22 ms·

Microsoft is turning Windows 11's Start Menu into an ad delivery system

94 points by LordAtlas 4y ago

commitpizza 4y ago
Horrible development, just yet another reason why I use Linux on all my privately owned computers.
- AlotOfReading 4y ago
  I switched from W10+wsl on my personal desktop to Linux with my most recent upgrade. There were some issues to debug, but it's just been nice to have the OS play nicely in the background and not compete for my attention with ads, service upsells, and account nonsense. I've considered going back for certain programs, but thinking about windows now gives me the same sort of mental hesitation that I get from gas stations with those horrible video ads. It's not a dealbreaker per se, but I would go far out of my way to avoid it.
- eulers_secret 4y ago
  I’m with you. Sure there are compromises I have to make, but being Free, unmonitored, not treated like a resource to be extracted, and feeling like my computer is mine is worth more than the any of the issues I encounter.
  - commitpizza 4y ago
    Yeah and I have no issues paying for it but unless you run Linux there is no other option that doesn't do this unfortunately.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  I don't see it as horrible at all. Windows is owned by Microsoft, and as a profit-seeking corporation, it makes lots of sense for them to force users to watch ads while using their product. Why shouldn't they do this, especially when so many people are perfectly happy to keep buying and using Windows OS? If you don't like having ads forced on you, then use an OS vendor that agrees with you. Thankfully, there's lots of OSes (i.e., Linux distros) that don't have any ads in them, which you can download and use for free, so this isn't really a problem. In other words: Don't like it? Don't use it.
  - commitpizza 4y ago
    I don't understand your point, this is exactly what I am doing. I am not using Windows or MacOS. > especially when so many people are perfectly happy to keep buying and using Windows OS? Honestly, this is because a lot of people that would care are unaware that this is happening. It's impossible to stay on top on everything in your life but that doesn't make it ok to treat those people poorly. The main issue is that for many, there isn't a choice since you can't go to most stores and buy a linux powered machine. You have to have special knowledge in order to even install it.
CrypticShift 4y ago
Wait until they turn your physical space into an ad-delivery system. Introducing HoloLens v10 ! it fits in contact lenses ! wear it everywhere !
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  We just went through an election in the US, and there were ads all over my physical place. And billboards. And now LED billboards. And LED billboard vehicles and boats.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    My state banned billboards. You should find a way to get such a thing on your local ballot. There's zero reason to have distracting advertisements on the side of a road where you are supposed to go 70+ mph.
beardyw 4y ago
And yet I watch TV mostly ad free (though not for free). Strange how things go around.
josefresco 4y ago
If these are "ads" then I had "ads" in my iOS settings app and throughout the interface. I'm not saying this is wrong, I just don't understand why Microsoft is being singled out. I get it, bashing MS gets clicks from old geeks like me but come on, these aren't "banner ads" or MS selling the start menu to the highest bidder ... it's them pushing their own services that extend Windows ... just like iCloud.
- alexb_ 4y ago
  >If these are "ads" then I had "ads" in my iOS settings app and throughout the interface. Correct! Both of these are bad!
  - josefresco 4y ago
    I agree! Let's just not give Apple or Google a free pass.
- adql 4y ago
  They are not "singled out" it's just article about new misfeature added?
  - josefresco 4y ago
    I believe it's the second article popular on HN about this exact issue in less than 1-2 weeks? It seems if you're a blogger, bashing MS is a winning formula. Having lived through the "MS is evil" years I'm sensitive to when others are given a pass for similar, or worse behavior.
    - P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
      As opposed to what, not trying to hold large companies to task for their behavior?
- wzdd 4y ago
  The article mentions that Microsoft is also promoting third-party "common websites", such as Etsy and Twitter. This seems a bit problematic -- if they're paid-for placements then they are unambiguously ads, but if they're not paid-for placements then one has to wonder how much damage they'd do to Etsy or Twitter competitors. (They also look pretty distracting if you're after your recently-used files and already know about these websites!)
rolph 4y ago
Windows customers may switch to a third-party Start Menu instead. The $4.99 applications Start11 and StartAllBack restore classic versions of the Start Menu on Windows 11.
- bigmattystyles 4y ago
  PowerToys (from MS) has alt-space, as well as a slew of new features, for free. There are no ads, for now...
  - rolph 4y ago
    my point is, according to the article,if you dont want the ads , MS will sell/allow you an adless start menu version for 5 bucks
    - majewsky 4y ago
      And their point was that there are adless start menus for free also, which is an important addition to what the article is stating.
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      Wait, since when are third party paid applications "Microsoft"?
- karmakurtisaani 4y ago
