Windows ‘Mojave’ Video Posts

Last week we showed a video of the Mojave Experiment to a small group of folks here on campus.  Today we are excited to share the results with the public.

For those new to the Mojave Experiment, it's a focus group effort we initiated a few weeks ago. We interviewed and polled 120 participants in San Francisco, in hopes of better understanding everyday users' perceptions of Windows Vista and seeing whether there really is a gap between perception and reality. We wanted to see how people reacted to Windows Vista when they were not aware they were seeing Windows Vista. We recorded our discussions, and today you can see them for yourself.

Some other facts about the research: 

  • The focus group took place over three days in San Francisco and was conducted earlier this month.
  • All participants were either Mac, Linux, or users of versions of Windows that came before Windows Vista. Respondents were chosen from the focus group organizer's database, called at random, but then selected based on having a low perception of Vista (<5 rating on a scale of 1-10).
  • The participants were given a demo by a trained retail salesperson - geared towards the experiences they seemed most interested in following a series of interviews. While the retail salesperson drove the demo, it was geared by the interests and direction of the participant.
  • We did not use some geeked out or custom built PC. We used an HP Pavilion DV2500. It had 2GB of RAM and was running an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz. The OS was a 32 bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate.
  • Of the 120 respondents polled, on a scale of 1:10 where 10 was the highest rating, the average pre-rating for Windows Vista was 4.4. After they saw the demo, respondents rated Mojave an average of 8.5.

Finally, some people have asked if Mojave is the big marketing project we're working on - it's not. The Mojave Experiment is just that: an experiment we conducted on the fly that yielded interesting results. We're publishing the video today because we think you'll also find it interesting.

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Comments

  1. yert
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 5:15AM  

    Finally! I've seen a few, and I have to say that I'm looking for the Linux user so I can laugh at them for eating up all the lies. Sure, Linux is a good operating system, but Vista is too!

  2. dsmtoday
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 5:52AM  

    I would probably rate Vista higher if I could pay someone to run it for me like your demo has.  Unfortunately, I have to use it myself, and that is why regardless of whatever your demos stats are, I know for a fact that Vista is waaaay more awkward to use than WinXP.

    I've got Vista Ultimate on my box, and the only thing I like about it is Media Center, which is so good it totally does not belong with the rest of Vista.  I love it and it is the only reason I haven't reformatted and put WinXP on the box.

  3. ScottB
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 6:41AM  

    Hi Chris, this seems like a really interesting experiment and you said you're sharing the results with the public, but clicking on your link I can't see where the results are published on www.mojaveexperiment.com.

    Can you advise?

  4. dovella
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 8:47AM  

    NICE!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Strujillo.jr
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 9:22AM  

    So you say you didnt give them a Geeked out PC, but if i where you i would have given them just the basic windows vista. Cause thats what i have and its not the best OS on the block. I would rate it like a 4.0 cause it has 'sudden stop and do nothing' syndrom, that gets really really annoying when im trying to type out my Humanities Essay, so yeah, not such a great OS, i would have expected more from Microsoft.

    Sonny

    iBlogtech.org

  6. silverstarknight...
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 9:34AM  

    I have a couple of issues with this "Mojave" experiment I would like to share. First of all, there is no direct way the general public can give feedback about this experiment unless they join this blog community. When I hit the "Contact Us" link, I had to sift through several pages before I was able to find a page of contacts for customer service. It then took me a 10-minute online chat with a very helpful Microsoft agent to find this blog, only to discover that then I had to join in order to just say a few reactionary comments. There needs to be an easier way for the customers to put in their two cents.

    Secondly, it disturbs me that the initial site gives no detailed information as to where the study was done or in what areas of the country. You do, but not the site. We know for sure there were 22 hidden cameras. You say there were 120 ppl polled, the Web Site says 140. Is what you are talking about a separate study? Are there any plans to do this experiment with current Vista users to see what they think?

    Also, were the test subjects allowed to take Windows Mojave home with them to see if it was compatible for their personal needs? Did they have that option? Will the test be conducted in other parts of the country?

    Those are just my personal concerns, but over and above those is the need for a direct feedback system. I believe that is vital to connecting with the customer, allowing them to obtain more information, and above all, ease their concerns. Because when I first saw this project, it struck me as a way to decieve ppl into using Vista. And I'm a diehard PC user. Can we make this process a little more democratic?

