The Mojave Experiment: For Idiots, by Idiots
- The Advertising, Technology entry posted on September 30th, 2008.
There’s a new marketing campaign from Microsoft, apparently after the failed Gates-Seinfeld “buddy film” commercials, called The Mojave Experiment.
Here’s the theory: Get together a focus group of some computer-illiterate everyday people who usually use XP (because all they do is look at their local newspaper’s website and check their AOL mail). Show them a demo of Windows Vista before it has any Spyware, bloated anti-virus and firewall upon firewall applications. The result, apparently, is they think it’s some new next-gen operating system that they just have to get their hands on!
Oh, and the best part: When you tell them they can buy this elegant and refined OS known as Vista right freaking now, they just can’t contain themselves.
What the hell is this?
I wonder if Microsoft is getting a refund on all the marketing they’ve done thus far since it looks like the most informative data we see from the Mojave Experiment is that no one knows or cares what Vista is.
The problem with this campaign is with the objective. You’re trying to tell people they have been fooled into believing their friends’ opinions on Vista. Usually these opinions come from people like you (the reader) and me, who might be more technology-savvy than your average user. Our demands are higher and our standards are set to meet those demands. So when someone asks me what they should get when they buy that new laptop, I’m recommending a MacBook. Not because I’m part of the underground anti-Microsoft illuminati, but because Vista inevitably causes problems for the average user.
It just does.
I’m sure if I showed my group of laymen a clean Vista install that they would like it too. In fact, they’d like almost anything. What they don’t like, is the annoyances that are a part of every Windows user’s daily life when they’re trying to be productive with it over the long term.
16 Responses to “The Mojave Experiment: For Idiots, by Idiots”rss
Ryan, on October 2nd, 2008, said:
I agree 110% you have my vote “for all of you XP fans” and not so XP fans as much as XP stinks vista brings stink to a new level.
LOL yeah what kind of ad campaign is this? It’s almost as bad as the Wamu which just went under.
It’s orignal but its bad its windows vista in disguise.
Great very true post!!!
Eva White, on October 10th, 2008, said:
I got rid of vista a week after i got it loaded. Can’t believe they are still trying to push it.
chuck norris dude, on October 12th, 2008, said:
I treat Vista the same way I treated XP. I’ll stay away from it as long as possible. I kept my Win98 for as long as I could, because it was free from most bugs. With new software, you are the test rabbit, and I would like to skip that part.
Alex, on October 15th, 2008, said:
lol I can’t believe this!
Paul Stamatiou, on October 20th, 2008, said:
i like vista but it does use too much resources.
Reel Whore, on October 27th, 2008, said:
After a complete reinstall and SP, Vista is much improved for me. Still sux that my XP running work laptop runs better! These commercials are lame and I love that Apple calls them out on it with their new commercials.
breadmaker, on November 2nd, 2008, said:
interesting read, well, I think microsoft just have too much money to spend:)
baby monitor reviews, on November 3rd, 2008, said:
Yeap, Microsoft is rich with cash
cat, on November 4th, 2008, said:
Windows Vista is such a bullshit it’s just impossible to work with it, yhe only good thing in it is the interface, nothing more, XP 4ever and the best
watch friends online, on November 4th, 2008, said:
Lol vista… that’s all i ahve to say. L O L
cat, on November 9th, 2008, said:
First time i watched the commercial i thought the same way, what the hell is this! But actually it got people talking, if you think about it, we are all commenting about it and they got a lot of press on it. I just read the microsoft is also placing Windows Kiosks in front of Apple Stores, pretty funny if you think about it, pretty hard-core guerrilla marketing if you ask me but who knows. I really think that if they had a good product and Vista was reliable then they would have no problems with it but the product sucks in my opinion. Just my two cents.. spoofstraight.info
Goran Website, on November 10th, 2008, said:
I think Microsoft is trying too hard with these campaigns. I wonder how much money they’ve spent on these so far, and it’s all a waste because this marketing campaign isn’t paying off since nobody seems to get them.
I get it, Bill Gates is actually the one who came up with these ads, huh? Lol! I doubt there’s a advertising company that could come up with such ridiculous advertising.
Larry, on November 11th, 2008, said:
I totally agree. It bugs me that it costs money to downgrade Windows OS when getting a new computer too.
Gotta love the Mac commercials that make fun of Windows pumping money into advertising though. The dumb “mojave experiment” gave them some good fodder.
Jeremy, on November 11th, 2008, said:
I whole-heartedly agree with you. Nothing screams desperation quite like Microsoft’s current line of stupidity. From the “mojave experiment” commercials to the “I’m a PC” multicultural knock-off of the mac commercials, things aren’t looking very bright shiny for the big M.
My favorite part is their apparent assumption that consumers are stupid; that we won’t notice the similarity between the “I’m a mac / pc” commercials and that we believe that since vista works alright on a brand new state of the art PC with nothing else installed on it that Vista will work well in real life situations.
Great post!
Jeremy
Goran Website, on November 15th, 2008, said:
Great post. i agrree i still think xp is better!
Jays CD Rates, on November 20th, 2008, said:
This is a freaking joke. As you said most of the people that are actually testing this have really no idea how Vista works to begin with. I am more than sure any savvy computer person would have said, “hey this looks like Vista”. These people are obviously newbs. Sure Vista can do basics, but when it comes to intensive apps it just crashes and burns.
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