ACT I:
SCENE: Steve Jobs is standing on stage in front of a giant video screen. The screen is filled with a photo of Apple’s latest innovation – iProduct.

Steve Jobs: Today, we’re releasing iProduct. It can do X and Y and does those things better than anything else out there.

Hater: But it doesn’t do Z! Apple stinks.

Fan: Z isn’t that important. X and Y are really important to me though. I like it.

Hater: You’re so dumb, you don’t even know how important Z is. Product Q has been doing that for years!

Fan: Well, good for Product Q. I don’t need Z. It’s really not that important. I’m sticking with iProduct.

Hater: You’re a zombie. You were brainwashed by marketing. You need a shiny iProduct to make yourself look cool.

Fan: Huh? It just works and does what I need it to do.

Hater: You’re probably too stupid to use Product Q anyway.

(Blackout – End of Act I).

ACT II:
SCENE: Steve Jobs is again standing on stage in front of a giant video screen. This time, the screen behind him shows iProduct version 2.

Steve Jobs: Well, it’s a year later and today, we’re releasing iProduct version 2. It has many innovative new features, including Z.

Hater: I can’t believe all you Mactards are making such a big deal out of this. Product Q has had Z for years.

Fan: It’s cool they added it, but it’s still not important.

Hater: But why are you making such a big deal about it then?

Fan: I’m not. You are.

Hater: Well you SHOULD be. You should be pissed that Apple didn’t add Z a year ago.

Fan: I’m not pissed. In fact, I dont care.

Hater: You would care if you weren’t so stupid.

Fan: If you hate Apple so much, why do you even pay attention?

Hater: Because I can’t stand how Apple gets credit for being innovative. They’re so backward, iProduct can’t even do Z!

Fan: Well, it does Z now.

Hater: See, even Apple thinks I’m right!

Fan: So, I’m the stupid one here?

(Light fades out. End of Act II).

So, MS-haters and MS-lovers are back in the trenches yet again over Microsoft’s latest pro-Vista stunt. They conducted focus group testing on what the participants were told was “the next Microsoft OS”, codenamed Mojave. The results of the testing were very positive for MS. However, it turns out that the testers were in fact not using “Mojave”, but rather Microsoft Vista. The Mojave cover story was intended to get the testers to look at Vista without any preconceived notions.

The anti-Microsoft crowd quickly took the position that this is just indicative of the kind of lying, underhanded marketing that continually comes out of Redmond. Others defending MS, saying this was a smart way to show that even though Vista got off to a shaky start, the OS is a lot better than it was.

I have to agree with the latter point of view. When I first saw Vista, I did not like it whatsoever. As a result, I didn’t switch from XP. Even after I read news that Vista has gotten a lot better, I know that my opinion was colored by my initial experiences. Though I’m not in the market for a new Windows box, if I were I think this kind of information might make me take a second look.

As for the “stunt” part of this, do I think it’s underhanded lying on the part of MS? Not really. If they packaged the same software in a box and sold it as a different product, that would be unethical. What they did was on par with the old Folger’s Crystals ads, where they would go into a four-star restaurant and replace their regular coffee with Folger’s Crystals. It’s to get an honest reaction from people outside of their prejudices.

Will I be buying Vista anytime soon as a result? Probably not unless my gaming machine unexpectedly catches fire and melts into a pile of plastic goo.

For almost everything else, my MacBook Pro is my main computer.