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Reddit – “Windows 10 prompted me to register to vote”
- notadog 6y agoScreenshot of what the notification looks like: https://i.imgur.com/LHfKkDh.png https://i.imgur.com/LHfKkDh.png
- captain_price7 6y agoFyi, this prompt was shown to a Dutch user, to register for US election.
- gruez 6y agoMy guess is that the detection is based on language settings rather than region/keyboard settings.
- kyriakos 6y agoI have English (UK) as language and UK Keyboard - I am not UK or US based though - still get the message.
- vladvasiliu 6y agoCan confirm, get this on my work PC, a domain-joined Win 10 Pro in France. We don't have any operations outside of the french mainland. Location is set to "France", regional settings to "English (Europe)" and display language to "English (US)".
- AH4oFVbPT4f8 6y agoTo check yourself, press the Windows Start Key and enter a single letter to start the search then backspace the letter. The message will be at the bottom of the start menu. If you are on a new install of Windows, the message instead will be Try Edge. Once you clear that message and try again, you'll get the register to vote message.
- kyriakos 6y agoi got it too after trying this a couple of times. First time i got Covid Information link, 2nd time nothing, 3rd time i got the voting. I am not in US, I have no US keyboard, no US locale so i guess MS just sends these out globally.
- phkahler 6y agoWhy TF are people using an OS that has ads? Whatever the reason I just dont get it.
- SkyPuncher 6y agoPerhaps, because there are only two options for most people - OSX and Windows. OSX machines are prohibitively expensive for most, so Windows is the only reasonable option.
- e2le 6y agoI would argue the habits of most people are restricted to a browser on the desktop. I doubt their OS and native applications are likely to be a barrier beyond simply how their UI looks.
- vladvasiliu 6y agoThat may be true, but in order for them to start that browser they have to have an OS. When they go their local store and buy a random computer they're going to get Windows or MacOS if they feel like splurging. It's a non-trivial investment to install linux or to look for a PC coming with it preinstalled, especially if it's something they don't particularly care about (since they mostly use a browser).
- Yetanfou 6y agoWell, there are other options but for some reason the market stolidly keeps on being centred around two platforms while ignoring the alternatives. For most people those alternatives - whether they be Linux distributions, browser-centred platforms like Google's Chromebook, large-screen keyboard-controlled mobile platforms like Android or iOS or otherwise - seem to be off the radar even though they often would work better than Windows or MacOS for their application.
- sm4rk0 6y ago...and they are paying for it!
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- mylons 6y agoon the one hand, this is indeed a shitty precedent. but on the other hand we have a shitty president and government in general.
- 1f60c 6y ago> this is indeed a shitty precedent Why?
- muro 6y agoWould you like to get also a notification for voting in Indonesia,Pakistan or Nigeria? (Countries with a similar population)
- erklik 6y agoBetter location filtering aside, I don't think a suggestion to register to vote or to make sure to vote is really setting any bad precedent. More votes should be preferred by everyone in democracy. Although, most other mature democracies, one doesn't actually need to register to vote but that's beside the point.
- 1f60c 6y agoI misread GP's comment as saying getting more people to vote somehow sets a bad precedent.
- mylons 6y agoa trillion dollar company influencing elections overtly is probably not “good”? their interests are certainly not aligned with yours
- krapp 6y agoHow is a reminder to register to vote "overtly influencing elections?"
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- rehemiau 6y ago"We're all living in America"...
- hprotagonist 6y agoist vunderbar
- 1f60c 6y agoOP: why did you feel the need to editorialize “Windows 10 prompted me to register to vote” into “Windows 10 prompted me to vote”?
- bluecmd 6y agoMaybe they didn't know there is a difference? I'm from Europe and I didn't. You register to be able to vote? Why isn't every citizen automatically allowed to vote?
- djrogers 6y agoEvery citizen is automatically allowed to vote. Registering basically tells your local county that ‘I live and vote here’ so they’ll send you ballot information and have your name on the correct checklist at your polling place.
