I don’t use Vista, the Microsoft operating system. But I have heard mixed feelings about it: It’s classy, or it’s like adding a piranha to your gold fish bowl. Vista has a huge perception problem; maybe we humans are just fickle; maybe there’s a marketing or PR fix to tell the Vista story better.

Maybe.

But if the Mojave Experiment is part of that attempt, you wonder what kind of mad science teacher is sitting next to the PR wizard in the perception adjustment department.

The set up: 22 Hidden cameras; ordinary people who have heard bad things about Microsoft Vista, and would never ever try it.

The experiment: This happens off camera, so we see no more than a before and after series of short video clips

The outcome: People who thought they were using a “new” operating system called “Mojave” having seen the software box and tried it in the ‘lab’ loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it.

The microsite looks like a fun experiment from a marketing angle. A panel of clickable videos that give you a feeling you are watching the participants as you would from behind the one-sided glass in a focus group.

But it’s easy to see that these are edited clips. We don’t see the whole reaction. This is not a lab experiment but a video shoot in search of footage that could be used for other purposes. I would have liked to see the guinea pigs use the OS, watch them struggle with the set up, and (assuming these are not all IT folk) do things like install print drivers, set up a wireless network, download web apps etc to suggest they/we do in real life.

If the Mojave Experiment is an exercise in attitude adjustment, we need to see less of the (reality) TV and more of the transparency. I like to know:

• Who are these people in the experiment?
• What do they say now –outside the lab?
• Are some of them blogging about it? Could they be quizzed by us?
• What percent of them are upgrading from Microsoft XP to Vista in their homes?

Finally, what is the outcome? I guess there will be more Mojave experiments. Give me some Mojave results.