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Microsoft's New Vista Ad Campaign: Microsoft Mojave

I jumped onto the Vista DRM/privacy boat more the anything else years ago. Then again I don't play anything that needs a protected video path. :rolleyes:

Vista works fine for me but I wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade. We saw almost the same situation when Leopard rolled around with the entire upgrade vs. Archive & Install debate.

Surprisingly enough I run Aero since it gives me 2-3 fps in games. Don't ask my why it does either. I haven't been able to figure it out. Just switch all the options to Windows Classic just like you did with XP and move on with your lives.

It's just another operating system. *gasp*
 
I can appreciate the ad in the sense that the "receiver" is left with curiosity regarding Vista which will carry over to attract more people to give Vista another chance (or a chance in general)

With that being said, I don't believe Microsoft's campaign will be as effective as the "Mac vs. PC" campaign because it just doesn't excite the audience enough (or at least myself, although I am pretty biased) to try Windows Vista.

Another thing I found interesting is that they polled people who haven't actually tried Windows Vista, rather, they were told through the "grapevine" that Vista was bad and unstable -- Why not fix the problems and poll the early adopters that have a bad taste in their mouths since adopting Vista.

Finally, I couldn't keep this campaign seriously because it reminded me too much of Burger King's "Whopper Freakout" campaign
 
Do MS just look in the dictionary for words they think sound cool.

I'm a bit sceptical, was it play ball or don't get paid?
 
clevin said:
One word, try for yourself. (actually, 3 words :D)


I don't even know how you do this comparison, what are the standard you use then? just subjective "good? bad? ok?"

$399 laptop, sure, maybe Apple's high priced product line gets you too much so you have doubt about cheap ones :D

My $399 laptop:
Acer Aspire 3680
1.6Ghz Celeron M
120GB HDD
512MB RAM (I updated it to 1G)
1280x768
GMA950

Its probably a refurbished product since I actually found out the HDD is 120GB (in specs, it should be 80GB)....
Click to expand...

Please dont say your now trying to say 512MB of ram was able to run vista... I think someone in this topic gave an example of what it was like... yeah if you consider THT running mild to decently then you have horrible computer standards. My standards are instant results from my actions. I click something on my desktop, and I want that file to be open near instantly.. unless its a large file making that expectation unreasonable.

Now ok fine I dont use any professional or technically ways to measure such a comparison. I mostly go by how the system feels. Like I said I go by if EVERYTHING responds the instant I click it... and stuff like that.

Remember there is a difference between a computer being able to run something... and it being usable. Story I've got regarding this is back in the day on my old iMac G3 with 477Mhz PPC with 192Mb of RAm. Well I took Virtual PC 7 for Mac and installed it... then I took Windows XP and tried to install that. It took nearly an ENTIRE day to install it BUT it did install eventually. Of course as you would guess it was beyond unusable... but it DID run.
 
I've watched the Vista and Microsoft negative comments on this forum since I joined.
I've also used Vista Ultimate on 3 computers since it's release, along with 2 running XP, and one running the Tablet Edition.
What I've always wondered is: Have the people bashing it really used it, and if they have, did they know How to use it?
It's really easy to bash something, or someone, if you don't really know very much about it, or them.
Sure I plan on trying a Mac after owing 2 iPhones for the last year, but I've ran several different OS's and Vista is really pretty darned good.
 
This is going to appear biased to someone in someway, but here it goes...

If you sat someone down in a room with a PC and a Mac and told them to test both operating systems like they were using it in the home or the office and asked them which they liked better, chances are with peoples varying opinions on aesthetics and needs and wants the response you got would be about 50/50.

Most people want more Windows because they're used to Windows. They don't see a reason to re-learn what they already know. But people are jumping ship left and right because they've "heard" all the bad things about Vista and how Microsoft is "forcing" people to upgrade. Vista isn't a bad OS, it's a very decent OS. The biggest problem it has is that it's not much more decent than XP, which the world already paid for and doesn't see a compelling reason to throw into the trash. The cheapest shelf copy of Vista is $300, $200 if you're upgrading. When the biggest glitches in the OS are related to all the new stuff that was added to justify the price tag what does that tell people?

But it's a misconception to say that Vista is a failure. It's a marketing failure maybe, but financially and as software it's held its own. It's no worse XP was during launch but that's not what people see. They see a 2001 automobile that is tuned, performs great, and has very little problems anymore compared to a 2006 model with body imperfections and multiple recall notices. Not to mention everyone walking by the car lot shouting "Lemon!". Between this and groups actively assaulting Microsoft for not caring about how well it runs (just how well it lines their pockets) there's a very negative misconception about the software that it sadly will never outgrow...

