Microsoft looks to 'Mojave' to revive Vista's image

REDMOND, Wash.--After months of searching for ways to defend its oft-maligned Windows operating system, Microsoft may just have found its best weapon: Vista's skeptics.

Spurred by an e-mail from someone deep in the marketing ranks, Microsoft last week traveled to San Francisco, rounding up Windows XP users who had negative impressions of Vista. The subjects were put on video, asked about their Vista impressions, and then shown a "new" operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 percent gave positive feedback on what they saw. Then they were told that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista.

"Oh wow," said one user, eliciting exactly the exclamation that Microsoft had hoped to garner when it first released the operating system more than 18 months ago. Instead, the operating system got mixed reviews and criticisms for its lack of compatibility and other headaches.

To be sure, the focus groups didn't have to install Vista or hook it up to their existing home network. Still, the emotional appeal of the "everyman" trying Vista and liking it clearly packs an emotional punch, something the company has desperately needed. Microsoft is still trying to figure out just how it will use the Mojave footage in its marketing, though it will clearly have a place.

The Mojave project is likely to be just one of many efforts designed to resuscitate Vista's image as well as lend strength to the Windows platform among stepped-up competition from Apple and Google. In an interview Wednesday, Windows unit business chief Bill Veghte told CNET News that he wants to see his unit try new things to get the message across.

"We have a huge perception opportunity," he said, offering a glass half-full assessment of things. "We are going to try a bunch of stuff."

The image improvement effort, known internally as FTP, has many components. Well-publicized are the hundreds of millions that Microsoft plans to spend on a broad campaign buttressed by edgy ads from Crispin Porter and Bogusky. But Veghte wants the company pushing on multiple marketing fronts.

With small businesses, for example, Microsoft earlier this month launched the "Assurance" campaign. In that effort, Microsoft is offering free Vista-related technical support, a move that will add millions of dollars to Microsoft's telephone support costs. The point, Veghte said, is that businesses want to see Microsoft standing behind its product.

Veghte is convinced, like others at Microsoft, that despite early technical challenges, Vista's problems are primarily ones of perception.

Much of that perception, Microsoft belatedly acknowledges, stems from Apple's successful and unchallenged anti-Vista campaign. But, after stewing over the ads on many of his morning runs, Veghte decided that it was time to strike back, even without a new version of Windows to tout. Apple, he said, has "crossed a line" from fact into fiction.

Others at Microsoft have been sounding a similar note. Marketing vice president Brad Brooks told partners earlier this month that Microsoft was "drawing a line in the sand," while Steve Ballmer promised in a memo to employees Wednesday that after doing some hard technical work on Vista that it was now time for Microsoft to "tell our story."

"In the weeks ahead, we'll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista," Ballmer wrote. "And later this year, you'll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers."

What gives the Mojave project its power, though, is the fact that it isn't Ballmer or someone else at Microsoft saying that Vista has gotten a bad rap. It's everyday people.

With scenes reminiscent of both Apple's "real people" campaign of a few years back as well as classic commercials from Folgers and others, the Mojave project could prove a formidable weapon.

The Mojave project is remarkable both for its humble origin as well as the speed with which it was pulled off. The idea started barely two weeks ago in an e-mail from Microsoft's David Webster to several superiors, including Veghte. Given the green light, Microsoft started videotaping responses just last week, in San Francisco. The preview Veghte gave to CNET News on Wednesday was the first time the footage had been shown outside the company and its contractors.

The footage could get a public airing as soon as next week or even at Thursday's financial analyst meeting, although plans were still in flux as of late Wednesday night. Veghte will come under increased scrutiny now that his boss, division president Kevin Johnson, is leaving the company. For the time being, Veghte and Windows engineering chief Steven Sinofsky will both report to Ballmer, who has called the work on Windows the company's top priority.

The need for the campaign is clear. Apple has been making inroads, as well as headlines with its anti-Vista push. Although Microsoft dominates in corporations and in overseas markets, Apple has been grabbing a significant share of the consumer market in the U.S., pushing its overall domestic share as high as 8.5 percent last quarter, a significant rise from even a year ago.

