The Mojave Experiment

The Mojave Experiment is an advertising campaign by Microsoft for the Windows Vista operating system. The participants in the experiment were asked about their perceptions of Windows Vista (having never used it) and then were shown a ten minute demo of Microsoft's "next OS", codenamed "Mojave". After the experiment was over, it was revealed that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista. [cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9999971-56.html|title=Mojave experiment gets a Web site|author=Cnet|accessdate=2008-07-30|date=2008-07-25] Before the session, the average rating of Vista was 4.4 out of 10; after the session the average rating for the "Mojave" OS was 8.5 out of 10. [http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/facts] The official goal of the Mojave Experiment is to get consumers to "decide for themselves" rather than accept the commonly held negative perceptions of Windows Vista, providing links to product demo videos and other product advertising. Microsoft says that they are slowly adding more video content to the Mojave Experiment website.

imilar campaigns

"The Mojave Experiment" is a technological opposite of a blind taste test, in which rather than removing a product's branding, it instead changed the product's branding to sway the outcome. The point of the campaign is to see what people liked based on the merit of the product "Mojave" alone, misleading the participants by removing the original name; "Vista" from the product. This would prevent the participants from creating bias about the product before using it. The participants were guided through the highly controlled experiment, allowing them to "test" the new product, although none of them were seen presenting any challenges to the "new" product.

Reception

The experiment has been criticized for cherry-picking positive statements and not addressing all aspects of Vista (which may have uncovered problems). For example, users did not have to install Vista and the necessary hardware was already setup for them, thus bypassing any criticisms of hardware and licensing cost. Participants weren't asked to work with peripheral devices (such as printers or scanners), nor were they asked about compatibility with older software or hardware. [cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10001331-56.html|title=Microsoft goes live with Mojave videos|author=Cnet|accessdate=2008-07-30|date=2008-07-29] Participants did not have an opportunity to try the software themselves [http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/facts] , but were only demonstrated certain features by a salesman. Although Windows Vista was released globally in late January of 2007, participants in the ads act as if they don't recognize the product as Windows Vista.

The criticism from the blogosphere was echoed by International Herald Tribune. [Dan Mitchell (August 4, 2008) [http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/04/business/vista.php Bloggers pick apart Microsoft Vista test] , International Herald Tribune]

References

* Paul McDougall, (July 29, 2008) [http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystem/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209800457 Microsoft Dupes Windows Vista Haters With 'Mojave Experiment'] , InformationWeek.

External links

* [http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/possibilities/products/default.aspx "See for yourself" link given at the end of each video]