Farhad Manjoo, now at Slate, reports on Microsoft’s “strange Mojave experiment”:

In mid-July, representatives of Microsoft traveled to San Francisco in search of people who hated Windows Vista. The company recruited 140 Mac and PC users who thought Microsoft’s latest operating system was slow, that it crashed constantly, that it was incompatible with various devices, and that installing it would be a pain. None of these people had ever used Vista; they’d only heard from others that it sucked. When they were asked to watch a short demonstration of a brand-new Microsoft operating system called Windows Mojave, the Vista-haters were blown away. The new OS was quick and pretty, it handled photos and videos and music with aplomb, and it never crashed. “Why didn’t you guys release this instead of that Vista crap?” many wondered.

You know what’s coming…”Windows “Mojave” was really Windows Vista.” Farhad isn’t buying. He says the Windows Vista isn’t a terrible operating system. But that they put videos of the experiment online and turned it into an ad campaign, at best, conveys a mixed message. What’s more:

Participants in the Mojave Experiment were selected based on an obviously irrational aversion to Vista. They were silly to have hated Vista without ever trying it. And that’s what the experiment proved—that people who blindly believe that Vista is a nightmare are happy to learn that it’s not.

But it’s also important to point out what Microsoft’s test doesn’t prove: that you should buy Windows Vista. Participants in the Mojave Experiment handled the software for just a few minutes, and they were helped along by a technician who showed them the ins and outs (a service that Apple offers for new Mac buyers but which you’d be hard-pressed to find for a Windows machine). The test subjects didn’t have to suffer through the frustration of installing the OS, setting it up to work with a printer or home network, starting it up, shutting it down, or seeing it drag during a fast-paced game.

Microsoft says it did the campaign because “perceptions [of the improved Windows Vista] have not necessarily kept pace with reality” and that people who harbored “a negative perception hadn’t actually seen or used the product.”

My experience with college students suggests that Microsoft is correct; they’ve got a big perception problem. If Farhad is correct — “if you’ve got to fool them, haven’t you already lost?” — this campaign won’t do much to help out.