Mojave Experiment: If you have to trick people into using your product, what does that say about your product?
Have you heard about The Mojave Experiment? You know, the experiment where Microsoft ‘tricked’ people into checking out Windows Vista, but they didn’t call it Vista. They renamed it, to attempt to get “unbiased opinions”. Now, I’m not even going to get into the results of this little test. I want to focus on the experiment itself. Was it wrong of Microsoft to ‘trick’ people, or was it a brilliant move by the Marketing department? What do you think others have to say about this?
You mean like IE7 being a forced upgrade? – keif
You’re a politician. – Andy Wibbels
It worked didn’t it? – joey@jwvmods.com
It means Apple has a really good marketing department. – Chris Romp
i believe mahalo had done something similar. replaced their logo with google’s, told them it was google’s new interface, and recorded user reactions. http://www.fastcompany.tv/vide… – Chris Farrugia
Microsoft has openly admitted to the public that Vista has been burdened with bad press since launch. (Some, rightfully so!) They are simply proving the negativity is pushed into their heads mostly by bloggers quick to get the First Scoop and exploit vulnerabilities. ANY Company run by people with business smarts would find a way to protect their product. ESPECIALLY with millions/billions of dollars invested. – If Microsoft were to sit back and say NOTHING, you’d be the first to exploit THAT! Get Real! – Michael Johnson
Your product and/or your marketing sucks – Sally Church
They weren’t "tricking" people into using it (Vista). The idea was to show what people thought if they believed they were using an alternate product in order to rule out any notions they might have about that product due to negative press … and we all know how much negative press Vista has been getting – some of it warranted, some of it not. – Kittyburgers
By the way, I am a user and fan of MS and Apple products. All have their weaknesses, especially upon initial release… hence updates! These SAME issues repeat with each New OS Release, and are eventually ironed out to an overall dependable OS. – Michael Johnson
who really cares about new OS releases anyway!?! I thought it was all about the cloud and AJAX applications running in the browser. – Jon Price
You got the point Chris! I don’t think this is good publicity for Microsoft. I’m gonna write about it tonight on iswitchd.com – Oli Kenobi
It says people are sheep that take what the geek elite say and run with it until someone calls them out. Kudos to MS. I think they just called people out in a nice way. – Mike Lewis
depends on the product, i don’t see a trick here. call it a blind ‘taste test’. – Ryan
Chris, why would you say that? – Alan Cheslow
Nah. You know this is true. I know so many people who bad mouth Vista and never even set finger in it – Vincent Guerrero
Apple said they had push email when they really didn’t – did they trick people into using their product (MobileMe)? …I think people are missing the point the whole idea behind the Mojave Experiment was to challenge misconceptions about Windows Vista – that’s it. In the case of Vista, people made opinions based on "what they heard" but never tried it. – Brandon LeBlanc via twhirl
Microsoft claims they have "push" email in ActiveSync, but it’s really poll+pull. No one calls them out on that and they’ve gotten away with it for years. At least Apple can admit when they screw up. – Vermyndax via twhirl
But I don’t use ActiveSync – I use Exchange which does have push email and so does the new Windows Live for Windows Mobile – which does push for Hotmail. ActiveSync is just a app that sits on the desktop that lets you sync your phone. – Brandon LeBlanc via twhirl
Does Apple have public betas of its OS? I’ve never heard of any. – MiniMage via NoiseRiver
They could have used a beta of MobileMe. – Brandon LeBlanc via twhirl
Brandon LeBlanc (brandonleblanc): I thought MS referred to Exchange Server’s synchronization as "Server ActiveSync."http://tinyurl.com/7xw4w – MiniMage via NoiseRiver
It just means that 1) there’s a lot of misconception out there about your product and 2) you’ve got a crappy marketing department. – Rajinder Singh
Personally I thought it was a good way to show the misperceptions out there. – Nate Pilling via twhirl
MiniMage, you’re right – it is also called Exchange ActiveSync on the server side. My apologies. But Exchange 2007 currently includes Direct Push Technology – so whenever I get a email its automatically pushed to my mobile phone. Instantaneous. – Brandon LeBlanc via twhirl
If you like or dislike a product based on it’s name, what does it say about the value of your opinion? – Darian Rawson
How many people dissing the mojave experiment didn’t actually view the videos? Maybe there should be a mojave experiment experiment. – Alan Cheslow
So what do you think? Should Microsoft be commended for taking this route to try and dispel the myths, or should they be thumped with a clue-by-four?
Apparently Microsoft thinks it makes their product look totally cool and awesome! I don’t think Vista is bad—I just don’t think it is good enough quite yet: http://onlyjames.com/2008/07/t… Also, the advertising itself was uncreative and stale. I was unimpressed and disappointed. – James Mowery