6 ms·

“The Mojave Experiment:” Bad Science, Bad Marketing

31 points by bazookaaa 18y ago

eru 18y ago
Would have been better without the rant. That is, if the author had just concentrated on exposing the bad science.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  I'm not sure exposing bad science in marketing campaigns is really a worthwhile endeavor.
  - eru 18y ago
    Makes for better reading than a rant.
sant0sk1 18y ago
Bad Science? Yes. Bad Marketing? No.
- krschultz 18y ago
  I disagree, it is bad marketing because Microsoft is hitting the wrong market. The people who make their decisions based on what Dell defaults to are going to end up with Vista - because that is their only option now. There was a time when they had a choice between XP or Vista with a new computer, now you have a choice between Vista or no computer. So this campaign is aimed at the people who actually make an informed decision and influence large purchases - basically IT guys since businesses are the ones still using XP/2000. Insulting their intelligence is not an effective strategy.
  - sant0sk1 18y ago
    This marketing is combative of Apple's anti-Vista marketing. The goal is to change the perception of the general populous which (due to brilliant ads by Apple) believe that "Vista sucks". This marketing campaign will resonate well with every person who has concluded that Vista sucks without ever giving it a chance. I have a feeling that is a massive target audience.
    - yummyfajitas 18y ago
      The goal is to change the perception of the general populous which (due to brilliant ads by Apple) believe that "Vista sucks". I don't think it's because of apple ads at all. Most people have an early adopter or someone who recently bought a new machine in their circle of friends. And a big chunk of those people have had problems. So most people are 1-2 steps removed from someone who doesn't like vista (my dad says copying files is slow, for instance). So I suspect this marketing won't even really work that well. The issue isn't whether vista is prettier or "faster", the issue is whether vista will be broken on my machine.
      - thebigshane 18y ago
        I think it works when the 2nd half of the marketing campaign pushes the idea: "Vista SP1 has fixed most of those issues now". (disclaimer: I have no idea if that is true or not, but it should work as a marketing campaign)
        calvin 18y ago
        Trying to upgrade from Vista to Vista SP1 is what drove me back to XP. I wanted to do a fresh reinstall w/ Vista SP1 and the installer told me "We're sorry, you can't install to that drive because Vista is already installed." It had other foibles as well and managed to crash due to driver conflicts and other issues. All in all, I much more satisfied being back on XP even though I'm missing out on some of Vista's new eye candy.
  - thebigshane 18y ago
    I think its perfect marketing. Ignore the people that are having trouble with compatibility while still working on those issues back in Redmond. Meanwhile show the people that Vista does still work for the ordinary user who buys their computer from dell, hp or sony. Too many ordinary people heard that Vista was horrible without having any direct experience with it.
    - iamnirav 18y ago
      I totally agree. I'm also at odds with the fact that he's made some strange assumptions here. The vast majority of Microsoft customers, enterprises, will have help desks and IT support to help out new Vista users. And why is this labeled "mac community"? The only people to...never mind, I'll just write a blog post: http://iamnirav.com/2008/07/bad-science-in-the-mojave-experiment/ http://iamnirav.com/2008/07/bad-science-in-the-mojave-experi...
scott_s 18y ago
I didn't think anyone would expect a marketing campaign to even approximate a valid scientific experiment.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Is he anal, or an Apple fanboy? Or both? There's probably a large purple center on that blue/red Venn diagram.
mynameishere 18y ago
I suspect Microsoft uses good science in its internal studies.
Maascamp 18y ago
This is a childish rant. I'm surprised it was posted and actually voted up on HN. Maybe things are starting to slide around here.
mattmaroon 18y ago
I hate bad science too, when it's sold as science. For instance the arguments put forth by creationists. When it's an ad, well, it's just an ad. I don't think those Apple ads with John Hodgman are going to be published in any scientific journals any time soon, but they're still great ads. I'd say this is an effective ad. I can't think of a better way to get the message to people that Vista is getting a worse reputation than it deserves.

