5 ms·

The difference is Apple and Google aren't game publishers in the first place. Microsoft has actual gaming studios producing otherwise full fledge-games aimed a

The difference is Apple and Google aren't game publishers in the first place. Microsoft has actual gaming studios producing otherwise full fledge-games aimed at making money. To note Minesweeper is no longer in Windows (looking at my win11 install, and there's actually no games anymore), so you'd have to go to the store to get this one, or any other.

tavavex 2y ago
My point wasn't just about games - it'd be equally applicable to regular software. What I'm saying is that certain practices always come off as cheap, something that desperate developers to do squeeze the most money out of anything they make. You wouldn't see banner ads in Google Authenticator, or a Pro subscription in Apple Notes that lets you have unlimited notes. Of course, those companies still monetize their big-name software products, but they never come off as cheap as MS entrusting a P2W mobile game with the official Microsoft(tm) Minesweeper(c) name. Of course, Microsoft is also a serious game publisher - even before their shopping spree, Xbox Game Studios had published actual, real, award-winning games. Which only makes this contrast with officially sponsoring borderline mobile shovelware even more jarring.
- portpecos 2y ago
  > You wouldn't see banner ads in Google Authenticator, or a Pro subscription in Apple Notes that lets you have unlimited notes. Not yet. If Microsoft doesn’t experience any backlash for ad-laden freeware, I’m sure the Execs at Apple will think Notes+Ads is a fine strategy. I think Apple has been itching to do something with their Ad Server for a while.
  - r00fus 2y ago
    I think you don't understand Apple's brand. They would much rather charge $100 for wheels for the Mac Pro or double the cost for RAM upgrades than look cheap and have ads on basic apps.
    - kibwen 2y ago
      Classiness is relative. Enshittification is real, and Apple's ad division revenue is now in the tens of billions per year. As long as their ads are typeset in a classy font and less obtrusive than those being shown by Microsoft, it won't affect their brand and Apple users will eat happily shit with a big grin on their face. Like, what are people going to do instead? Use Linux?
      - r00fus 2y ago
        Apple’s ad revenue is at single digit billions per annum. They’re not putting them in apps or websites I use (because it’s not mandatory) and I think if you ask around most people would agree. So if there’s enshittification , you’d have to pint it out to me. And unlike Microsoft and the ads in the start menu or control panel…
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  I feel that you're really offended about the marketing aspect of it, and want to reward brands that try harder to held a cohesive "Premium" image that helps their customer feel cajoled. Apple sure plays that game better than Microsoft. Google I don't know. Microsoft also probably don't see home customers as premium in the first place, and will keep the clean image for corporate entities only (and oh god do their corporate offering cost an arm and a leg) I personally don't care that much about the marketing aspect, at the end of the day Apple made broader moves to shut down right to repair, or went full malicious compliance when faced with the EU for instance. Not saying Microsoft has any high ground, they're all at the end of some antitrust trial. That's where I'll take something that'd dirty but actually works for me, vs being wined and dined in a golden prison cell.
- briHass 2y ago
  I honestly would not be surprised if Google added some form of ads to Authenticator. The only reason they likely haven't is that it isn't the type of app that is used frequently or for long sessions. Microsoft has been pretty shameful with ads in Windows recently, but they also give away OS updates for free. Someone that purchased Win 7 has been able to go all the way to Win 11 for free (assuming their hardware is supported on 11).
  - techjamie 2y ago
