Microsoft: Don't knock Vista 'til you've tried it

After months of searching for ways to defend its often-maligned Windows operating system, Microsoft turned to Vista's sceptics for help.

Microsoft got together a sample of Windows XP users who had negative impressions of Vista and asked them for their opinion on the operating system. They were then shown a "new" operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 per cent of the sample gave positive feedback on the new OS. They were then told that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista.

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"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.

Of course the focus groups didn't have to install Vista or hook it up to their existing home network, however the emotional appeal of the "every man" trying Vista and liking it clearly packs an emotional punch.

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

He said: "We have a huge perception opportunity. We are going to try a bunch of stuff."

The image improvement effort has many components. 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.

Microsoft is convinced 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.

Marketing vice president Brad Brooks told partners earlier this month that Microsoft was "drawing a line in the sand", while CEO 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".

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

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 US.

Microsoft is already working 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.

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

Original article: Microsoft looks to 'Mojave' to revive Vista's image from CNET News.com