31 points by bazookaaa 18y ago

eru 18y ago

Would have been better without the rant. That is, if the author had just concentrated on exposing the bad science.

mattmaroon 18y ago
I'm not sure exposing bad science in marketing campaigns is really a worthwhile endeavor.
- eru 18y ago
  Makes for better reading than a rant.

sant0sk1 18y ago

Bad Science? Yes. Bad Marketing? No.

krschultz 18y ago
I disagree, it is bad marketing because Microsoft is hitting the wrong market. The people who make their decisions based on what Dell defaults to are going to end up with Vista - because that is their only option now. There was a time when they had a choice between XP or Vista with a new computer, now you have a choice between Vista or no computer. So this campaign is aimed at the people who actually make an informed decision and influence large purchases - basically IT guys since businesses are the ones still using XP/2000. Insulting their intelligence is not an effective strategy.
- sant0sk1 18y ago
  This marketing is combative of Apple's anti-Vista marketing. The goal is to change the perception of the general populous which (due to brilliant ads by Apple) believe that "Vista sucks". This marketing campaign will resonate well with every person who has concluded that Vista sucks without ever giving it a chance. I have a feeling that is a massive target audience.
  - yummyfajitas 18y ago
    The goal is to change the perception of the general populous which (due to brilliant ads by Apple) believe that "Vista sucks". I don't think it's because of apple ads at all. Most people have an early adopter or someone who recently bought a new machine in their circle of friends. And a big chunk of those people have had problems. So most people are 1-2 steps removed from someone who doesn't like vista (my dad says copying files is slow, for instance). So I suspect this marketing won't even really work that well. The issue isn't whether vista is prettier or "faster", the issue is whether vista will be broken on my machine.
    - thebigshane 18y ago
      I think it works when the 2nd half of the marketing campaign pushes the idea: "Vista SP1 has fixed most of those issues now". (disclaimer: I have no idea if that is true or not, but it should work as a marketing campaign)
      - calvin 18y ago
        Trying to upgrade from Vista to Vista SP1 is what drove me back to XP. I wanted to do a fresh reinstall w/ Vista SP1 and the installer told me "We're sorry, you can't install to that drive because Vista is already installed." It had other foibles as well and managed to crash due to driver conflicts and other issues. All in all, I much more satisfied being back on XP even though I'm missing out on some of Vista's new eye candy.
- thebigshane 18y ago
  I think its perfect marketing. Ignore the people that are having trouble with compatibility while still working on those issues back in Redmond. Meanwhile show the people that Vista does still work for the ordinary user who buys their computer from dell, hp or sony. Too many ordinary people heard that Vista was horrible without having any direct experience with it.
  - iamnirav 18y ago
    I totally agree. I'm also at odds with the fact that he's made some strange assumptions here. The vast majority of Microsoft customers, enterprises, will have help desks and IT support to help out new Vista users. And why is this labeled "mac community"? The only people to...never mind, I'll just write a blog post: http://iamnirav.com/2008/07/bad-science-in-the-mojave-experiment/ http://iamnirav.com/2008/07/bad-science-in-the-mojave-experi...

scott_s 18y ago

I didn't think anyone would expect a marketing campaign to even approximate a valid scientific experiment.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Is he anal, or an Apple fanboy? Or both? There's probably a large purple center on that blue/red Venn diagram.

mynameishere 18y ago

I suspect Microsoft uses good science in its internal studies.

Maascamp 18y ago

This is a childish rant. I'm surprised it was posted and actually voted up on HN. Maybe things are starting to slide around here.

mattmaroon 18y ago

I hate bad science too, when it's sold as science. For instance the arguments put forth by creationists. When it's an ad, well, it's just an ad. I don't think those Apple ads with John Hodgman are going to be published in any scientific journals any time soon, but they're still great ads. I'd say this is an effective ad. I can't think of a better way to get the message to people that Vista is getting a worse reputation than it deserves.