    They basically give away the whole OS for free as long as you're willing to deal with some nag text and customization settings being disabled. I think you can do the same customization with third party tools anyway though. It never locks you out of your computer for not paying, and in exchange they slurp up whatever data they're shipping off from you.
    - lelanthran 2y ago
      > They basically give away the whole OS for free as long as you're willing to deal with some nag text and customization settings being disabled. This is news to me. By nag text do you mean the "Windows not activated" overlay in the bottom right of the screen? I've seen it before but not paid too much attention. Are the pro versions of Windows also for free with nag texts?
    - lye 2y ago
      This doesn't make it legitimate. You can just activate it through any of the third party kms servers (or massgrave for non-volume licensed versions) and stop pretending you have a legit copy. Same with those five dollar vl keys people buy off eBay for some unfathomable reason. Pure waste of money.
- glimshe 2y ago
  This is very similar to King games, which is also a Microsoft subsidiary (as part of Activision Blizzard). The sad part isn't that Microsoft is publishing a P2W Minesweeper, but that the little simple Minesweeper we used to love is now gone. Maybe they realized that anyone who likes Minesweeper can now download a free Minesweeper clone, something that wasn't necessarily the easy or even possible (depending on where you lived) in the pre-Internet days when the original Minesweeper was created.
  - makeitdouble 2y ago
    > the little simple Minesweeper we used to love is now gone. Reading from the history[0] it seems the whole concept of mine sweeping was getting controversial and when they had to deal with the touch paradigm they made the cut ? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Minesweeper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Minesweeper
    - WorldMaker 2y ago
      Yeah, Flower Mode was added late in the XP timeframe and was the only mode allowed in some countries. It does make sense that some countries with living problems from minefields might have some issues with the original game theme.
- Blackthorn 2y ago
  I think the first big software house that did this to my memory was Oracle. It had bundled adware in the Java download. Absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it. Now it's normalized. Thanks Microsoft.
card_zero 2y ago
Win11, for me at least, came with a bunch of phone-app style solitaire games by "Random Salad". I can't find where the executables are: I suspect they're in the hidden folder Program Files\WindowsApps, which tells me "you don't currently have permission to access this folder" and then "you have been denied permission to access this folder". I just disconnected the internet and tried opening one of these games: it span a loading icon for about a minute, then sat with a black window for ages, before finally showing a phone-app card game with spontaneously bouncing icons (one of which would apparently turn ads on) and web links and a generally sketchy feeling. Windows used to come with a pinball game by Maxis (Will Wright, of SimCity), which was awesome.
- thesuperbigfrog 2y ago
  >> Windows used to come with a pinball game by Maxis (Will Wright, of SimCity), which was awesome. https://alula.github.io/SpaceCadetPinball/ https://alula.github.io/SpaceCadetPinball/
  - card_zero 2y ago
    Nice. If anybody's wondering: flipper keys are z and /, nudge keys are x and ., and if you zoom the page by about 200% (ctrl-mousewheel) you can see there's a pinball game there.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  Yes, OEM installs come with their own (sometimes wild) surprises. On one hand, it's such a PITA to setup and cleaning windows becomes a rite or passage. On the other hand, OEMs exist, which is a big deal.
bathtub365 2y ago
Apple is definitely a game publisher, they have Apple Arcade.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  They definitely publish games, especially if we broaden it to the whole AppStore which is a publishing platform on its own. I should have put it as "game studio owner" I think.

