The Mojave Experiment is a train wreck. Microsoft has tried to do the whole coffee switch. They sat a group of people down and asked them what they have heard of Microsoft Windows Vista. Then they tell them they are going to show them the new version of Windows, “Windows Mojave”.

The site just kills me. It comes off like they are saying “Windows Vista isn’t as bad as you’ve heard”. Really? That’s what you want your slogan to be. If you look at the hand picked segments that they show on the site you’ll notice that they didn’t set people down and asked them to use the software, a Microsoft person just showed them some things and they watched. You are not going to get any real usable feedback on what a person really thinks if they are just watching a demo. Everyone in the videos also has obviously never used an Apple computer.

There is a floating grid of thumbnails that you can click on to view the videos… all in Flash. Doesn’t Microsoft make a little thing called …. SilverLight? The overview gives the setup and then stresses how every person they talked to thought Windows Vista sucked. That is a great thing to lead off with. The “Theory” they flash in front of you is “If people could see Windows Vista first hand would they like it?” Notice that it doesn’t say, If people could use Windows Visa first hand would they like it.

Anyway, the features and comments they are showing are laughable.

“The speed in incredible!”

Well hell yes. Just about any fresh install of a Windows OS will feel snappy. Now send them home with a copy of Vista for them to use on their PCs and check back with them in a month. I’ll bet more than half of them have computers that are to old to install Visa on.

“I wouldn’t have to take a class on this to be able to do it”

Especially when the MS guy is the one at the mouse and keyboard.

MS guy: “The Media Center is great. Do you watch TV?”
Generic College Dude: “Yeah”
MS guy: “Comes with a remote control and everything so you can watch TV on here”
Generic College Dude: “Really? How much does that cost?”
MS guy: “Well that’s the bad thing, it’s free.”
Generic College Dude: “Really? I don’t even believe you.”

Aaaaaaannd you would be smart not to. If you went out and got Windows Vista it’s not going to come with a remote and it’s not going to magically allow your computer to watch TV. As a test I went to Microsoft’s own “Compare Windows Vista Editions” page and looked on each tab for each edition and looked for the words “remote control”. Home Basic Edition ($199)… nope, Home Premium Edition ($259)… nope, Business Edition ($299)… nada, Ultimate Edition ($319) it does say…”Use your mouse or an optional remote control to easily play DVDs, download movies, and even try something different like viewing your photos in a cinematic slide show or browsing your music collection by cover art.” Notice that is an ‘Optional’ remote control. Oh, and insert your own link to iTunes, and iPhoto here.

“Oh. So thats why you guys come in with a box? Is there a brick inside here?”

There are just to many jokes that can be made about a Microsoft Windows box containing a brick. I’ll just let that one sit as it was presented.

“I like the brown. It’s a lot better than the.. excuse me.. the usual blue.”

Wow… that bit if feedback was so good that it made it into a video clip of it’s own… it’s… brown.

“If I had seen you doing this, this fast, in a video I would have thought it was doctored up.”

See the comment above about speed and a fresh install on hand selected hardware.

“I kinda fell like if I had this I’d be… you know… with it.”

Again, someone who has never placed hands on a piece of Apple hardware. I’d like to see this lady get some hands on time with a MacBook air and an iPhone.

“The indexing of files and the search is really powerful. And being able to find calculator and … is it here or in this window… I really like that.”

Yeah…. that’s why you should upgrade to Vista… so you can find the calculator. RE: searching… Insert your own Apple Spotlight reference here.

“Oh, really? See how much I knew… nothing.”

So Microsoft, you’re saying your users know nothing, just that people who don’t use Vista know nothing?

Subject: “After all the problems that my husband has had with it I wouldn’t touch it.”
MS Guy: “This is actually Windows Vista.”
Subject: “Really? How funny. Maybe it has more to do with the user than the application.”

Or maybe your husband is an IT professional.

“This is a real eye opener about perception vs. reality.”

Very true. The reality is that you’ve been given a demo rather than hands on use and that Microsoft has allowed this perception to become reality.

There are four more rows of videos but they don’t really get any better. They even have one video that is there twice. The same video… but in two places. Looking from the left… Column three, the fourth from the top and column five the second one down from the top. I guess just another example of Microsoft QA??

Another theme that runs over several videos is that when the Microsoft guy is demoing the search… he’s always searching for the calculator. WTF? One guy even catches on to the switch.

My favorite quotes:
“Wow. You can actually do that stuff in Vista?”
“I will say you have opened my eyes. I mean this is pretty sick.”
“I like flipping through the windows.”

Filed under: Computers, Software, Videos, microsoft, Mojave, Mojave Experiment, Vista