  Ah, pay for your OS so that you can pay third parties to make it usable.
  - qball 4y ago
    To be fair, you also have to do this for macOS as well; it still doesn't have the window-snapping feature that Windows has had since 2006.
    - karmakurtisaani 4y ago
aftbit 4y ago
Heck, even Windows 10 does this. I don't mind the weather icon in the taskbar, but sometimes it changes to news or market data, which is exactly what I do _not_ want to see when I am playing games on my old Windows machine.
rich_sasha 4y ago
Fo me the worst (possibly only significant) issue about ads is they are stealing my attention over what I'm actually trying to do. Flashing, taking up screen space, disturbing, requiring to find a well-hidden "fuck off" button. Inclusion of some links bothers me much less. Though I agree it's poor overall.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
smoldesu 4y ago
It's funny, if you asked Jobs or even Ballmer where they would stand on in-desktop advertising 20 years ago, they probably would have laughed and explained the benefits of paying for a desktop operating system. Flash-forward to today, and both companies are exhuming their UIs to stuff in more-and-more promotional content. Perhaps it's horribly ironic that the only OSes that don't advertise to you are the ones you can use Freely.
- psychphysic 4y ago
  It started with Ubuntu and Amazon iirc.
  - elkos 4y ago
    True, but at least my experience with OpenSUSE, Debian and Arch, Gnome and KDE, is that you can have a pretty decent desktop user experience without any ads.
- last_responder 4y ago
  I dont see any ads is MacOS
  - vetinari 4y ago
    So you didn't see any nag for iCloud in the System Preferences/System Settings app?
  - IceWreck 4y ago
    iOS has been adding more and more ads slowly - app store, news, etc.
  - dralley 4y ago
    You can't buy a copy of MacOS either - not anymore.
    - INGSOCIALITE 4y ago
oxff 4y ago
The entire Windows 11 UX and UI feels like using someone's react bootcamp product, complete and utter ..
humanistbot 4y ago
At least ExplorerPatcher still works, it is one of the first things I install on new systems. I wish it was included in Ninite: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
passwordoops 4y ago
Windows 11 feels like a more invasive, user-hostile, worse performing Chromebook. I installed Ubuntu with my last laptop for home and I'm not looking back. Thanks, Microsoft for turning me to Linux
- josefresco 4y ago
  I found it hilarious that Windows 11 moved the start menu to the center, while the latest ChromeOS moved their "start" menu to the lower left.
numpad0 4y ago
I think what’s really happening is transformation of everything into a micro transaction enabled timeline social media. Soon everything will be $3.99 opportunity for experience, from turning in essay assignments to fixing oxygen generators on actual space ships at this rate.
NayamAmarshe 4y ago
... and yet no one is going to do anything about it. People who love Windows are still going to use, no matter how anti-consumer it becomes. The never ending battle Windows users are willing to go through, against their own OS each day, to make the UX less painful is amusing to say the least. First they put spyware, then bloatware, then adware, then they disabled local account, now they're even trying to make sure your machines can't run Linux properly. What's next? Subscription to use your own computer? Windows is not going to change. Windows' users are not going to change. It's only going to get worse so I think even discussing why Windows is introducing all these horrible 'features' is almost pointless because we do this ritual almost every month.
- hutzlibu 4y ago
  "People who love Windows are still going to use, no matter how anti-consumer it becomes." I do not know one single person who loves windows, but plenty of people who use it, including me, because a lot of software is windows only.
  - NayamAmarshe 4y ago
    > I do not know one single person who loves windows I know I was a fan, until a few years ago and a few other friends followed Windows news too so I can definitely say there are people who love Windows but it's hard to see the greener side because the internet is full of wrong and outdated opinions about Linux sadly.
sylens 4y ago
Panos Panay took over Windows Experience in early 2020, and I think these are the results of that effort. While it was clear that Windows needed a coherent vision and direction from a leader, this certainly isn't what I had hoped for.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
As predicted, the thing that finally turns me to using a Linux Desktop is not that it has become better but that Windows has become so much worse. I'm sticking with 10, but it will be my last Windows unless something drastically changes at Microsoft before VR on Linux stops being such a shit show.
MisterTea 4y ago
Ive been running windows 7 all this time on an i7 from 2011. Haven't had any issues running the software I need. Now that Chrome and likely Firefox are abandoning 7 in 2023 I'm going to move that machine to Linux. It's going to suck a bit as I use a few MS only CAD and industrial programs but that is what VM's are for. MS can take a long walk on a short pier. I don't tolerate abuse.
- themaninthedark 4y ago
  I had been running 7 for a while, then Linux with a pass-through VM with 7 for gaming. Just made the switch to Linux only, so far only one issue with a game, not sure if it is the game or Linux as I was having trouble with it on my pass-through setup as well.
petilon 4y ago
