Microsoft starts testing ads in the Windows 11 Start menu
The first ads in the Windows 11 Start menu will look familiar.
So Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies in the entire world. They have a stranglehold on corporate America, power a huge the cloud infrastructure, hold one of the largest sources of telemetry/user data, and are the defacto standard of PC environments worldwide.
Why in the fuck do they need to pivot to ads? I’m genuinely curious. Even if they lost 50% of their entire business they would still be one of the most profitable companies in the world.
Because when you have shareholders, there's no such thing as "we're profitable enough". Shareholders always demand more. Ads means more profit, at least in the short term. Next quarter profits are all that matter to public companies.
It's obscene, but it's the way it is.
It's not just that they demand more, they demand more/faster growth all the time. It doesn't matter that the economy has slowed down to borderline recession, it doesn't matter that they pretty much captured all the market they can, they still need to make more and more money every quarter otherwise they're considered a failure even if they are one of the biggest companies in the world.
Because they were "leaving money on the table" instead of getting it for their shareholders.
the shareholders don't get that. the top managers, CEOs etc. get it. some of them may be shareholders as well, but that's not how they fill their pockets.
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 because once untamed capitalism sees a money spigot they can't help but wonder how wide it will open.
I think it’s the same reason games offer a cash shop for things you can get in-game. Sure they’re making billions but why not billions plus ad revenue? I don’t agree with the practice but the answer always comes back to money.
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 Because for capitalism, profit is not the end, only a means to the end. The end is to accumulate sufficient capital to absorb all competitors and achieve total control of markets.
Would be nice if pivoting to ads caused them to lose 50% of their business.
Sadly it won’t.
Better question is "why not"?
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 Because capitalism demands infinite growth.
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 I'll explain in two very simple words.
MOAR MONIES
I'd believe Google has a larger data collection as it's includes both google hardware and software products.
Google can also connnect the dots between an extreme amount of user data and services.
Isn't it obvious? Start Menu is being used by every windows user but is not generating any revenue Serving ads will enable them to better support the platform and provide more advanced features. Ad supported version is better than making it a subscription like some third party apps have done. Start8 I think, basic copy of Microsoft's Start Menu but paid.
Cool
I'm learning more and more about Linux while using Linux Mint
It's pretty cool NGL
asdfasfasf
HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN
Every time.
Because this old man hasn't learnt the lesson...
We love a good call to arms, what more can be said
Although not the same, this has been going on for about two years now. Jensen Harris, a former MS engineer, criticized the ads as well as the design of the new Start Menu, over here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1564399431545667585.html
Weren't they doing this as far back as windows 8?
It just highlights the downward spiral to user hostility becoming the standard. Pretty sad.
KDE Plasma 6, and their distro KDE Neon, are both really good.
There are many very friendly Linux communities on Lemmy who can help you get set up.
I had the same issue holding me back from giving up Windows, until I discovered the Python keyboard module.
How to bind key presses to it varies, but here's a recipe for Ubuntu, as an example:
Overall, it's not quite as elegant, as AutoHotKey, but it's ultimately a more powerful, since there's so much else I can also do from the same Python script.
Edit: Most notably, I don't recall AutoHotKey having any nice way to tell which apps are open, and Python can quickly call out to ps. It's been on my to-do list to leverage this to let me map keybindings according to what is open (i.e. a favorite game, or a move player.)
KDE can do that without third party software I believe.
Fedora+KDE ftw. I switched my un upgradeable windows PC to fedora and I couldn't be happier.
@tsonfeir But Linux does not have AutoHotkey. This is the biggest deal-breaker for me by far. AutoKey seems be the closest thing, but it's such a massive pain to even try to use by comparison.
Depending on your usage, perhaps this re-implementation of AHK for Linux might be of use to you.
I doesn't have auto hotkey because for the most part, you can control Linux from the command-line without someone having to invent a new scripting language from scratch to control it.
I heavily recommend you familiarize yourself with bash and the system commands you'll need to send key presses, move windows, spawn and kill programs, etc.
I have a feeling that this year is going to be the year of the Linux desktop.
If there is a recommendation that satisfies:
All without needing to use the terminal, then that will likely win the battle.
Honestly Wine and Bottles are both pretty great at running windows programs these days, I wouldn’t worry to much about that so long as you check and make sure the critical software you need works.