Microsoft is already at work on Windows 7, the next version of the operating system. But Veghte said the company can't wait for a new product to start firing back.

"I've got to start having that discussion in the marketplace," Veghte said. "I've got to start driving that now. People feel guilty (about Vista). It's wrong."

Microsoft hasn't said a ton about Windows 7, but it has talked about both a new multitouch interface as well as reassuring customers, particularly businesses, that it won't be making the kinds of dramatic changes under the hood that were made with Vista.

[johnnydfred]

"W'e're gonna try a bunch of stuff"...

Wow. Sounds like Deja Vista all over again.

[Worf101]

Well I wish em luck. I still have an uninstalled version of Vista Ultimate in my desk drawer. I'm a gamer, I've tried it twice to numerous confilcts and hassels. When I build my NEXT rig I might try it again but I doubt it.

[jeph4e]

Vista isn't bad if you: 1) Got rid of the annoying security. 2) Put the UI controls where you'd expect them. 3) Do the same with Office.

[DoughboyNJ]

Too late to fool this skeptic...after years of blindly supporting MS, I finally tried a few Linux distros, and now dualboot PCLOS07 vs XP. Easily 95% of my computing time is spent in Linux, and 5% to get in and out of Itunes. This exercise has taught me that all OSs pretty much work, all OSs have useable software, all OSs are viable options, but not all OSs are well executed or supported. All future machines in my home, for the foreseeable future, will be OS X plus or minus Linux. Goodbye MS, go ahead and try to lure me back. It won't be easy this time.

[hexor]

To think that MS can produce an effective ad campaign is pretty funny. I can not understand why people do not get it about MS. The culture of management at MS is one of rigid conformist type dictatorship, not one of ingenuity and creativity. Because of that, anyone within MS that actually knows how to connect with people will never be given a chance. This is besides the fact that Vista itself is not very user friendly to begin with. Anyone using Vista can see the complete lack of understanding of how people interact with computers. Half the time I am not even sure what you are supposed to click on. Sometime it is an icon, sometimes it is a button, sometimes it is an entire paragraph of text. Yes you can figure it out pretty quickly but there is that extra second or so that is needlessly wasted having to actually figure out what it is you are supposed to do.. Instead of a more unified presentation to the end-user where you can easily identify what you are to do by consistent visual cues.

[als]

I have used Windows Vista Ultimate for the past 2 months and I really like it. Hibernation never worked for me using XP, but under Vista it works great.

[armond c peaslee jr]

it makes me wonder why did anyone actually complain about windows vista,because windows vista is 10 times better than windows xp.its very true,windows vista puts windows xp to shame.first,windows vista loads faster,it starts the main windows interface alot quicker.but it does tend to use to much system resources and memory for ram.but the whole vista os is one of the best top notch i have ever used so far.i would say windows vista is probably just as good as win95 and win98 2nd edition or even better.the windows xp was a piece of crap,it ran slow,it chewed into so much system resources and ram for memory that it was slowing me down all the time for petesakes,and i have huge ram for memory.then the worst part of all about windows xp.it was a piece of junk because it always allowed adware/spyware to break in all the time and take over your computer and you couldnt do anything.so you had to unplug the pc and plug it back in,then re-install the windows xp all over again.the adware/spyware/trojans and others would install itself into your windows xp and everytime you try and kill the program it would freeze your pc.then you had to do what i mentioned about re-stalling the windows xp.its just retarded,stupid and nuts to actually try to claim windows xp is better than windows vista ultimate edition,because windows vista ultimate edition is so much better

[mjconver]

Fancy marketing still won't convince us alpha-geeks. My clients, colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors turn to me first for my advice about computers, and I am steadfast in my assessment of XP as the best and most economical OS to get things done. Until my voice is stilled, there are hundreds of people in my social network who will say the same thing. It's marketing 101 - a happy customer tells 1 person, an angry customer tells 10.

