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... The year of the Linux Desktop...! I can't understand why MS does this. Is it that much profit? How is nobody at MS telling someone "people hate this, this

... The year of the Linux Desktop...! I can't understand why MS does this. Is it that much profit? How is nobody at MS telling someone "people hate this, this is toxic, this is a paid OS already"? From all the metrics they collect, does none of them tell them what their powerusers are disabling? Im guessing not many people are disabling the ads because the menus are so convoluted. Metrics then probably say "X million ad views per month, 3 people disabled it", so it must be good? I don't get it, please enlighten me. They could even do a subscription model for Windows and it'd be more reasonable and probably more profitable.

kornhole 4y ago
I believe the new licensing of Windows 11 is similar to what you suggest. The so called free edition is adware, whereas the paid license has less. MS made big investments in Xandr and OpenAI. With all the rich data they can glean from their properties, they could become the new king of ad tech.
- actionfromafar 4y ago
  The Corporate, Policy version has no ads.
  - hef19898 4y ago
    What ever it was called the day, this was the only Windows version to get since at least Windows NT. Everytime I see something other than a commercial Windows, I am at shock of what it looks like. And I'm already shocked by the difference between commercial Windows 10 and Ubuntu. By now, so, I accepted the fact that I am a technological Luddite who is stuck in the early 2000s and doesn't want to move a secind forward. On software that is, I take new processors and graphic cards in a heart beat. And RAM, anf mainboards...
    - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
      > By now, so, I accepted the fact that I am a technological Luddite who is stuck in the early 2000s and doesn't want to move a secind forward. On software that is, I take new processors and graphic cards in a heart beat. And RAM, anf mainboards... To quote somebody on a forum I read: > It's not that I hate new things. It's just that all new things are objectively terrible.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  > the paid license has less That should be zero. Not that my opinion matters, as I only use Windows because I'm forced to at work, where it regularly costs me a lot of time (I lost 5 hours of my workday yesterday because of a Windows update that went sideways.) I bailed on it on my personal machines a couple of decades(!) ago.
- the_third_wave 4y ago
  > they could become the new king of ad tech. ...which is truly a doom scenario seeing how as this business turned a company which had "do no evil" as its motto into a data-hungry parasite. Microsoft more or less starts off where Google ended up so it won't be long until Redmond, WA will be disgraced by a black tower with a flaming eye in it if this is to be the future.
deely3 4y ago
Thats actually explained in the article: they testing the water by doing small scale A/B testing.
- permo-w 4y ago
  A/B testing doesn’t really account for whether the Bs got annoyed with you
mihaic 4y ago
Seems to be product people that have a need to launch a feature to which they can doctor some KPIs and justify their promotion. The longterm damage to the company is probably in the billions, so I also have no idea why the top execs don't understand they should just make sure they aren't losing OS market share.
- CamperBob2 4y ago
  They are losing overall market share, and have been for years[1]. They no longer GAF. Every user that remains is evidently worth some large multiple of every user they lose. 1: https://dazeinfo.com/2019/08/23/desktop-os-market-share-worldwide-by-month-graphfarm/ https://dazeinfo.com/2019/08/23/desktop-os-market-share-worl...
MikusR 4y ago
> I can't understand why MS does this. For the same reason Apple does this
gumballindie 4y ago
> How is nobody at MS telling someone "people hate this, this is toxic, this is a paid OS already"? People are still buying the os, and ms doesnt care. But as soon as ai is able to generate more than basic, albeit broken, code i imagine we will be able to build a linux based os that will be even better than it currently is. A lot of these software monopolies will get shaken soon.
- nhinck2 4y ago
  I don't think "people" are actually buying windows anymore. It's relatively difficult for a normal person to buy a pc without getting windows.
  - dmix 4y ago
    Even that's underselling it. It's extremely difficult and basically impossible for anyone besides tech people.
pentagrama 4y ago
They are trying to make an ecosystem with all the products they build, this are not third party ads. I hate go to family members homes and have to check his Windows devices to disable stuff, uninstall apps and all this things that they push through updates. I'm moving to Ubuntu LTS all family members as possible though.

kornhole 4y ago

I believe the new licensing of Windows 11 is similar to what you suggest. The so called free edition is adware, whereas the paid license has less. MS made big investments in Xandr and OpenAI. With all the rich data they can glean from their properties, they could become the new king of ad tech.

actionfromafar 4y ago
The Corporate, Policy version has no ads.
- hef19898 4y ago
  What ever it was called the day, this was the only Windows version to get since at least Windows NT. Everytime I see something other than a commercial Windows, I am at shock of what it looks like. And I'm already shocked by the difference between commercial Windows 10 and Ubuntu. By now, so, I accepted the fact that I am a technological Luddite who is stuck in the early 2000s and doesn't want to move a secind forward. On software that is, I take new processors and graphic cards in a heart beat. And RAM, anf mainboards...
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    > By now, so, I accepted the fact that I am a technological Luddite who is stuck in the early 2000s and doesn't want to move a secind forward. On software that is, I take new processors and graphic cards in a heart beat. And RAM, anf mainboards... To quote somebody on a forum I read: > It's not that I hate new things. It's just that all new things are objectively terrible.
JohnFen 4y ago
> the paid license has less That should be zero. Not that my opinion matters, as I only use Windows because I'm forced to at work, where it regularly costs me a lot of time (I lost 5 hours of my workday yesterday because of a Windows update that went sideways.) I bailed on it on my personal machines a couple of decades(!) ago.
the_third_wave 4y ago
> they could become the new king of ad tech. ...which is truly a doom scenario seeing how as this business turned a company which had "do no evil" as its motto into a data-hungry parasite. Microsoft more or less starts off where Google ended up so it won't be long until Redmond, WA will be disgraced by a black tower with a flaming eye in it if this is to be the future.

deely3 4y ago

Thats actually explained in the article: they testing the water by doing small scale A/B testing.

permo-w 4y ago
A/B testing doesn’t really account for whether the Bs got annoyed with you

mihaic 4y ago

Seems to be product people that have a need to launch a feature to which they can doctor some KPIs and justify their promotion. The longterm damage to the company is probably in the billions, so I also have no idea why the top execs don't understand they should just make sure they aren't losing OS market share.

CamperBob2 4y ago
They are losing overall market share, and have been for years[1]. They no longer GAF. Every user that remains is evidently worth some large multiple of every user they lose. 1: https://dazeinfo.com/2019/08/23/desktop-os-market-share-worldwide-by-month-graphfarm/ https://dazeinfo.com/2019/08/23/desktop-os-market-share-worl...

MikusR 4y ago

> I can't understand why MS does this. For the same reason Apple does this

gumballindie 4y ago

> How is nobody at MS telling someone "people hate this, this is toxic, this is a paid OS already"? People are still buying the os, and ms doesnt care. But as soon as ai is able to generate more than basic, albeit broken, code i imagine we will be able to build a linux based os that will be even better than it currently is. A lot of these software monopolies will get shaken soon.

nhinck2 4y ago
I don't think "people" are actually buying windows anymore. It's relatively difficult for a normal person to buy a pc without getting windows.
- dmix 4y ago
  Even that's underselling it. It's extremely difficult and basically impossible for anyone besides tech people.

pentagrama 4y ago

They are trying to make an ecosystem with all the products they build, this are not third party ads. I hate go to family members homes and have to check his Windows devices to disable stuff, uninstall apps and all this things that they push through updates. I'm moving to Ubuntu LTS all family members as possible though.