A while ago my site was linked from HN, and nearly all visits were from HN. Here are the OS stats of HN readers I collected: iOS 36% Mac 23% Android 20% Windows 17% Linux 4% The Mac vs. Windows stats was a shocker for me. Among technically oriented crowd of HN users Mac has 35% more users than Windows. I really shouldn't be surprised though. Mac hardware is topnotch and equivalent quality Windows laptops - if you can find one - cost hundreds of dollars more and run slower. As a developer, the only reason to use Windows today is if you need Visual Studio for .NET development. I use Windows 11 at work. I have Windows 10 on my personal laptop and see no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 11. All Microsoft seems to be doing is, bump up Windows version number whenever Apple bumps up MacOS version number, and make some minor changes (even if it makes the product worse) to justify the new version number.
- ajkjk 4y ago
  Oh wait, your surprise is that the Mac numbers are slightly higher than Windows? I was instead surprised that they aren't 2x or 3x that. I don't know any developers who use Windows willingly.
  - petilon 4y ago
    I assumed many developers would prefer Windows because you can now run real Linux inside Windows. If your server code is going to run on Linux it helps to also have Linux on your laptop.
    - nottorp 4y ago
      > you can now run real Linux inside Windows Sorta. Not that I use Windows much but from comments here on HN I inferred that the first windows subsystem for linux was decent ish. But then they launched WSL 2 that runs a VM behind the scenes with Linux in it and that limits what you can do with the rest of the OS. Someone with actual experience please correct me if i'm wrong...
      - smoldesu 4y ago
bastard_op 4y ago
Did everyone forget booting into Windoze 10 the first time and seeing an ad for candy crush and other drivel that they immediately removed? They've been moving this way for some time and not something new. Maybe next they'll put ads where Cortana was since no one uses it. Of course this is why I've used linux 15+ years now.
- Teknoman117 4y ago
  Also rather annoying that local search rarely works if you aren't connected to the internet. I don't want edge to open a bing search for some local app I was trying to launch because the internet search results came back before the local ones...
LanSZ 4y ago
This is why I declined the update to Windows 11. Microsoft was already trying to insert an advertisement system in Windows 10 (featured applications like Candy Crush, the weather tab, all of the information they say to collect when you install it, etc.). It was obvious that 11 would point to that direction as well, it's a common thing in the brand OSes already.
datavirtue 4y ago
Not on my computers.
MostlyInnocent 4y ago
Avid Windows user here (yes, I know, and you know where the downvote button is: better: just email your YC contacts to ban me once and for all...), and I yet have to see a single truly noticeable ad across any of my Windows installs. 'Promoted' start menu apps on a fresh install: sure. That's like Amazon Search on Ubuntu. Promotional text on the lock screen? Sure, once in a while. But it takes a LOT of effort to actually click on that. Desperate 'make this browser your default' prompts from Edge? Sure, every now and then, but since Firefox and Chrome do it as well, that's pretty much a muscle memory 'No' from me. Now, on my fully paid-for iPhone 13, I got an urgent notification from the Apple Store today. It made my phone buzz and my screen light up, while I was otherwise productively engaged. Apparently, there is a sale on. Apparently, I can't turn these notifications off. So, me, a lifelong Windows user, got distracted today by an ad. From Apple. Make of that what you will...
- Macha 4y ago
  Amazon search on Ubuntu was widely criticised also and has since been removed. Between that and Snaps, Ubuntu has lost the position as "recommended Linux distro for newbies" to the likes of PopOS and Manjaro, so it arguably wasn't consequence free either. Chrome and Firefox don't get the same ability to make sales pitches if you search for Edge, choose to download Edge, try to install Edge, or update your OS. Can't speak for the Apple store ad, I haven't seen it but I like in a market which is often thankfully overlooked by invasive marketing pushes like this, and I'm not even sure if what used to be the one Apple store in the country is still open.
  - MostlyInnocent 4y ago
    > Chrome and Firefox don't get the same ability to make sales pitches if you search for Edge This is just plain false. If I open Edge and search Google for just about anything, there will be a prominent ad prompting me to switch to Chrome. Every. Time. I'm not sure where Firefox puts the focus for their ads (MDN? Fortunately, I don't need to visit that often or ever), but...
- rewgs 4y ago
  > Now, on my fully paid-for iPhone 13, I got an urgent notification from the Apple Store today. It made my phone buzz and my screen light up, while I was otherwise productively engaged. Apparently, there is a sale on. Apparently, I can't turn these notifications off. An app with the word "store" in its name giving you a notification for a sale is hardly the same as ads embedded in your Start menu or lock screen.
mindcrash 4y ago
I absolutely cannot fathom there is a head of/president/vp/whatever of design/ux at Microsoft who greenlighted this. But I was thinking the same thing when Apple was playing around with the idea of ads on iOS. Aaaand here we are. Well, time to take another look to check desktop Linux in 2022+ is already viable...