- krapp 6y ago>You register to be able to vote? Why isn't every citizen automatically allowed to vote? Voting isn't a Constitutionally guaranteed right in the US, it's a privilege. Although the Supreme Court and various Constitutional Amendments greatly restrict the power of states to disenfranchise their citizens, states do have that power (for instance convicted felons often lose the right to vote.) Also, voter registration laws have traditionally been an effective way of suppressing African American and immigrant voters[0] (who tend to vote Democrat) so red states tend to vigorously support such laws. [0]https://time.com/5855885/voter-registration-history-race/ https://time.com/5855885/voter-registration-history-race/
- edbob 6y ago> Also, voter registration laws have traditionally been an effective way of suppressing African American and immigrant voters[0] (who tend to vote Democrat) so red states tend to vigorously support such laws. I've yet to see a single source that can show any significant effect of "voter suppression". One guy in 1836 doesn't count. If you truly think that minorities in America can't figure out how to register, than I would suggest that you check your patronizingly racist view of minorities. The argument about linking Republican registration policies to Jim Crow etc. is worthless, because those were all Democratic laws that were opposed by Republicans. Stop blaming Republicans for the Democratic Party's legacy of populist racial identity politics.
- Fellshard 6y agoBig tech in the US feels responsible - and has been scolded - for the results of the 2016 election, so this is their mea culpa: to help drive out complacent voters.
- s9w 6y agoThat sounds like 2016 something went wrong. The voter turnout was low, but not spectacularly low.
- Fellshard 6y agoIf I recall, one cause that was claimed for Clinton's loss was very depressed / apathetic voter turnout. While I seriously doubt the contribution of social media to the vast number of those who abstained, that's the narrative that was pushed: an easy target to blame, and one consisting mostly of employees and leaders with politically sympathetic views. The rest of the tech industry was implicated as well, which is even less reasonable, but makes more sense in terms of attempting to drum up political support by coercion: help us, or your employees will know you're helping our opponent.
- CivBase 6y agoWhy do you say the 2016 voter turnout was low? It was very typical for US presidential elections in the last century[0]. Even if you only look at the swing states, voter participation was very normal. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_...
- s9w 6y agoHuh, interesting. I did (naively!) only do a quick google search, and the first article (CNN) has completely different numbers.
- bob1029 6y agoThis kind of shit is why I am starting to use Windows Server 2019 as my daily driver workstation OS.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y agoWindows Server 2016 and 2019 is the same OS as Windows 10 LSTB/LSTC. That said, I'm running the non-LTSB/LTSC builds of Windows but I think I've gotten all of the underdocumented group policy settings set to disable all of the unwanted Bing/ads/web integration. The only thing I'm dreading now is the next unexpected and unwanted feature-update that will trash all of my files on-disk. I'd be fine with automatic major OS updates if Windows had its own partition or physical volume to go-crazy in while my own silo'd programs, configuration data, and personal files were on a physically separate drive with a hardware interlock to prevent the OS from writing to it unless I gave it permission. (Yes, I lost 2 years worth of files in the October 2018 Windows feature update because I was using folder redirection)
- Jonnax 6y agoThe start menu integrates Bing web search so I'm presuming it's an advert from that. It also looks like you need to change a registry key if you want to disable it.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y agoFor some reason they changed the registry entry (and Group Policy) you need to tweak to disable Bing's search integration in Windows 10 2004, but instructions are here (disclaimer: I wrote the answer): https://superuser.com/a/1579780/41739 https://superuser.com/a/1579780/41739
- aronpye 6y agoSeems that the left wing tech companies are getting nervous.
- input_sh 6y agoHere's a simple question to ask yourself: do the workers own the company? If the answer is no, it's not a left wing company by any stretch.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- throws1aways1 6y agoAt this point why not just say "Vote blue" or "Vote Biden". Does it really matter? I mean this will happen sooner or later, most likely sooner if the POTUS gets reelected