Windows codenamed Mojave is just around the corner and closer to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 than even Windows 7. The Reason for this is that Windows 7 is merely an evolution of the latest Windows client, while Windows codenamed Mojave is actually 100% Vista. And at the same time a Microsoft experiment in public perception. Well, one is perception versus reality, according to the perspective of Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President, Online Services & Windows Business Group, revealed at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting 2008 on July 24, 2008.

The Mojave Experiment is scheduled to go live tomorrow, July 29, 2008. "Duration: 3 days in San Francisco, July 2008. Conditions: Partly Cloudy, 57 degrees. Subjects: Over 120 computer users (Mac, Linux, Windows XP and Windows 2000). Hardware: An HP Pavilion DV 2000 with 2 GB of RAM technical assistance: A retail computer salesperson. Description: Subjects get a live 10-minute demo of "the next Microsoft OS" codenamed "Mohave" - but it's actually Windows Vista."

According to Microsoft, approximately 90% of the feedback returned by the people involved in the Mojave experiment was positive. The Redmond giant blames this on the disastrous public perception of Windows Vista. The website will feature the reactions of the participants in the experiment caught on video and it is an integral part of Microsoft's new efforts to market Windows Vista.

"We took a camera crew down and we did some focus groups where we recruited a set of XP users - think of it as just going down and calling - doing a random-digit dial, generating a bunch of XP users. And the qualification was they had to be using XP, and they had to have a negative perception relative to Windows Vista. They're not using it, but they are predisposed to think about it in a negative way," Veghte stated before a presentation of the actual reactions to the Vista/Mojave demo.

Still, Microsoft has to understand that a 10 minute demonstration of Windows Vista masquerading as a new Windows operating system is in no way relevant to the fully fledged, day-to-day experience that a Vista user will have. A 10 minute presentation of Vista is not an equivalent of living and using the operating system for months or years on end.

And the sad truth about Vista is that public perception is not formed solely through Vista or anti-Vista advertising, but also from end users dealing with the platform day to day. Sure enough, potential customers that have never touched the operating system might get a Vista Wow revelation, but what about the users that have been hit with software and hardware incompatibly problems, with faulty drivers, with slow performance and so on and so forth. Mojave has little to no chances of changing their perception. Nor does Microsoft for that matter.

"That's our opportunity. Perception versus reality, that's a conversation that we've got to go have with our customers. We are making a set of investments in consumer marketing this year. We're making those investments in the context of Windows Vista, but a broader conversation around the opportunity with Windows. Having that conversation is something that we must do. We must do to support and continue to extend that incredible brand and value proposition that we have with Windows, and you'll see a variety of efforts on this front as we go forward in the fall," Veghte concluded.