We’ve all heard that when you have a happy customer, they’ll tell you.  But, when you have an unhappy customer, they’ll tell everybody but you.  And, unfortunately most of those people will repeat the story of a dissatisfied customer over and over again.  Even worse, much like in the game “telephone” where a story gets passed from one person to the next until the last person invariably hears a story that is a far cry from what was told by the first, the original story of dissatisfaction often grows well beyond all recognition.

Your Product is Crap!

Microsoft has been battling with a game of “telephone” over the last few years with it’s Windows Vista operating system.  I’ll be the first to admit that it’s initial release was, well – crap.  However, is that any different from all of the other Microsoft releases?  I wish they would change the model and release a solid product from the beginning, but they seem content with shipping a buggy product and letting the public find the problems they then fix in subsequent updates.  This time however, it bit Microsoft in the butt.  There were more bugs, more big bugs and they seemed slow to acknowledge and repair the problems.  That really got the tongues wagging.  Before long you could grab any ten people off the street and they would tell you that Vista was crap – even if they had never seen it themselves.

It had to be true…they heard it from a friend, who has a son that works with a woman who’s neighbor is a computer guy…right?

Now add the clever “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” spots to the mix and Microsoft is suddenly losing ground fast.  How can they fix this massive PR nightmare?

Change the Story Your Customers Are Telling

Enter “The Mojave Experiment.”  Microsoft did what I feel was a brilliant move. Under the guise of market research, they escorted people into a little room and asked what they thought of Vista.  Of course, they all hated it, a lot.  They are then offered a “sneak preview” of the new operating system, code-named “Mojave.”  People are in awe, wow – this is great – I love this – when will it be available?  Guess what…you’ve been punk’d! Mojave is VISTA!

I wonder what all those interviewees told their friends and neighbors when they got home.  Did they tell everyone how ticked-off they were at Bill for punking them? Possibly.  More likely, they said that Vista isn’t the piece of crap everybody has been saying it is and is actually pretty cool.

Now before you fill my in-box with anti-Microsoft hate mail…No, I do not think Vista is done growing up yet, it still has issues.  However; I do think it’s been getting a bum rap.  I’ve been using it for the last six months and have had no problems at all – none.  I do know people that have, but the first-hand stories are not that bad.

So, in closing I’ll ask that if you have not tried Vista (or any product for that matter) YOURSELF, or at least talked to somebody that has, do us all a favor and keep your opinions to yourself until you have.  ;-D

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