Still reeling from Windows Vista, Microsoft have set out to try and fix the OS’s broken reputation with the “Mojave Experiment”. They re branded Windows Vista as Windows “Mojave” and stuck it in front of some users and recorded their experience, then compared this to what users had heard about Windows Vista. Unsurprisingly, everyone seemed to like Windows Mojave, and were quite shocked when told it was actually Vista. Now that’s all fine and well, but I do have some problems with these videos…

It just seems like the people in these videos are the kind of people who don’t use computers all too often, and the people who call up tech support every time something happens. What about us users who use their computers every day and often live inside the OS? Granted, Vista isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s the initial usage which turned me back to XP and then later to OS X. To be honest, this is much to late to be telling people that Vista isn’t that bad - a year and half late. I also have the strangest feeling that these videos feel a bit, well, scripted. There is that something about them. Everyone seems to give the same kind of response.

We’re not shown what these people are actually doing on “Mojave”. I assume that they are being shown the built in apps like Movie Maker and the security features. However, 10-15 minutes of use is nothing compared to using a system for a month or even a week.

Over the last few weeks I have been working and using Vista quite a bit, and while it isn’t that bad, there are some annoying things which tick me off. Little things like the Control Panel, which has WAY too many options. Also, things like “Add/Remove Programs” in XP are now called “Programs and Features”. Why didn’t they just keep it the same? Sure, it is only a tiny change, but when you want to do something fast it gets annoying.

Believe me, I am not being an Microsoft basher here - I think if I had to use Vista, I could just about get by. But there is a reason why Vista was so badly accepted by most people - it was because it was a very bad Operating System when it was released.

I just believe Windows “Mojave” won’t really affect those people who are not using Vista right now, it is too late, and the damage has been done. My advice to Microsoft is too get going with Windows 7 (which should see light in January 2010) or better still, make a whole new OS. Re-write from scratch. Microsoft have the money, but do they have the will? Apple did it with OS X! DOS-based systems are old and insecure. Microsoft could really benefit from a new OS. All I’ve seen so far in Windows 7 is more eye candy and features. What about improving the code and the backend? It annoys me a lot, as I used Windows for more than 8 years. The fact that I was an “Apple hater” over a year ago and now a Mac user shows me that something is wrong in the Microsoft camp. A lot of people have said this of course, and I am just another ex-Windows user who has become an Apple fanboy to some people. But I just think Microsoft needs to start again.

It’s a bit too late to save Vista now.

Update: Gizmodo have posted an article comparing the Mojave campaign to others from the years.

We heard today that Windows 7, the next major version of Windows following Vista, is on track to be released in January 2010, and is going “very, very well”. These are the words of Windows unit head, Bill Veghte after a meeting on Thursday with Microsoft financial analysts.

So far, we have seen new multi-touch software built in to Windows 7 to offer a new way of interacting with your computer, although not much else has been revealed as of yet. At the end of the meeting, a Q&A session was held and Steve Ballmer was asked on how Windows 7 would look like, but he refused to comment, explaining that it would be a “no-win” result for Microsoft.

I will be interested in the development of Windows 7, as Vista was such a disappointment to me. Even now as I moved to OS X, I have kept a virtual Windows Vista installation just for programs that I might need that are not available. I must admit, Vista is much improved from early 2007, but OS X has become my primary operating system. For me, it just makes more sense that Windows. There are interesting stats regarding enterprise penetration by Windows Vista.

The report showed that Vista use among businesses had increased by more than 40 per cent since January, but that most of the installations were replacing versions of Windows that predate Windows XP.

According to Forrester, 87.1 per cent of the companies surveyed for the report continue to use XP.

Microsoft is still very much reeling from Vista, so we can expect a fair amount of criticism of Windows 7 as more and more info is released, but this is Microsofts chance to get it’s act back together and make a better Operating System.