94 points by LordAtlas 4y ago

commitpizza 4y ago

Horrible development, just yet another reason why I use Linux on all my privately owned computers.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
I switched from W10+wsl on my personal desktop to Linux with my most recent upgrade. There were some issues to debug, but it's just been nice to have the OS play nicely in the background and not compete for my attention with ads, service upsells, and account nonsense. I've considered going back for certain programs, but thinking about windows now gives me the same sort of mental hesitation that I get from gas stations with those horrible video ads. It's not a dealbreaker per se, but I would go far out of my way to avoid it.
eulers_secret 4y ago
I’m with you. Sure there are compromises I have to make, but being Free, unmonitored, not treated like a resource to be extracted, and feeling like my computer is mine is worth more than the any of the issues I encounter.
- commitpizza 4y ago
  Yeah and I have no issues paying for it but unless you run Linux there is no other option that doesn't do this unfortunately.
midoridensha 4y ago
I don't see it as horrible at all. Windows is owned by Microsoft, and as a profit-seeking corporation, it makes lots of sense for them to force users to watch ads while using their product. Why shouldn't they do this, especially when so many people are perfectly happy to keep buying and using Windows OS? If you don't like having ads forced on you, then use an OS vendor that agrees with you. Thankfully, there's lots of OSes (i.e., Linux distros) that don't have any ads in them, which you can download and use for free, so this isn't really a problem. In other words: Don't like it? Don't use it.
- commitpizza 4y ago
  I don't understand your point, this is exactly what I am doing. I am not using Windows or MacOS. > especially when so many people are perfectly happy to keep buying and using Windows OS? Honestly, this is because a lot of people that would care are unaware that this is happening. It's impossible to stay on top on everything in your life but that doesn't make it ok to treat those people poorly. The main issue is that for many, there isn't a choice since you can't go to most stores and buy a linux powered machine. You have to have special knowledge in order to even install it.

