10 ms·

Idk i can think of a long list of awful stuff coming out of ms that is modern. They put fing ads in an os among other atrocities. I put them behind meta on the

• tw04 1y ago
  > They put fing ads in an os among other atrocities. As did Ubuntu. >I put them behind meta on the evilness meter but i think google is less evil which speaks volumes. Huh? The same google caught tracking your every move even if you opted out? The Google that seems to serve ads based on your conversations if anyone in the room has an Android phone? The Google that actively tries to kill any and all ad blockers? They aren’t even close…
  • rikafurude21 1y ago
    Windows normalized having ads in the OS.
    • pseudosavant 1y ago
      Ads in the OS? That isn’t Microsoft’s idea, or even Apple’s (they have places they do it too). No, that was popularized by the mobile OS made by an ad company, Android.
      • free652 1y ago
        Weirdly that I don't get any ads in Android.... My phone was made by the same ad company.
        • LtWorf 1y ago
          No? Try installing 1 app without seeing ads for 10 other useless apps.
          • free652 1y ago
            Haven't installed an app in ages, but seeing an ad in a store isn't as bad as seeing an ad in my app launcher. And yes, windows puts ads in the start menu.
            • LtWorf 1y ago
              The store is part of the OS… if you say "no ads" and just exclude ads… that's kinda on you.
              • fc417fc802 1y ago
                I mean yes, technically, but really no that's clearly not what was being objected to. Finding adds in arbitrary interfaces seems dystopian to me. Whereas having a discreet "suggested" or "promoted" tab or bracket for software in the app store - the place I go to get software - doesn't bother me. There are certainly ways they could screw it up but they don't seem to have done so yet. Also as it happens I don't even see those because I exclusively use FDroid at this point. So ironically I see no ads when using a device designed and sold by an advertising company and haven't for years.
              • Sharlin 1y ago
                [dead]
              • rpdillon 1y ago
                I install apps all the time without seeing an ad, because 90% of the apps I use are installed from F-Droid. The apps I install from F-Droid often help me block ads in my browser, so I see very few ads as I use my phone day to day. Meanwhile, my understanding is that Apple's App Store has ads in it, but that's the only app store allowed. So it seems like maybe iOS is the one that "has ads in the operating system".
                • LtWorf 1y ago
                  fdroid is not part of android.
    • tw04 1y ago
      Ubuntu had ads in the terminal in 2022: https://linuxiac.com/ubuntu-once-again-angered-users-by-placing-ads/ https://linuxiac.com/ubuntu-once-again-angered-users-by-plac... Unless you're going to call letting users know they have access to onedrive for free an "ad", Microsoft didn't do anything until Windows 11 in 2024. https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-pushes-start-menu-ads-to-windows-11-users https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-pushes-start-menu-ads-t...
      • soraminazuki 1y ago
        Windows 10 is still too fresh in people's mind to gaslight people into thinking there were no ads in it. 2012: https://web.archive.org/web/20121004004109/http://community.advertising.microsoft.com/msa/en/global/b/blog/archive/2012/10/01/windows-8-ads-in-apps-concepts-agency-partners-advertising-week-2012.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20121004004109/http://community.... 2015: https://web.archive.org/web/20151015182852/http://betanews.com/2015/10/15/microsoft-now-uses-windows-10s-start-menu-to-display-ads/ https://web.archive.org/web/20151015182852/http://betanews.c... 2015: https://www.pcgamer.com/windows-10-solitaire-requires-a-subscription-to-remove-ads/ https://www.pcgamer.com/windows-10-solitaire-requires-a-subs... 2016: https://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-windows-10-lock-screen/ https://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-... 2016: https://web.archive.org/web/20160602204008/http://iskandar.ml/2016/03/11/microsoft-pushes-ads-for-windows-10-in-a-security-update/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160602204008/http://iskandar.m... 2017: https://web.archive.org/web/20250721092516/https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14956540/microsoft-windows-10-ads-taskbar-file-explorer https://web.archive.org/web/20250721092516/https://www.theve... 2018: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft-is-adding-ads-to-the-mail-app-in-windows-10 https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft... 2020: https://winaero.com/wordpad-is-gettings-ads-in-windows-10/ https://winaero.com/wordpad-is-gettings-ads-in-windows-10/
      • michaelmrose 1y ago
        Ubuntu was basically promoting a free benefit to home users. This doesn't seem unreasonable.
  • account42 1y ago
    Ubuntu lost the spot as the default recommendation to newbies since then. Ads weren't the only reason for that but they are hardly a good excuse for Microsoft's behavior.
• xnyan 1y ago
  Don’t Apple and Ubuntu also advertise products in their OS also?
  • Wololooo 1y ago
    I have yet to see a single ad on either the menus on Ubuntu or in OSX. Care to elaborate on what you mean by that?
    • petepete 1y ago
      A few times over the years Ubuntu included Amazon ads in the OS. Each time, afaik, the community reacted angrily and it didn't last.
      • michaelmrose 1y ago
        Once ever. The default search returned results from Amazon and local files potentially leaking your search intended to find local files to Ubuntu who in turn claimed that it was ok because potentially intensely personal info that could be inferred from queries weren't personally attributable to you. This was obviously not ok and it never happened again this was if I recall correctly around 2012.
        • petepete 1y ago
          Ah thanks. I did a quick search before posting and this article was listed as from 2019, but that was when it was last updated - it did just happen once in 2012. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/09/mark-shuttleworth-explains-ubuntus-new-amazon-adware-feature https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/09/mark-shuttleworth-explai...