[miroslodki]

A fascinating story about the power of impressions

If this were a pre-social media world - I think they would have hit it out of the park with this tactic
but they still need to deliver on user reviews
and that is a much tougher nut to crack

In case Microsoft is listening
maybe do some big seed marketing and allow "x" users to download Vista for free
the full version - no strings attached
and let the new group spread the word about vista 2.x

cheers
Miro
http://miroslodki.wordpress.com
PS any volunteers?
I think I'ld give it a whirl

[kelmon]

One of the fundamental questions that Microsoft needs to address is this:

"Why should I upgrade to Windows Vista?"

That Microsoft released an OS that clearly wasn't ready did not help matters and it's tough to restore confidence in a product that has already been derided. The OS may be great now but shaking the image that it gained in the beginning will be difficult and Microsoft should not have allowed that to occur in the first place.

Personally, I look at Vista and I like the idea of having pervasive search facilities. Unfortunately, as much as I want that I can't justify paying the license fee just for that, and I'm damned if I can see anything else in the product that makes me want it over XP.

Frankly, Microsoft probably would do best to give up on this except for encouraging businesses to upgrade. Home users who wanted Vista have already got it, and those who aren't interested are unlikely to be swayed by a marketing campaign and will upgrade to Vista when they get a new PC.

[cahomsy]

Here's one idea for Microsoft to consider against the rotten apple, the thousands of programs that are released every year for Windows versus the what ten or twelve for the mac. Hell, even Apple user's came begging Microsoft to release a mac compatible version of Office. You want to talk about compatibility! For the two months I owned a mac I couldn't stand it. To all you worms out there who do use them I have some insecticide that will help you break your codependency on a platform that was created out of hatred and jealousy.

[martyfinkle]

And how many people liked new coke until they had to drink the whole can.

I run XP, Vista, Ubuntu and OSX. For a windows operating system vista is as incompatible with games and other windows software as linux and OSX. As a consumer there is no reason to buy vista. For business - even less.

With Vista Windows has jump the shark and is being out innovated by apple. By the time this 'fix' this mess with Windows 7, apple (and probably linux) will have the same WOW factors and dilivered them for years e.g. touch. Windows is bloated and the 'modularization' that they did in vista made its a slow incompatible mess.

This Mojave sip test - won't fool the person who 'drinks the whole can' vista in practice doesn't past muster.

They need to do what they've promised for years - a true micro kernel redo of windows. Make a new OS. MinWin is there only hope. Do it and be plain and clear on how this will be incompatible.

The days of bloated desktop OSs is over.

[blsith]

The problem is first impressions. I've installed Vista 3 times - first as the RC1 version, that didn't have driver support to speak of. I had driver issues like crazy when I tried it. Second was a year later, to see how it did with multimedia applications on an aging PC. Third was on my new gaming rig, built from the ground up for Vista64.

The second and third time around Vista impressed me. I could tell that my aging machine that I was considering for multimedia couldn't handle the task put in front of it, but it gave me some time to play with the OS. Now, I absolutely love Vista - it's not as fast in any one application as XP might be, but multitasking is WAY better, and the lack of interface chug is awesome.

The problem Microsoft will face is that most folks will only go by first impressions, and not give it another go 12-18 months later. Vista took too long to come out, and too long to garner real support in this round, much like Windows 2000. People forget how much 2000 was bashed to realize that XP was basically the same kernel just with a fresh look 2 years later. Every time there's a major change in the OS it takes the "refresh" for folks to think it's better. 95 OSR2, 98 SE, XP. They didn't change anything, just refreshed and repaired things that didn't go as planned.

