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Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

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Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#51

Post by api »

gargravarr wrote: post #6

Seems like the only way people want to make money these days is through invasive advertising without the end-user's explicit consent. Granted the expectation of free software is driving most of this, but it starts a vicious cycle because those who get annoyed with them develop countermeasures, which the creator responds to with more aggressive ads, ad infinitum. It does start explaining some of the highly controversi…

People want free. Things aren't free. But people want free, so let's give them "free" and monetize them indirectly with surveillance, invasive advertising, etc.

The entire Internet has gone down this road since it's very hard to compete with someone who is giving something away for "free" (note quotes). Free has given us George Orwell's bidirectional it-watches-you TV set.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#53

Post by cm2187 »

freddref wrote: post #27
gargravarr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying for the privilege of seeing adverts. So fundamentally MS. I'm so glad Win7 will be supported until 2020.

It's more prevalent than you would expect. People pay for cable and magazines. People even pay to become walking ads when they buy brand name clothing. edit: comma

When I was still reading paper magazine, the first thing I did when I received a new issue of The Economist was to shake it over a garbage bin to remove all the inserts and tear up the card board insert in the middle...

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#54

Post by dragonwriter »

gravypod wrote: post #8

"When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past decade. I am at least repeatedly learning this over and over again.

> "When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past decade.

A more accurate lesson would be, "if the item is free, and often if it is not, you are paying for it in something other than money, or are receiving benefits incidentally to someone else paying for it."

Win 10 isn't free.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#55

Post by gargravarr »

RealCasually wrote: post #45
bendykstra wrote: post #39

I was shocked and very worried when ads for Microsoft Office started popping up in the Action Center (10's centralized notification area) last year. When I wrote about my concerns on a Windows forum, most pf the responses were along the lines of, "why are you complaining, Windows 10 is free." If people no longer feel that they own their operating systems, then there is no check on Microsoft's behavior. Inevitably, ad…

What is the harm done? Of course you don't "own" your operating system. You also paid nothing for it. I also struggle to grasp the double standard of why Google, Facebook, et al are able to endlessly track and personalize ads, but when Microsoft follows a similar model, there is outrage.

The argument that Win10 is free won't hold for much longer, it's only 'free' if you upgrade from Win7 or 8. It's already being sold retail in stores for a similar price to the old versions. And from later this year, people will have to pay for upgrades too.

On the flipside, you don't "own" your software anyway, you own a license to use it (EULA).

The double-standard probably has something to do with the ability to block most of Google's ads and tracking, or use another search platform if you really want. This is the OS on top of which you'll be using all of your other software (web platforms included), and it's impossible to control what is going on in the background.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#57

Post by leeleelee »

I seem to remember some recent articles about MSFT which detailed how they had really turned things around. They've been missing the boat for years, and finally got their act together. They had a really aggressive goal for getting windows 10 on XYZ millions of devices by June or July this year. And now....this?! This does not fit Satya Nadella's recent narrative. Why would MSFT do this?

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#58

Post by gravypod »

dragonwriter wrote: post #54
gravypod wrote: post #8

"When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past decade. I am at least repeatedly learning this over and over again.

> "When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past decade. A more accurate lesson would be, "if the item is free, and often if it is not , you are paying for it in something other than money, or are receiving benefits incidentally to someone else paying for it." Win 10 isn't free.

I'd agree that is a better way of putting it.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#59

Post by bduerst »

cm2187 wrote: post #53
freddref wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more prevalent than you would expect. People pay for cable and magazines. People even pay to become walking ads when they buy brand name clothing. edit: comma

When I was still reading paper magazine, the first thing I did when I received a new issue of The Economist was to shake it over a garbage bin to remove all the inserts and tear up the card board insert in the middle...

Hahah, I did the same.

It was either the Economist or FT that did a cost/benefit analysis of removing those inserts for their already-subscribed customers copies, and found that it would cost more in lost new subscriptions to remove them.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#60

Post by vlunkr »

aresant wrote: post #44

It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business. HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS! Look at Gmail: http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV Look at Yahoo Mail: http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc Look at AOL Mail: http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L Which email product do you use? Which would you rather use? The advertising business that is…

Personally I wouldn't be willing to pay for an ad-free version of an OS that you are already paying for.
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