CrypticShift 4y ago

Wait until they turn your physical space into an ad-delivery system. Introducing HoloLens v10 ! it fits in contact lenses ! wear it everywhere !

lotsofpulp 4y ago
We just went through an election in the US, and there were ads all over my physical place. And billboards. And now LED billboards. And LED billboard vehicles and boats.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  My state banned billboards. You should find a way to get such a thing on your local ballot. There's zero reason to have distracting advertisements on the side of a road where you are supposed to go 70+ mph.

beardyw 4y ago

And yet I watch TV mostly ad free (though not for free). Strange how things go around.

josefresco 4y ago

If these are "ads" then I had "ads" in my iOS settings app and throughout the interface. I'm not saying this is wrong, I just don't understand why Microsoft is being singled out. I get it, bashing MS gets clicks from old geeks like me but come on, these aren't "banner ads" or MS selling the start menu to the highest bidder ... it's them pushing their own services that extend Windows ... just like iCloud.

alexb_ 4y ago
>If these are "ads" then I had "ads" in my iOS settings app and throughout the interface. Correct! Both of these are bad!
- josefresco 4y ago
  I agree! Let's just not give Apple or Google a free pass.
adql 4y ago
They are not "singled out" it's just article about new misfeature added?
- josefresco 4y ago
  I believe it's the second article popular on HN about this exact issue in less than 1-2 weeks? It seems if you're a blogger, bashing MS is a winning formula. Having lived through the "MS is evil" years I'm sensitive to when others are given a pass for similar, or worse behavior.
  - P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
    As opposed to what, not trying to hold large companies to task for their behavior?
wzdd 4y ago
The article mentions that Microsoft is also promoting third-party "common websites", such as Etsy and Twitter. This seems a bit problematic -- if they're paid-for placements then they are unambiguously ads, but if they're not paid-for placements then one has to wonder how much damage they'd do to Etsy or Twitter competitors. (They also look pretty distracting if you're after your recently-used files and already know about these websites!)

rolph 4y ago

Windows customers may switch to a third-party Start Menu instead. The $4.99 applications Start11 and StartAllBack restore classic versions of the Start Menu on Windows 11.

bigmattystyles 4y ago
PowerToys (from MS) has alt-space, as well as a slew of new features, for free. There are no ads, for now...
- rolph 4y ago
  my point is, according to the article,if you dont want the ads , MS will sell/allow you an adless start menu version for 5 bucks
  - majewsky 4y ago
    And their point was that there are adless start menus for free also, which is an important addition to what the article is stating.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    Wait, since when are third party paid applications "Microsoft"?
karmakurtisaani 4y ago
Ah, pay for your OS so that you can pay third parties to make it usable.
- qball 4y ago
  To be fair, you also have to do this for macOS as well; it still doesn't have the window-snapping feature that Windows has had since 2006.
  - karmakurtisaani 4y ago

aftbit 4y ago

Heck, even Windows 10 does this. I don't mind the weather icon in the taskbar, but sometimes it changes to news or market data, which is exactly what I do _not_ want to see when I am playing games on my old Windows machine.

rich_sasha 4y ago

Fo me the worst (possibly only significant) issue about ads is they are stealing my attention over what I'm actually trying to do. Flashing, taking up screen space, disturbing, requiring to find a well-hidden "fuck off" button. Inclusion of some links bothers me much less. Though I agree it's poor overall.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

smoldesu 4y ago

It's funny, if you asked Jobs or even Ballmer where they would stand on in-desktop advertising 20 years ago, they probably would have laughed and explained the benefits of paying for a desktop operating system. Flash-forward to today, and both companies are exhuming their UIs to stuff in more-and-more promotional content. Perhaps it's horribly ironic that the only OSes that don't advertise to you are the ones you can use Freely.