  7. juliangall
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 10:02AM  

    I have used Vista daily since it came out and it rings true for me that your focus group would be generally impressed. Vista in terms of user experience, look and feel etc. is pretty good. I have also been using a Mac daily for the last three months and that has made me, if anything, more impressed with Vista. Both OSes have their problems in various areas. Both have really useful features that the other lacks. OSX is not substantially better than Vista.

    However, Vista does have one problem that OSX doesn't and that is unpredictable hangs, freezes and delays. OSX goes to sleep and wakes up again in a matter of seconds - always. Vista takes far longer and there is a lot of hard disk activity for a long time after wake-up. Also, yesterday I closed down about 30 application windows (Excel, Outlook, Word, Powerpoint, Visio, IE, Explorer) in order to reboot the PC. It took over 5 minutes for the machine to finally get around to letting me close the last window.

    This is the critical issue Microsoft needs to fix with Vista. When it works, it's fine. It just keeps you waiting from time to time with no apparent reason. It's not that frequent but it shouldn't happen at all. I can't believe 90% of Microsoft employees from Steve Ballmer downwards haven't seen this for themselves. Please realise that it provides all the ammunition Apple & Co need.

  8. zotter
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 10:20AM  

    This is exactly what frustrates me about MSFT.  I’m your biggest fan … and this is what you come up with?

    I have news for you.  I’ve been using Vista on a high end Dell workstation.  Frankly, it is terrible.  Please invite me to your focus group and I’ll spell it out for your undercover cameras.  This OS is so crapified that it kills me to use it.  On a daily basis, I wonder, “WTF”…

    For example, I have a dozens of apps installed.  My screen is 2560x1600.  Why is the listing of programs crammed in the lower left hand cover now?  I could go on and on….. it is amazingly obfuscated.  Windows Obfuscated would be a better brand name.

    Why don’t you take a billion dollars, take a small subset of experts in the company, throw them all under the control of one person to make all the decisions – who also happens to be a usability and design expert….. and then leave them alone for a few years.

    Or better yet.  Spend 2 billion dollars and have two swat teams build a new OS from scratch….

    Btw.  Seriously, Ray Ozzie isn’t the solution.  Did anyone actually try to use Groove within MSFT?  I spent MONTHS trying to get it to work correctly – what a trainwreck!   Groove is a clusterf*ck in software design and the fact that MSFT bought it is very telling.

    Okay, enough rating.

    Good luck on your next OS.

    Krgrds,

    E. David Zotter

  9. Spanners
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 10:23AM  

    All I can say it read Comment 2 again. That just says it all.

    It's a fundamental thing not something that some slick marketing can overcome.

    Please stop spinning and start coding.

  10. rahlquist
    Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 10:56AM  

    Sorry Chris, as a former MVP I am very capable of taking midline hardware and making XP screamingly fast on it, out of box. Once I start loading software and active x objects and web components and spyware and spyware fighters well then everything gets sloowwww.

    Wanna see fast? Install 98 on modern hardware, doesn't mean its a secure or well built OS.

    Flashy cars may be pretty and sporty cars may be fast but that doesn't mean the two are good for off-roading.

    I have a 100% free and legal copy of Vista sitting on my desk at home, and I have never installed it. Partly because I'm not sure what machine I would like it on and well, once its activated I will be stuck on one piece of hardware. Easier to grab a PCLinuxOS cd and run it and not have to worry about the lockin to one piece of hardware.

    Don't get me wrong, as soon as I am required to have vista I will use my free copy, however, it will be a measure of last resort.

Trackbacks

  1. Posted by: Paul Mooney on July 29, 2008 at 9:44AM

    Windows ‘Mojave’ Video PostsThe Windows Vista blog has at last shared a video of the much talked about...

  2. Posted by: GottaBeMobile on July 29, 2008 at 10:23AM
  3. Posted by: Bob's Blog on July 29, 2008 at 4:26PM

    Check out the Mojave Experiment . I think you will be surprised and entertained. Background Windows Vista

  4. Posted by: David Overton's Blog on July 29, 2008 at 6:42PM

    I have to admit I really like this – take people who rate Vista as a ZERO, show them a new operating

  5. Posted by: Team Blogs at Microsoft on August 14, 2008 at 6:58PM

    132 Microsoft Team blogs searched, 59 blogs have new articles in the past 7 days. 122 new articles found

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