A nice looking UI with good fonts, and a clean interface.
Pretty much anything beats Windows in that regard.
The ability to run random Windows applications with minimal fuss.
I mean if you REALLY can't find a FOSS alternative, Bottles has been extremely successful and easy for me...
All without needing to use the terminal
This is the biggest hangup for me. Even if there is a GUI, most instructions will send you into the terminal nonetheless.
Just get over it and learn
I also have to use terminal in Windows, and up until recently it was an awful useless terminal too
It's been the decade of Linux on the desktop for me
Exactly why the Brazilian and German governments are switching to linux machines
And my houshold 😁
Ther is for sure a 2.5k line powershell script from someone totally trustworthy which fixes this issue though
The French National Police also use Linux machines with its modified Ubuntu distro Gendbuntu.
Plus, Russia uses Astra, based on vanilla Debian.
Not like Russia can legally nor want to be dependant on MS/american software.
If they could inject the ad's into your veins, they would.
Good thing I use Ubuntu for >90% of my computing now.
Yeah Canonical has never put ads in Ubuntu.
I'm under no illusion Ubuntu is perfect. But I PAID for my Windows licenses. And if I paid, I don't want to see ads. I don't care about Win 8's penetrative pricing model or the $25 coupon. I don't care that I paid for my licenses 10+ years ago. Don't sell me ads on a product I paid for. And Windows serves up ads all the god damned time now. If there's anything good to be said about Windows 8, it's that it didn't take every opportunity to sell me an Office 365 subscription ever second breath I took. I don't actually remember the last time I saw an ad in Ubuntu, and I've been using it to varying degrees since 2011. I think we can at least agree Canonical is better than Microsoft, yeah?
All that said, I've had thoughts of switching to plain old Debian, especially now that I'd consider myself much more experienced and comfortable in Linux. But if I were recommending a distro to a new user, I am one million percent telling them Ubuntu or Mint, depending on how they feel about the Windows UI.
This is amusing. They might as well replace the wallpaper with an ad.
They have on the lockscreen already, so not too far off
Done already, they are ahead of you guys Pic
Thank you microsoft for doing bad changes to the windows operating system im sure linux users will enjoy this
The second Win 10 stops receiving security updates, it's Linux for me.
I remember people saying the same thing with Windows 7
Some people probably did the switch
I switched from Win7 to Linux, but you are right, few stuck to their guns on that threat. My only Windows machine now is a work laptop that I have to use for some tasks. Admittedly, even Win 10 is looking good now compared to Win11. MS is doing a bang up job as being consumer antagonists.
Killing myself one day🤦♂️
MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE : Just switch to Linux 😃
Why yourself? Let M$ kill itself.
You're right 😂
it was already full of ads on win10
Yeah, lol people forgot what ads are. News feeds, Xbox and other office apps you haven't bought yet, are also ads, just their own products.
Cool. I just started testing Nobara
I’ve used Linux on every PC except my gaming PC for years. This year I made the final leap because of decisions like this from Microsoft.
Very few games have failed to work, the ones that have are all from Epic and they fail because of their shitty anticheat software. The only other things I feel the lack of are paint.net and the Affinity apps.
How many PCs do you have, lol. And Gimp and Inkscape are pretty good art programs.
5 in use. Main Gaming PC, Laptop, Game server pc, media server PC, and another for testing things out. Whenever a family member upgrades I get the old one so most of these are pretty old.
I have gimp and other graphics tools, I also have a LOT of hours of use in the ones I mentioned so there are things I know how to do quickly in those programs but not in their counterparts.
Pinta is a fork of an older version of paint.net: https://www.pinta-project.com/ I have no idea if it is any good. I just thought that this might solve your problem.
I have Pinta, it’s ok but lacks a lot of the plugins I used and hasn’t been too stable. The graphics editing thing is something that will,just take time for me to rework my workflows. Gimp is great, I’m just not used to it.
This is why Linux rules tbh, little to no rules what so ever in terms of customizing your desktop whilst also not having shit like this too like having so much bloat and constant ads, like telling you to install edge everytime whilst protecting your privacy too.
It's time to switch.