Where have I heard something like this before? Oh...

Mac OS X. For years PC user have been lobbing insults at a piece of software they've never used, sound familiar? It's more complicated than that but you'd think that after Steve Jobs declared the "OS wars" lost and Microsoft and Apple now developing software and services for each other that the idle claims and mistrust of events and products now long gone would just go away. The most common phrase I hear when I tell people what Macs can do is "Wow, I didn't know that.", even PC users that have been researching Macs for a good while can be enlightened in some way. I still meet people that hang their mouths open when they realize the "tower" of an iMac is behind the monitor.

What does all of this say? Lack of understanding. If you sat someone down in a room with a PC and a Mac and told them to test both operating systems like they were using it in the home or the office and asked them which they liked better, chances are with peoples varying opinions on aesthetics and needs and wants the response you got would be about 50/50.
 
Sad

I cannot believe that MS has to create something like this to dispel negative impressions about a new product.

What are they doing so wrong, that with all of their MONEY and influence on the market, they cannot have a killer launch and achieve a positive FIRST impression?

It reminds me of our government (all administrations!).
So many bad impressions (mostly compounded by the media), they do such a poor job of talking about all the positive things this great nation accomplishes for so many people on the planet. They should have a huge marketing department - maybe that would even help us avoid some armed conflicts.
 
Almost feel like I have to put this in: read my previous posts on Vista, I use it I'm by no means a Vista basher BUT:

Someone commented on how you don't see the participants using the system.

You do see the Microsoft helpers showing the participants how to use the system and pointing out impressive features. It is therefore no great surprised the participants are “impressed”.


As an aside:
The one with the calculator is is funny. The guy in genuinely amazed that you can type in “calc” and the system will find the Calculator.

Wonder what his reaction would be if he could type the calculation into the search field and it came back with the answer straight away ala spotlight.
 
You know your brand has died when the only way to get people to try your product is to tell people it's not your product. And to set it up for them so they don't have the days of driver pain...

Somehow, admitting in your advertising that people think your product sucks doesn't seem like such a good move. But maybe that's why I'm not paid ridiculous sums of money to come up with Microsoft advertising campaigns.
 
Microsoft was always good with first impressions. Especially when it is pre-installed on the fastest laptop they can find. It is the same things as a Steve Keynote. But when you start going threw the details and doing stuff that they didn't want to show you then you see the problems. I had Vista, on my Mac. Needless to say I didn't care for it much as it was always positioned to fight against me. Go here and there and Big Cancel or Allow. CANT YOU FREAKEN TELL THAT I ACCESSED THIS FEATURE VIA CLICKING ON THE ICON! Yes I want to access it, that is why I clicked on it. Now I am a software developer I don't do much with movies and blogs but the Mac just lets me get my work done without it having fits all the time.
 
Scooterman1 said:
I've watched the Vista and Microsoft negative comments on this forum since I joined.
I've also used Vista Ultimate on 3 computers since it's release, along with 2 running XP, and one running the Tablet Edition.
What I've always wondered is: Have the people bashing it really used it, and if they have, did they know How to use it?
It's really easy to bash something, or someone, if you don't really know very much about it, or them.
Sure I plan on trying a Mac after owing 2 iPhones for the last year, but I've ran several different OS's and Vista is really pretty darned good.
Click to expand...

How do you find copying/moving/deleting files and folders?
 
first, whose bright idea was it to interview all those homeless people, the guy with the beard, the budget whoopie goldberg. i do not take their statements too seriously considering you will probably see living in a lean-too underneath an overpass made out of discarded aol 3.0 and vista cds.

secondly, this ad campaign is terrible. its like a big tobacco company doing commercials about how cigarettes are not really that bad and people who have not tried them do not know what they are talking about especially homeless people.

third, why do they not show what the heck these people are doing on the computers. that guy loved the security feature. wait till he's on it for more than a minute and gets 500 security prompts. AWESOME FEATURES.
 
Embarrassing....

How embarrassing for Microsoft:

"Everyone thinks we suck, but we can trick really naive people into saying anything - and get them to do it on camera!

Frankly, I would have been more impressed had they actually shown some people who had a clue about the product before they got roped into spouting off ignorantly and then being caught doing so....

"So, when did you stop beating your wife? Er, Microsoft?

