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Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

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Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#61

Post by bduerst »

djsumdog wrote: post #5

I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by default. Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam DRM layer. I should have b…

GoG is pretty great [1]. Their games are DRM-free and their windows client is super clean - I only wish they would hurry up and release for Linux.

https://www.gog.com/galaxy

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#62

Post by ohitsdom »

acre88 wrote: post #34

Aren't plentiful, unrequested ads for games an integral part of Microsoft's XBox systems? I don't remember hearing too much outrage about those. Is that a different situation somehow?

Great point. I've always had an issue with those ads on the home screen. One ad that stands out in my memory was a particularly gruesome looking game ad, something about zombies. I thought it was way too dark for the little kids in my house to be seeing, but had no way to turn it off.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#63

Post by 0x0 »

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.

Just paid $119 here for a windows 10 license. Do you know of a better deal - for hardware that never shipped with a (subsidized) windows license?

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store?Action=DisplayPage&Local...

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#64

Post by fnbr »

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…

This is the exact reason why Google is so valuable- when I use Google, I'm actively searching for something, so I'm happy to see relevant ads in my search results.

If I search "bike shop London," I want to find a bike shop in London, so if I see an ad for a bike shop in London, I'm ecstatic, and I'll probably go there.

When I go to check my inbox, on the other hand, that's because I want to see what email I've received. I don't want to see ads there.

This is the inherent problem with Facebook/Twitter- I go to Facebook/Twitter to find what my friends are up to, not to search for something. I have no interest in seeing ads in my Facebook/Twitter feed.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#65

Post by pdkl95 »

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.

> You also paid nothing for it.

Windows requires payment, just not in dollars. The data gathered from "telemetry" (spyware) is valuable.

edit: I'll assume from the downvotes that some people want to pretend that pattern-of-life data isn't valuable

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#66

Post by bduerst »

compactmani wrote: post #19
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…

If only there really was universal expectation of free software. Then we'd really be getting somewhere.

Software will never truly be "free" because someone pays for it to exist.

It has upfront fixed costs and variable costs to maintain, which need to be covered by the developers, users, advertisers, or some combination of the three.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#67

Post by zodPod »

djsumdog wrote: post #5

I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by default. Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam DRM layer. I should have b…

I'm in the same boat. Steam was DESTROYING my PC for a long time. I couldn't figure out what it was and finally tracked the random spikes and focus losses to Steam's update service being corrupt. Re-installing Steam means uninstalling everything you've downloaded with steam, possibly losing save games and stuff like that, then having to wait for everything to re-download and install. There are ways around it, which I found later but I had already screwed up half of my downloaded games because I had assumed that I would be able to just do a uninstall-reinstall on it without losing all of my stuff. Total garbage. I will definitely not be using anything like steam, in the future, if I have any choice in the matter.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#68

Post by pearle »

I think I'm finally going back to Windows 7.

I'd rather pay full price for a OS release than become a product.

Of course, another issue is that the Windows Store is completely broken on my computer and quite a few apps no longer work (including Windows Calculator, Photos, etc.).

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#69

Post by forgetsusername »

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…

>Seems like the only way people want to make money these days is through invasive advertising

Edit: I see "want" in there now..

Microsoft had over $12BB in net income last year, so I'd hardly say the "only" way to make money is through invasive ads like this. I can't really explain why they do this (other than "why not?"), but any revenue from this is sure to be a drop in the bucket.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#70

Post by jfoster »

Seems like the "new Microsoft" honeymoon period has been brought to an abrupt end.

Did every single Windows 7 user get this? Perhaps they can recover from this by learning quickly from the backlash that's about to happen.

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