[Imalittleteapot]

Ok, regardless of if you like Vista or not you have to admit something's a bit odd about this. Maybe I missed something. Perhaps somebody else knows a little more about this? How is it possible that these people couldn't recognize Vista? Either a. these people aren't heavy computer users or b. Mojave had a different UI. If it had a different UI and all these people said that's awesome, then perhaps all of us could get a look see? I mean, I'm a sucker for eye candy. If that's not the case then are companies supposed to update to Vista because a few people that can't even identify the operating system said it was cool? That's not a very good reference if you ask me. Very few people deny that Vista's got some hot eye candy if all they were doing was looking at it. That wasn't really the complaint. The complaints were slow file copy, UAC, heavy hardware requirements, bad drivers, and hardware/software compatibility. None of those things affect you if Microsoft gives the demo on their own system that's tested beforehand. Now with SP1 out and the new hardware out I think Vista might round out to be a good OS for the home. The problem is Microsoft hasn't been complaining about home users. All the latest news says Microsoft is complaining because businesses aren't adopting the operating system. Now I don't know if Microsoft was having people do home related tasks or business related tasks, but if these people couldn't even identify the OS. I highly doubt they are skilled professionals. Going out and finding people that don't even know what they're looking at probably is not the best way to convince a professional to use your product.

[TotallyMadeUpName]

So Microsoft does a presentation, showing the things THEY want to show, but nobody in the group actually installed it on their own machines? What does that prove? That MS knows how to do a presentation that doesn't highlight the really annoying things about VISTA?

Give me a break. Someone should go back and interview these people after they've installed it and tried to use it for a few weeks. THAT would be a riot.

[W Macaulay]

We have both Vista and XP in our office, and if you recall the "Cancel or Allow" Mac ad, well, you know Vista. It is more secure -- it has more sophisticated graphics, and it's the evolution of Windows: if by evolution, you mean bloatware. HD space is large enough to handle Vista, but couple its footprint along with the performance _drops_ in many applications that professionals use, and you can immediately see why the business community shunned Vista. Back to "Cancel or Allow": I simply turned User Account Control off, just like in the Mac ad!

If Microsoft made Vista run faster than XP, made it run longer on notebooks on battery power, allowed apps to run faster, and didn't relocate all the networking and other settings into different locations and dialogues, perhaps IT professionals might have viewed Vista differently.

Professionals need compelling reasons to upgrade; Microsoft, with Vista, gave them none of this and the above facts gave them incentive to avoid Vista. Now that XP is end-of-life we may be forced on new computers to deal with Vista, and over time everyone will adopt it, but most professionals will call Vista a misstep. But it seems unlikely that MS will ever look at making their OS a lighter beast, and as a result, Linux and Apple will gain market share at MS' expense.

If MS feels a little sore, they ought to be: Vista is not a compelling upgrade, and Apple poked them where it hurts. They had it coming. The "Mojave" initiative smells like a canned presentation -- perhaps they will put it online for the masses to decide.

[Norseman]

ANY demo can be made to look good if it runs on top-of-the-line hardware and is pre-installed and checked out to make sure the limited part that's demoed works well. But the "proof of the pudding" is when the user has to install the software on their own hardware configuration and deal with the day-to-day frustrations that occur. From what I've seen, a large majority of Vista users didn't find THAT to be a happy experience.

[Seaspray0]

And I'm one of the people who gave it a bad rap... atleast on upgrading to it. We don't find a compelling reason to upgrade the OS on existing computers in our company. We may end up doing a "trickle" migration eventually where we will keep XP on our exisiting computers but use vista on the new replacements.

[jtmajorx]

About time!! I'm tired of seeing Apple's bull s@#$ on TV. "VISTA RUINED MY BUSINESS!!" Ahahaha, I'm sorry if you had Vista conflicts... I had none. All of my tech friends had none. Admittedly I am MCSA, and an active Sys Admin, but still I thought Vista was amazing. I've worked with Linux, and found myself just unimpressed. Most Linux Distro have something to offer, but I just like sec pol, group policy, I like the MS tweaking more. That's just me. And OSX?? I support it at work... and I hate it. I read the books, I did the labs, I work with it in the corp environment, and think it's horrible. Great hardware, bad OS.

[ch1200]

You do not upgrade!
Vista comes into its own only when bying a new computer. In my part of the world you now get a first-class laptop with 4GB RAM, 256GB disk, Vista Home, and external 300GB hard disk and MS Office for 999.- USD.
Why on earth have anything else since it works like charm?

Anyway, OS:s are only a necessary evil. Only applications matter.