I've used both Macs and PCs since the 80s and neither company is full of saints or saintly behavior. (They're not all awful people, either.) However, all in all, the Mac experience has been more pleasant and less aggravating than the PC experience most of the time - except for all that "free" software cranked out by "get rich quick" types that make Microsoft machines seem like a "real deal..." Seem.

Apple's focus on "Let's take the cool stuff everyone's trying to do at home and make it actually work for "x" dollars is paying off for Apple and many consumers.

Hooray for that.

Too bad for Microsoft that nobody's cheering for them...

But, it's not like we wouldn't if they did something seriously worth cheering about.

In this case, using Vista daily, I can tell you that Vista isn't the "feel good" product of the year.

That iphone thingy though... That's pretty neat.
 
I have used Vista on my Mac Pro and on my old MacBook Pro, it was buggy on both machines. Sure it would work "fine" for a while, but then randomly crash. :rolleyes:



Oh well, perhaps Windows Mojave will fix some of Vista's problems... ;)
 
Hmmmmm...

What will MS come out with next...
Anything they think of trying to come back at Apple just makes me crack up. :D
 
at the start I kept expecting someone to say, "oh, I heard they'd just copied a bunch of stuff from the mac os..." :D

I too would love to see the '1 Month Later...' adds.
 
clevin said:
in all Pc vs. Mac ads, did you see Vista once? and you can get bad impression from it. was that valid?

This ads is just as valid as, if not more than, apple's ads. At least these ads shows you more opinions from real people.
Click to expand...

In this 'Mojave Experiment' it's a little bit different than the Apple ads. The Apple 'Mac vs PC' ads are scripted, in case you didn't notice, and aren't filmed on hidden camera's that capture their opinions. I don't see how they are more valid then Apple's ads. :confused:

Opinions about what? As far as we know they could be showing them Mac OS 9 or Linux for that matter and telling the it's Microsoft Mojave and then saying it's Vista. From the viewer's standpoint in those ads, there isn't a difference, we are just led to believe they are using Vista. The least Microsoft could have down was put a hidden camera stationed behind the user that shows them using it, that way it would be valid.


I find it interesting that everyone they interview didn't have a clue what Vista looked like and yet knew that they hated it. It would have been nice if they brought someone in that knew about Vista and knew it right away. Or maybe they did, but they just acted stupid? Who knows.
 
bboucher790 said:
Windows Vista is decent. An upgrade form XP for sure.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends what you're doing - in a number of benchmarks, XP outperforms Vista. If the thing you are doing is slower, it's certainly not an upgrade.

I thought this was a pretty clever idea for an ad. But overall, I feel like it just made those people look dumb and gullible.

Most of the complaints about Vista are that it doesn't run well on hardware that ran XP well, and that it had compatibility problems. You can't tell any of that from running a demo machine for a few minutes. Looks like those people were just wowed by flashy bells and whistles.

While this add may be effective to some degree about the "hey, it doesn't suck so much any more" factor, I still don't think most people will see anything that's much better than what they already have with XP. Especially when word is out that windows 7 isn't that far off. What's the compelling reason to upgrade instead of just skipping a generation?
 
Honestly, MS is just playing catch-up. Obviously.
But, it's a good move on their part. I agree with other people here saying that it's very unusual that we can't really see the screen of the computer to see if they really are using Vista, Linux, or OS X. But, in my personal opinion, I haven't used Vista extensively to judge whether or not it's "slow" or "buggy" or "terrible". That being said, I think that these ads are a fair comparison to OS X. Granted, OS X has had the same features even before Vista came out. But, I obviously prefer OS X. The only thing that I like about Vista (seriously) is it's GUI. Now, that may sound vain but, it's the truth.

That's my two cents.
 
phakebrill said:
How do you find copying/moving/deleting files and folders?
Click to expand...

You would have to use it to appreaciate. There are so many ways to do that, that's been there through many versions, I could go on for awhile.
Different users do it different ways. I usually just right click, or box & drag. Like I said though.... MANY different ways.
 
elppa said:
Almost feel like I have to put this in: read my previous posts on Vista, I use it I'm by no means a Vista basher BUT:

Someone commented on how you don't see the participants using the system.

You do see the Microsoft helpers showing the participants how to use the system and pointing out impressive features. It is therefore no great surprised the participants are “impressed”.


As an aside:
The one with the calculator is is funny. The guy in genuinely amazed that you can type in “calc” and the system will find the Calculator.

Wonder what his reaction would be if he could type the calculation into the search field and it came back with the answer straight away ala spotlight.
Click to expand...

I didn't know spotlight could do this! Ya learn something new everyday I suppose :)
 
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