      • duskwuff 1y ago
        There's also a couple places where Ubuntu advertises their commercial services in the OS, including in apt ("Get more security updates through Ubuntu Pro...") and in the default login message (promotions for Ubuntu Landscape, as well as various other products and services through motd-news).
• kokanee 1y ago
  Your comment warrants a post in its own right: let's rank FAANG/M by evilness. Personally I've always been way more afraid of Google, because Microsoft's evil is just old-school capitalism, which is blatant, brash, and harder to ignore than to identify. Google feels like they are quietly and surreptitiously trying to pull the strings of the online economy in their favor, voraciously consuming the world's data behind the scenes, presenting to consumers a tiny little sliver of this massive digital beast lurking under the hood. They're always 15 years ahead of policy, so they get away with theft, copyright infringement, monopoly, and more, on a scale that I don't think we even fully understand. My ranking from most evil to least would be: 1. Google 2. Meta 3. Microsoft 4. Amazon 5. Apple 6. Netflix
  • wahnfrieden 1y ago
    Don't forget their military and surveillance contributions
  • johannes1234321 1y ago
    Ranking evil is hard, but I'd rank Amazon's control of global supply chains as more evil than at least Meta. While Meta got WhatsApp, which is big. (Escaping Facebook, Instagram etc is a lot simpler)
    • pengaru 1y ago
      Enabling Cambridge Analytica[0] alone ranks Meta far worse than Amazon. Amazon has done nothing remotely close to necessitating abandoning their own brand AFAIK. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Ana...
    • cess11 1y ago
      Project Nimbus is Amazon and Google together. Meta was early on the genocidal train, in e.g. Myanmar and Ethiopia, as well as adjacent to the 'regime change' obsession of usian elites. Arguably they're all atrocious due to effects on environment and labour rights.
  • 1y ago
• sevensor 1y ago
  Excel single-handedly redeems Microsoft from being a pure drain on human existence, but I can’t see what the point of the company is beyond that. Enterprise something something maybe. And declining literacy makes Powerpoint unfortunately indispensable.
  • tomalbrc 1y ago
    Lets not pretend like there wouldn't be dozen of quality and actually used software if it wasn't for microsoft existing.
    • eitland 1y ago
      I actively prefer Libre Office. Yes, Excel is probably a lot better if you use English setup and advanced functions. For me, - not having to use Norwegian for formulas (my work machine has Norwegian setup and Excel insists on using Norwegian formulas) and - not having it trying to find something it can misinterpret as a date, preferably some random place in a list of thousands of items makes it worth it.
      • eisa01 1y ago
        Just change your windows display language to English?
        • alexvitkov 1y ago
          Should I also change it on my mother's computer who doesn't speak English? We can also start distributing .bat files that change the system language along with our spreadsheets, for anyone who wants to open them. Maybe automate it with VBS, so it changes automatically when you open the spreadsheet. That's the solution.
          • rickdeckard 1y ago
            The VBS should then also lock the spreadsheet to foreground while it's opened, because the global change may affect other apps, like Windows Calculator may swap the comma/thousand separator. Will write a user story for that if you share the link /s
• speeder 1y ago
  The fact you still only got bothered by studio acquisitions show you don't even noticed the studio closures... MS fired thousands of gamedevs in the last few weeks, cancelled a lot of games, including games the execs liked to play the prototypes, cancelled publishing deals, and even closed entire studios, some of them literally successful that had just released profitable products.
  • schuyler2d 1y ago
    In the profitable cases (and maybe just as open offer), why not just sell them back to their staff/former owner? There's no point to keep the IP of games that are shuttered. Maybe the offer was made and a bunch didn't take it?
    • ethbr1 1y ago
      > why not just sell them back to their staff/former owner? Saving corporate face
    • AbstractH24 1y ago
      > There's no point to keep the IP of games that are shuttered. Any movie studio that rebooted a franchise after a decade or two of dormancy would beg to differ
    • Forgeties79 1y ago
      Dunkey has a great overview of how Microsoft handles studios/IP: https://youtu.be/GWrcUh2GuPQ https://youtu.be/GWrcUh2GuPQ For the last decade they acquire studios/IP’s, let them languish, then without warning strip them for parts. Make a successful game? Doesn’t matter, you’re all fired. Y’all want to make a game? Sure! We can even promote it! 12-18mo of no news after an announcement ah dang guys we were so hyped but we’re pulling the plug. It is baffling how many studios they own and yet they have almost no exclusives/big cross platform hits developed for the Xbox this generation.
    • speeder 1y ago
      I don't think MS considered any of this. For example there were situations were they had a meeting giving green light one day, and cancelled the next. Seemly what happened is that MS high-level decision makers, concluded that MS need a lot of cash for AI research, and decided to mass-close studios and cancel games with little verification, just go firing people until the cash liberated for AI is enough, doesn't matter if those people gave even greater revenue recently.
• nathias 1y ago
  why do you think meta is more evil than google?
• luxuryballs 1y ago
  ah yes Google, the less evil company that manipulates search results to facilitate their desired election outcomes, lmao
• mass_and_energy 1y ago
  Amen. Also, forcing us to tie our local OS into their cloud nonsense is a travesty. Hearing that they will soon disallow updates to those of us that don't capitulate to their cloud-account ransom has kick-started my efforts in formally moving away from Windows. I'd rather lose most games than get a cloud account.
  • unixhero 1y ago
    You dont lose your steam games. They launch on Linux