psychphysic 4y ago
It started with Ubuntu and Amazon iirc.
- elkos 4y ago
  True, but at least my experience with OpenSUSE, Debian and Arch, Gnome and KDE, is that you can have a pretty decent desktop user experience without any ads.
last_responder 4y ago
I dont see any ads is MacOS
- vetinari 4y ago
  So you didn't see any nag for iCloud in the System Preferences/System Settings app?
- IceWreck 4y ago
  iOS has been adding more and more ads slowly - app store, news, etc.
- dralley 4y ago
  You can't buy a copy of MacOS either - not anymore.
  - INGSOCIALITE 4y ago

oxff 4y ago

The entire Windows 11 UX and UI feels like using someone's react bootcamp product, complete and utter ..

humanistbot 4y ago

At least ExplorerPatcher still works, it is one of the first things I install on new systems. I wish it was included in Ninite: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

passwordoops 4y ago

Windows 11 feels like a more invasive, user-hostile, worse performing Chromebook. I installed Ubuntu with my last laptop for home and I'm not looking back. Thanks, Microsoft for turning me to Linux

josefresco 4y ago
I found it hilarious that Windows 11 moved the start menu to the center, while the latest ChromeOS moved their "start" menu to the lower left.

numpad0 4y ago

I think what’s really happening is transformation of everything into a micro transaction enabled timeline social media. Soon everything will be $3.99 opportunity for experience, from turning in essay assignments to fixing oxygen generators on actual space ships at this rate.

NayamAmarshe 4y ago

... and yet no one is going to do anything about it. People who love Windows are still going to use, no matter how anti-consumer it becomes. The never ending battle Windows users are willing to go through, against their own OS each day, to make the UX less painful is amusing to say the least. First they put spyware, then bloatware, then adware, then they disabled local account, now they're even trying to make sure your machines can't run Linux properly. What's next? Subscription to use your own computer? Windows is not going to change. Windows' users are not going to change. It's only going to get worse so I think even discussing why Windows is introducing all these horrible 'features' is almost pointless because we do this ritual almost every month.

hutzlibu 4y ago
"People who love Windows are still going to use, no matter how anti-consumer it becomes." I do not know one single person who loves windows, but plenty of people who use it, including me, because a lot of software is windows only.
- NayamAmarshe 4y ago
  > I do not know one single person who loves windows I know I was a fan, until a few years ago and a few other friends followed Windows news too so I can definitely say there are people who love Windows but it's hard to see the greener side because the internet is full of wrong and outdated opinions about Linux sadly.

sylens 4y ago

Panos Panay took over Windows Experience in early 2020, and I think these are the results of that effort. While it was clear that Windows needed a coherent vision and direction from a leader, this certainly isn't what I had hoped for.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago

As predicted, the thing that finally turns me to using a Linux Desktop is not that it has become better but that Windows has become so much worse. I'm sticking with 10, but it will be my last Windows unless something drastically changes at Microsoft before VR on Linux stops being such a shit show.

MisterTea 4y ago

Ive been running windows 7 all this time on an i7 from 2011. Haven't had any issues running the software I need. Now that Chrome and likely Firefox are abandoning 7 in 2023 I'm going to move that machine to Linux. It's going to suck a bit as I use a few MS only CAD and industrial programs but that is what VM's are for. MS can take a long walk on a short pier. I don't tolerate abuse.

themaninthedark 4y ago
I had been running 7 for a while, then Linux with a pass-through VM with 7 for gaming. Just made the switch to Linux only, so far only one issue with a game, not sure if it is the game or Linux as I was having trouble with it on my pass-through setup as well.

petilon 4y ago

A while ago my site was linked from HN, and nearly all visits were from HN. Here are the OS stats of HN readers I collected: iOS 36% Mac 23% Android 20% Windows 17% Linux 4% The Mac vs. Windows stats was a shocker for me. Among technically oriented crowd of HN users Mac has 35% more users than Windows. I really shouldn't be surprised though. Mac hardware is topnotch and equivalent quality Windows laptops - if you can find one - cost hundreds of dollars more and run slower. As a developer, the only reason to use Windows today is if you need Visual Studio for .NET development. I use Windows 11 at work. I have Windows 10 on my personal laptop and see no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 11. All Microsoft seems to be doing is, bump up Windows version number whenever Apple bumps up MacOS version number, and make some minor changes (even if it makes the product worse) to justify the new version number.

