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No I do really mean "we". Every website that asks for cookies. Every phone app that asks for permissions. Every interface with technology with an "I agree" to d

• mindslight 3y ago
  And I really intended to specifically condemn Microsoft for how strongly they normalized it. For one, pinning it on "we" is too widely scoped when it was only some developers/managers responsible for horrible UIs. For example the only people responsible for cookie spite-nags are the companies that decided malicious compliance was the way to go. Phone apps were actually a decent way of asking for permissions - at the start when an app is first installed. That users couldn't say "no" was a problem, but the flow was correct. The newer style of interrupting a user to prompt on the first use is much worse. But the overall idea of setting permissions per app is sound - users needing to make these decisions is unavoidable, especially in the world of proprietary software where the interests of the developers strongly diverge from the interest of the users. But in my condemnation I really do mean to call out Microsoft specifically. Sure a lot of things have routine dark patterns, but Windows is exceptional in terms of sheer volume and opaqueness. There's a massive difference between some javascript popup that can be ignored or Android asking one pertintent permissions question before accessing contacts/photos/etc, and Windows popping up multiple nondescript "OK" dialogs after a single user intent click.