If you have to stay on windows check out: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
I have been using it on my work laptop over a year. Nice piece of software 👍️
This looks like it is solving a different problem but also useful. If you are saying it is better to disable everything and keep the original start bar. I prefer disabling everything and keeping a consistent start bar style from yesteryear. Either way thanks for the link. I'll added it to my tool list!
Aight time to try and learn Linux for the 10th time and see if someone without strong console knowledge can use one now.
If you just want to browse the web and edit work documents you have nothing to fear.
If you just want a game and don't want to be too awfully picky about what you're playing you have nothing to fear
If you want to play anti-cheap games and host docker components you're going to have to do a little console here and there.
If you want to stream to YouTube and twitch, You're probably not going to have as much of a good time. You can still do it but there's work and compromises involved.
Cheers, I'll give it a go. Unfortunately I'll have to navigate my way through the Denuvo BS that Capcom loves shoving down our throats.
On the plus side I've been using the libreoffice suite and frankly speaking it's more or less comparable to what Windows offers for my needs. Their excel equivalent feels really jank though.
I've been using it for a few months now and only rarely I used console and it was just to paste some commands for something. So yeah, I don't think that you really need to know howbto use console if you don't need to do anything that specifically needs it.
I think that this betrays their plans: Windows will go "free with ads", with an ad-free version that is subscription only. That doesn't hurt their bottomline since the governments and companies of the western world will still go subscription in order to get support. The ones who don't have enough money for that (individuals, small countries/companies, small municipalities), they will go "free with ads". I mean, practically, Windows is free even right now. They have oem serial numbers that activate the OS for free, legally, to be reused. So why not make it profitable, it's their thinking. Also, on newer builds of Win11 you can't avoid logging in without an msn account.
That is the Trap. Pre-installed Windows is not free, you pay for it in the price of the PC, the same PC without OS is almost ~€100 cheaper. A lot of vendors offer now PC only with FreeDOS, where you can select to install Linux, paying only the CD or USB or install Windows, paying it's license (€100-120).
Microsoft: how can we get even more money while enraging everyone?
I stopped using Windows in 2008 (juggling between a mixture of Linux and Mac OS). One of the reasons, is that at that time I thought Windows was legitimately a mess.
Over time, I thought it got a bit better when seeing it on friends's computers.
Due to laziness, Windows 11 got installed on my office computer (which I use 1% of my time) and I thought it was honestly pretty good (as in, I never thought about switching back, but it was fine to use it when necessary).
Now that they plug in ads, I'll certainly want to switch back /s
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store.
“This will appear only for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel in the US and will not apply to commercial devices (devices managed by organizations),” says Microsoft in a blog post.
The app promotions can be disabled in the Settings section of Windows 11, but it appears that Microsoft will enable these by default.
Microsoft is seeking feedback on the changes, so it’s possible the company could decide to ditch these ads in development builds of Windows 11 if there’s enough feedback that suggests they’re not going to be a popular addition.
Microsoft started testing ads inside the File Explorer of Windows 11 last year before disabling the experiment in beta versions of Windows 11.
Microsoft has been experimenting with ads inside Windows for more than 10 years.
The original article contains 222 words, the summary contains 152 words. Saved 32%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
This is pretty much how you destroy a good product. Hello Linux!
I keep seeing headlines like this all the time. I'm over here like "This has already been a thing for years". Whenever I'd setup a win10 pc for someone, I'd have to clean the ads out of the start menu as part of the setup. So I ask again, how is this any different from the bullshit we're already dealing with?
It's like they want to go out of business
Maybe this is why you can't have a toolbar on the taskbar, to force you into the start menu more.
The wierd part is, if i think about my star menu usage in win10, there hardly is one. The important programs are on the task bar. The Startmenu isn't as much needed as used to be. Still sucks though.
i'm daily driving mint for a month now and i appreciate i did
If Microsoft does that I'm wiping out my laptop and going back to Linux*
only reason I moved away is I bought a new laptop to replace my 2010 Mac mini that ran LinuxMint, and the laptop came preloaded with Windows 11 and I decided to just keep using it as-is as I liked the UI.
Fun fact: it is not an entirely new idea. Microsoft did something similar with Active Desktop in Windows 98 but was later removed.
I coincidentally installed Linux Mint today and I'm not going back.
Advertising is a goddamn disease.
I know linux is likely the better option here, but for me I have two words...
Winaero Tweaker
