Microsoft's Fake OS Gets a Web Site

Earlier we wrote about how Microsoft used a kind of blind taste test to get die-hard Windows XP users to try Vista --- and that they even liked it. They were told that they were trying a new OS, called Mojave. We also said that Microsoft hadn't figured out a marketing campaign, but it appears that's changed.

Microsoft last week interviewed XP users who were skeptical of Vista and showed them what it called a secret new version of Windows, "Mojave." It was in fact Vista. The results, according to Microsoft executives, were almost universally positive, with participants expressing surprise when told it was actually Vista they had been using.

For now, Microsoft has put up a teaser site, with plans to show the actual video footage next week.

Although the video was compelling and entertaining, at least some of the people I talked to who saw the video at Thursday's analyst meeting also stressed that early demos of Vista also looked good. The video, necessarily, doesn't show what it is like to, say, install software or hook Vista up to a home network. My guess is the participants didn't have to endure frequent User Account Control notifications either.

Yes, as we wrote earlier Microsoft designed the UAC to annoy, so we re-assert that if Microsoft added in, say, driver issues, compatibility issues, installation issues, and the UAC to the demo, they might have had a different result.  Still, the video ought to be interesting to watch, when it appears.  See above for the website "appearance" right now.