ajkjk 4y ago
Oh wait, your surprise is that the Mac numbers are slightly higher than Windows? I was instead surprised that they aren't 2x or 3x that. I don't know any developers who use Windows willingly.
- petilon 4y ago
  I assumed many developers would prefer Windows because you can now run real Linux inside Windows. If your server code is going to run on Linux it helps to also have Linux on your laptop.
  - nottorp 4y ago
    > you can now run real Linux inside Windows Sorta. Not that I use Windows much but from comments here on HN I inferred that the first windows subsystem for linux was decent ish. But then they launched WSL 2 that runs a VM behind the scenes with Linux in it and that limits what you can do with the rest of the OS. Someone with actual experience please correct me if i'm wrong...
    - smoldesu 4y ago

bastard_op 4y ago

Did everyone forget booting into Windoze 10 the first time and seeing an ad for candy crush and other drivel that they immediately removed? They've been moving this way for some time and not something new. Maybe next they'll put ads where Cortana was since no one uses it. Of course this is why I've used linux 15+ years now.

Teknoman117 4y ago
Also rather annoying that local search rarely works if you aren't connected to the internet. I don't want edge to open a bing search for some local app I was trying to launch because the internet search results came back before the local ones...

LanSZ 4y ago

This is why I declined the update to Windows 11. Microsoft was already trying to insert an advertisement system in Windows 10 (featured applications like Candy Crush, the weather tab, all of the information they say to collect when you install it, etc.). It was obvious that 11 would point to that direction as well, it's a common thing in the brand OSes already.

datavirtue 4y ago

Not on my computers.

MostlyInnocent 4y ago

Avid Windows user here (yes, I know, and you know where the downvote button is: better: just email your YC contacts to ban me once and for all...), and I yet have to see a single truly noticeable ad across any of my Windows installs. 'Promoted' start menu apps on a fresh install: sure. That's like Amazon Search on Ubuntu. Promotional text on the lock screen? Sure, once in a while. But it takes a LOT of effort to actually click on that. Desperate 'make this browser your default' prompts from Edge? Sure, every now and then, but since Firefox and Chrome do it as well, that's pretty much a muscle memory 'No' from me. Now, on my fully paid-for iPhone 13, I got an urgent notification from the Apple Store today. It made my phone buzz and my screen light up, while I was otherwise productively engaged. Apparently, there is a sale on. Apparently, I can't turn these notifications off. So, me, a lifelong Windows user, got distracted today by an ad. From Apple. Make of that what you will...

Macha 4y ago
Amazon search on Ubuntu was widely criticised also and has since been removed. Between that and Snaps, Ubuntu has lost the position as "recommended Linux distro for newbies" to the likes of PopOS and Manjaro, so it arguably wasn't consequence free either. Chrome and Firefox don't get the same ability to make sales pitches if you search for Edge, choose to download Edge, try to install Edge, or update your OS. Can't speak for the Apple store ad, I haven't seen it but I like in a market which is often thankfully overlooked by invasive marketing pushes like this, and I'm not even sure if what used to be the one Apple store in the country is still open.
- MostlyInnocent 4y ago
  > Chrome and Firefox don't get the same ability to make sales pitches if you search for Edge This is just plain false. If I open Edge and search Google for just about anything, there will be a prominent ad prompting me to switch to Chrome. Every. Time. I'm not sure where Firefox puts the focus for their ads (MDN? Fortunately, I don't need to visit that often or ever), but...
rewgs 4y ago
> Now, on my fully paid-for iPhone 13, I got an urgent notification from the Apple Store today. It made my phone buzz and my screen light up, while I was otherwise productively engaged. Apparently, there is a sale on. Apparently, I can't turn these notifications off. An app with the word "store" in its name giving you a notification for a sale is hardly the same as ads embedded in your Start menu or lock screen.

mindcrash 4y ago

I absolutely cannot fathom there is a head of/president/vp/whatever of design/ux at Microsoft who greenlighted this. But I was thinking the same thing when Apple was playing around with the idea of ads on iOS. Aaaand here we are. Well, time to take another look to check desktop Linux in 2022+ is already viable...