Microsoft has thrown the old Windows Vista in the same arena of public perception as a "new Windows operating system codenamed Mojave." And surprisingly, Windows Vista won. Well, the new Windows Vista at least, now complete with Service Pack 1, not the RTM version that hit the shelves on January 30, 2008. Microsoft's latest Windows operating system is finally getting a much needed breath of fresh air, with the Redmond company focusing to generate positive publicity around the platform, in a move that is long overdue.

"94% of respondents rated Mojave higher than they initially rated Windows Vista before the demo. 0% of respondents rated Mojave lower than they initially rated Windows Vista before the demo," Microsoft revealed. In fact, that Mojave experiment was nothing more than masquerading Windows Vista as the next version of the Windows operating system.

But what the Mojave Experiment really shows is Microsoft's failure to build a brand out of Vista. At this point in time, the characteristics that have become inherently associated with the Vista brand are too well rooted into public perception to be dislodged by any marketing campaign. Microsoft is at a juncture where it might as well throw buckets of money at marketing campaigns and run experiments labeled after all the deserts in the world, Vista will remain Vista.

The Mojave experiment is about 140 people. But not counting the 180 million users that have already made the jump to Windows Vista, the largest past of the 1 billion Windows users will not be that easy to convince, or reach for that matter.

"Of the 140 respondents polled the average pre-demo Vista score was 4.4. The average post-demo Mojave score was 8.5. Many said that they would have rated it higher, but wanted more time to play with it themselves," Microsoft added.

But the Redmond company is right to assume that public perception has impacted and hurt Windows Vista like nothing else. But at the same time, it might just be too late for Vista. But not for Windows 7, the real next version of the Windows client. Experiments like Windows Mojave could at least give Windows 7 a clean slate, because, having Windows Vista at its basis, the next Windows platform is bound to inherit its sins.