3 ms·
Just another step towards the inevitable announcement of a "free," "promotion-supported" version of Windows. For decades, the beige-box industry was supported b
by TheRealDunkirk 8y ago
Just another step towards the inevitable announcement of a "free," "promotion-supported" version of Windows. For decades, the beige-box industry was supported by doing things like including trialware antivirus, browser search bars, and shareware games on top of the OS. Why shouldn't Microsoft put the crapware on the machine directly, and eliminate the middle man?
I would hope that this would allow them to split the codebase, and make other, paid versions (professional, enterprise) that didn't have ANY of the tracking or advertising -- and didn't require extensive GPO manipulation to turn off -- but that's probably too much to ask.
- hakfoo 8y agoWhat's funny is that there was definitely a point where Microsoft themselves realized this business model by OEMs was undermining their platform. They actually promoted "signature" PCs which were supposed to come without crapware. I can recall buying a Windows 8 tablet from a brick-and-mortar Microsoft store because I knew it would come with a hassle-free clean install.