Bloggers Pick Apart Microsoft Vista Test
Date : 06 Aug 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor NetworkLast week Microsoft posted videos at MojaveExperiment.com of a test involving about 140 randomly chosen computer users who had low opinions of Vista. These users had no experience with it, so they were shown what was said to be the company's new operating system, called Mojave. In nearly all the cases, they liked what they saw.
At the end, they were told that Mojave was really Vista.
The videos show the shocked reaction. "Wow, really?" many of them said.
On the Web, however, many technology bloggers had a different reaction. "Microsoft thinks you're stupid" was the heading of a blog entry on the site of the Canadian magazine Maclean's. The blogger, Colin Campbell, wrote that "Microsoft seems to be shifting blame for its bad PR problems over to their customers."
Like a blind taste test for coffee or soft drinks, the Mojave Experiment is "a clever test that demonstrates nothing," said Bob Garfield, a columnist for Advertising Age magazine and host of "On the Media" on National Public Radio.
If a product has a bad reputation, it is not because of faulty perceptions, Garfield said. It is because of a faulty product. Vista, halfway through its planned three-year life cycle, has drawn more scorn than most major software products do. People have found it hard to set up. Users have complained that it saps memory and that installing drivers or applications is too difficult.
Microsoft executives have been telling reporters in recent weeks how much Vista has improved. The company says that with 140 million copies sold, it is Microsoft's fastest-selling operating system.
According to Microsoft's internal research, 89 percent of users say they are "very satisfied"...