should be easy enough to verify.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].
Related Posts:
- Bill and Jerry: A Couple of Coenheads, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 11, 2008
- Clowns but No Windows at the Shoe Circus, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 4, 2008
- Walls Without Windows, Microsoft Watch. Aug. 21, 2008
- Why the 'Mojave Experiment' Fails, Microsoft Watch, July 30, 2008
- Viral Vista: The 'Mojave Experiment,' Microsoft Watch, July 29, 2008
- Can Negative Vista Perceptions Disappear?, Microsoft Watch, July 28, 2008
Comments (11)
Actually I would agree with you that Mohave commercials might sell more Vista PC's. However, I will say, that what was wrong with the Mohave Experiment, is also wrong with the strategy here. Vista with all its eye candy, looks very nice on first glance, which basically is all the Mohave testers were allowed to do, click through the menu's.
Just wait till the unexpected get their Vista computers home an try to install a bunch on their old XP software on it, or try to hook up, their old Printer, Scanner, or TV Card, that worked well with XP. Seems to me, that Microsoft is creating its own enemies from the rank of its own customers with this type of tactic.
Joe, I have been told by a source, which I cannot disclose, that when Vista came out, that close to 40% of the new PC's with it on, were returned to the stores for refunds. Can you confirm this number, or find a reliable figure on that?
Posted by chips | September 13, 2008 6:16 PM
they've been on the hallmark channel for about a week now.
Posted by gary | September 13, 2008 8:11 PM
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
Blue Screen of Death.
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
"Well, you need at least 2GB of RAM for it to work. " "But the laptop it came on takes a maximum of 2GB of RAM." "Not our problem."
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
We only sell DRM-loaded music. Oh, and, by the way, we're not going to support decoding that DRM soon.
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
We've simplified our cost structure. That will be an additional $250,000 a year, with no additional support or service.
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
I just got an error message. MSFT thinks I shouldn't install any software on its OS, or there will be a problem with that software.
"There is a Microsoft lifestyle."
You got that right, Joe.
Posted by Ken Houghton | September 13, 2008 10:36 PM
Wow. people this is microsoft watch. U old guys have negative opinions about everything. Y'll are too old as crap and thats what is wrong with ur generation u OLDS. I'm 15 and i have a better opinion than u
Posted by Bin | September 13, 2008 10:56 PM
Isn't MS a big successful company? Can't they afford NBC, ABC, FOX, etc. Is the SciFiHD channel all they can afford? Are they going to convince any geeks watching the Sara Conners marathon versus running this during NFL games? Seems awful timid marketing to me. Maybe a test?
Haven't seen one yet, but it defies usual user testing models. Never rely on responses to the graphic art. Always test against the users using the software and how the interactions work. Hope Mojave isn't representative of how MS does User Centered Design.
Posted by smist08 | September 13, 2008 11:39 PM
I've seen the commercial on the air as well. I think it was early in the morning on ESPN about a week ago. The flash ads have also been available on web sites for several weeks now.
Despite being universally panned by bloggers such as the author, the Mojave Experiment is actually a pretty good idea and will ultimately be effective. The chorus of MS haters (and the Apple ads) have persisted the negative buzz despite the reality which is that Vista is pretty good, actually much better than XP and selling as well as XP did against Windows 2000.
Joe is concerned that the commercials "make customers look stupid", but what it does really is highlight the extreme bias against anything Microsoft by the online tech community (in favor of anything Apple/Google/Linux).
You can't have it both ways. Convince everyone that Vista is worthless and then shout "foul" when MS conducts an experiment that even on the surface shows them otherwise. The message is correct, "decide for yourself" because there is a tremendous amount of disinformation.
MS deserves to be held to a higher standard, but I've noticed a bit of a backlash developing against the undue negative criticism. Good to see the author starting to shift a bit (I imagine that will be a slight trend since the ad campaign seems to be effective and the responses according to MS's script thus far), although his call to study participants seems to be a last ditch attempt to uncover some bit of dirt.
Posted by jamesie | September 14, 2008 7:07 AM
I am really interested in seeing what Microsoft actually showed the participants. Do these new adverts show that or do they just show the faces of the people? I notice they have converted everything from flash to silverlight to try to get more penetration.
Posted by billybob | September 14, 2008 10:38 AM
"The Windows Experience Index rating is 4.0."
Interesting. I have a similar config and the score is 3.5, limited by the weakest component: the 8400 GS. Only difference is desktop vs laptop and Vista 32-bit vs 64. May have to load 64-bit in a VM and see if/how the score change.
Posted by Paul | September 14, 2008 1:15 PM
@billybob,
from the commercials Al's seen, they just show the participants faces. of course the questions remaining are:
are the participants actual people or just actors paid for that response? wouldn't be the first time MSFT was dishonest about that (anyone remember the dead writing letters in support of MSFT?) and how many participant's reactions weren't shown on commercials (the "hey, this is that crap Vista" probably wouldn't make for a positive ad)
Posted by Al | September 14, 2008 8:04 PM
THE MOJAVE EXPERIMENT IS THE DIRECT ATTACK AGAINST MAC THAT JOE WANTS SO DEARLY FOR M$ TO ENGAGE. As such, I'm perplexed at how reluctant he is with saying that M$ is trying to fight back against the GIFREAKINGNORMOUS FUD campaign that Apple has engaged over the last two years.
As for the duped participant in the Mojave experiment, he's probably a MAC or Linux biggot who's been racked over the coals at work and amongst friends for not being able to see that Mojave really was, Vista, which brings up the most lasting point of all of this MAC vs. PC FUD.
The vast majority of people flamming Vista haven't used it at all post SP1, which makes them completely unqualified to make anything more than trivial comments yet imminently qualified to be shown via the Mojave experiment how Vista illiterate they are. I've been running Vista Premium 32 bit on a five year-old PC that rates a 2.0 on the performance scale without issue for 10 months now. I bought it for $73, which is a great price. Now, I'm running Vista Premium 64 bit on a new $507 HP laptop, and it runs like a champ, even with budget 5,400 RPM disk.
I for one am pleased to see M$ putting together an add campaign to restore their image to Joe Consumer. The price of Office continues to fall, IE is getting better, Windows Mobile is getting better, M$ is hard at working moving towards software as a service, and it's reasonable to assume that Windows 7 will be analogous to XP's replacement of W2KPro but with enough new and cool features to stay neck and neck with OS X.
And in the end, customers now have lots of great choices to Windows and other M$ applications. Personally, I'm using Chrome now way more than IE, mainly because of its speed and simplicity.
Posted by Jay | September 15, 2008 11:48 AM
@Jay, I've installed SP1 on Vista and my first impression was my CD/DVD burning software from Toshiba stopped working. Windows Explorer keeps crashing now and then. Lest often now given the 3 Gigs I have on the laptop now. Network connections still have some issues. Overall I see no clear benefit from SP1. If there is it was obfuscated by the added RAM benefits.
Contrary to 2005's endless updates, MS Sql Server 2008 Express installed with no problems (then again so did Oracle and MySQL). The GUI is still convoluted. I still need to read more than I had to read with XP. Icons are not intuitive and in some cases counter intuitive.
I have to agree with chips. The Mojave Experiment is a short term fix. If they don't improve the OS, Microsoft's image will fall even harder. People will soon find themselves realizing this isn't as advertised on TV.
Posted by Gerardo Tasistro | September 17, 2008 2:18 PM