tavavex 2y ago

My point wasn't just about games - it'd be equally applicable to regular software. What I'm saying is that certain practices always come off as cheap, something that desperate developers to do squeeze the most money out of anything they make. You wouldn't see banner ads in Google Authenticator, or a Pro subscription in Apple Notes that lets you have unlimited notes. Of course, those companies still monetize their big-name software products, but they never come off as cheap as MS entrusting a P2W mobile game with the official Microsoft(tm) Minesweeper(c) name. Of course, Microsoft is also a serious game publisher - even before their shopping spree, Xbox Game Studios had published actual, real, award-winning games. Which only makes this contrast with officially sponsoring borderline mobile shovelware even more jarring.

portpecos 2y ago
> You wouldn't see banner ads in Google Authenticator, or a Pro subscription in Apple Notes that lets you have unlimited notes. Not yet. If Microsoft doesn’t experience any backlash for ad-laden freeware, I’m sure the Execs at Apple will think Notes+Ads is a fine strategy. I think Apple has been itching to do something with their Ad Server for a while.
- r00fus 2y ago
  I think you don't understand Apple's brand. They would much rather charge $100 for wheels for the Mac Pro or double the cost for RAM upgrades than look cheap and have ads on basic apps.
  - kibwen 2y ago
    Classiness is relative. Enshittification is real, and Apple's ad division revenue is now in the tens of billions per year. As long as their ads are typeset in a classy font and less obtrusive than those being shown by Microsoft, it won't affect their brand and Apple users will eat happily shit with a big grin on their face. Like, what are people going to do instead? Use Linux?
    - r00fus 2y ago
      Apple’s ad revenue is at single digit billions per annum. They’re not putting them in apps or websites I use (because it’s not mandatory) and I think if you ask around most people would agree. So if there’s enshittification , you’d have to pint it out to me. And unlike Microsoft and the ads in the start menu or control panel…
makeitdouble 2y ago
I feel that you're really offended about the marketing aspect of it, and want to reward brands that try harder to held a cohesive "Premium" image that helps their customer feel cajoled. Apple sure plays that game better than Microsoft. Google I don't know. Microsoft also probably don't see home customers as premium in the first place, and will keep the clean image for corporate entities only (and oh god do their corporate offering cost an arm and a leg) I personally don't care that much about the marketing aspect, at the end of the day Apple made broader moves to shut down right to repair, or went full malicious compliance when faced with the EU for instance. Not saying Microsoft has any high ground, they're all at the end of some antitrust trial. That's where I'll take something that'd dirty but actually works for me, vs being wined and dined in a golden prison cell.
briHass 2y ago
I honestly would not be surprised if Google added some form of ads to Authenticator. The only reason they likely haven't is that it isn't the type of app that is used frequently or for long sessions. Microsoft has been pretty shameful with ads in Windows recently, but they also give away OS updates for free. Someone that purchased Win 7 has been able to go all the way to Win 11 for free (assuming their hardware is supported on 11).
- techjamie 2y ago
  They basically give away the whole OS for free as long as you're willing to deal with some nag text and customization settings being disabled. I think you can do the same customization with third party tools anyway though. It never locks you out of your computer for not paying, and in exchange they slurp up whatever data they're shipping off from you.
  - lelanthran 2y ago
    > They basically give away the whole OS for free as long as you're willing to deal with some nag text and customization settings being disabled. This is news to me. By nag text do you mean the "Windows not activated" overlay in the bottom right of the screen? I've seen it before but not paid too much attention. Are the pro versions of Windows also for free with nag texts?
  - lye 2y ago
    This doesn't make it legitimate. You can just activate it through any of the third party kms servers (or massgrave for non-volume licensed versions) and stop pretending you have a legit copy. Same with those five dollar vl keys people buy off eBay for some unfathomable reason. Pure waste of money.
glimshe 2y ago
This is very similar to King games, which is also a Microsoft subsidiary (as part of Activision Blizzard). The sad part isn't that Microsoft is publishing a P2W Minesweeper, but that the little simple Minesweeper we used to love is now gone. Maybe they realized that anyone who likes Minesweeper can now download a free Minesweeper clone, something that wasn't necessarily the easy or even possible (depending on where you lived) in the pre-Internet days when the original Minesweeper was created.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  > the little simple Minesweeper we used to love is now gone. Reading from the history[0] it seems the whole concept of mine sweeping was getting controversial and when they had to deal with the touch paradigm they made the cut ? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Minesweeper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Minesweeper
  - WorldMaker 2y ago
    Yeah, Flower Mode was added late in the XP timeframe and was the only mode allowed in some countries. It does make sense that some countries with living problems from minefields might have some issues with the original game theme.
Blackthorn 2y ago
I think the first big software house that did this to my memory was Oracle. It had bundled adware in the Java download. Absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it. Now it's normalized. Thanks Microsoft.

card_zero 2y ago

Win11, for me at least, came with a bunch of phone-app style solitaire games by "Random Salad". I can't find where the executables are: I suspect they're in the hidden folder Program Files\WindowsApps, which tells me "you don't currently have permission to access this folder" and then "you have been denied permission to access this folder". I just disconnected the internet and tried opening one of these games: it span a loading icon for about a minute, then sat with a black window for ages, before finally showing a phone-app card game with spontaneously bouncing icons (one of which would apparently turn ads on) and web links and a generally sketchy feeling. Windows used to come with a pinball game by Maxis (Will Wright, of SimCity), which was awesome.

thesuperbigfrog 2y ago
>> Windows used to come with a pinball game by Maxis (Will Wright, of SimCity), which was awesome. https://alula.github.io/SpaceCadetPinball/ https://alula.github.io/SpaceCadetPinball/
- card_zero 2y ago
  Nice. If anybody's wondering: flipper keys are z and /, nudge keys are x and ., and if you zoom the page by about 200% (ctrl-mousewheel) you can see there's a pinball game there.
makeitdouble 2y ago
Yes, OEM installs come with their own (sometimes wild) surprises. On one hand, it's such a PITA to setup and cleaning windows becomes a rite or passage. On the other hand, OEMs exist, which is a big deal.

bathtub365 2y ago

Apple is definitely a game publisher, they have Apple Arcade.

makeitdouble 2y ago
They definitely publish games, especially if we broaden it to the whole AppStore which is a publishing platform on its own. I should have put it as "game studio owner" I think.