The Mojave Experiement

Microsoft has been playing defense - even more than usual. If you believe the media hype, Vista is not all it's cracked up to be.

I don't personally use it frequently - my his-laptop currently runs Server 2008 64-bit Enterprise (thanks Microsoft Trial Software and the Windows Server 2008 to Workstation Manual), my desktop runs XP and Ubuntu, my work computer is a combination of XP and whatever I can boot off a USB stick. The hers-laptop is Vista Ultimate, but my wife is the main user of that machine.

Needless to say, Microsoft isn't happy that Vista adoption rates are low. But instead of poking the media in the chest with their 800-lb finger, they took a more crafty route.

Enter Microsoft Windows "Mojave," a new and improved OS for the Vista-hater.

Or is it?

Basically Microsoft lured the haters to a focus group to test a new experimental OS. They allowed the participants to opine on Vista's faults - despite having never tried (or seen) it - before allowing them to feast on the next-gen os on some slick hardware.

In a classic Candid Camera moment, they filmed the reactions of the haters when the marketeer announced "Mojave is really Windows Vista." Go see the videos: http://www.mojaveexperiment.com

In any case, it's an interesting example of a social experiment to uncover a media-induced bias. Why did the anti-Vistites dislike the OS so? They had never used it. It could be argued that one must experiment with something to truly understand its characteristics before making an opinion. However, some things need no experimentation.

A Blog Should Have A Purpose

For the longtime readers of this site, you'll note that I went for a very long time without updating. Despite what the dates say, it's not been more than a year since I posted, though it certainly feels like it.

Though somewhat tongue-in-cheek, my opening statement is more of a dig at my habits (of not posting), and a non-sequitur to the title. The titular statement, in fact, is an attempt to return to my roots of creating this blog.

Story time...

I was trying to think of a great name for a site, something really catchy, but not too web 2.0-ish. I wanted to write about video games, and after some time with a whois search I came up with www.zeroxp.com.

Whoa! you say. That's not a name of a website, but a domain name. Touche, my friend. Enjoy that victory for a moment, for I shall turn the tables on you.

See, the best blogs have names that match the domain name (except for my wife's blog, which is titled "Trying to be Clever" and lives at http://kepingupwiththebelnaps.blogspot.com). So I concluded, naturally, that I should find the name and title that fit the purpose I had for writing.

But what was my purpose? Back to video games.

I've always wanted to review video games. It would be nice to get paid to do something fun and interesting, and I have a little experience with writing, but I need to polish my skills. The trouble is that 1) I have no money to buy a gaming system or games, and 2) I have little time to play games, let alone write about them.

So I had the brilliant idea to review old games - take a second look kind of thing. I've always loved the "classic" and thought it high time that some of these games are revisited. I wanted to compare the narrative-focus of the early games to the heavy FX style new games and see what compares.

But I quickly deviated from that course. I started writing about PBX'es and other things, thinking I could morph the title (Zero Experience) into writing about things in which I had no experience. Isn't the level of expertise about a subject inversely proportional to experience? (Note: there is a tiny bit of sarcasm in the previous sentence)

I am therefore a self-proclaimed expert!

I should fit in perfectly with my colleagues and cohorts in the bloggosphere.

In any case, my efforts failed.

So I'm back (with a vengeance?) and trying to move forward. I have neither direction nor purpose, though I endeavor to find one.

Long time no see

So it's been nearly six months since I posted here. I can't believe it! I knew this would happen, if you read my earlier posts. But no one does. Perhaps that's why I don't post more often.

Anyway, if you are reading, check out my wife's blog.