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Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

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Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#91
post #39

Microsoft finally made a browser which renders websites as expected, is up-to-date regarding security and features, and (most) people actually don't have the need to replace it with anything else. I will never understand why they NEED to ruin this. It's baffling.

Because Microsoft's raison-d'être is to extract as much money as possible from computer users. No matter how much they try to not be evil, no matter how many overtures they make to developers, it won't change the fact that Microsoft is basically just a hostile entity out there to extract as much money as possible from the computing scene.

Of course for-profit companies try to extract as much money as possible from their customers, that’s the reason they exist.

The issue is that once again Microsoft is abusing their monopoly power on the home PC market to make decisions that otherwise would be ignored. No one would download and install Edge and be force-fed ads for money lenders, except that Microsoft installs it by default and aggressively pushes windows users into it with frequent prompts and bogus security warnings.

It’s the bundling and abuse of their market power that is the issue, not their profit motive. In a well-regulated economy they would get fined and forced to change how they operate.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#92
post #32

I’d be really pissed about this if they hadn’t pissed me off for the last decade and I hadn’t eviscerated every trace of Microsoft from my existence already. Thus I shall merely respond with ”meh” and ”I thought edge was only used to download Chrome”

In order to save you a step of using Edge to download Chrome we downloaded Chrome first and renamed it Edge.

Imagine if they never told anyone about this and just released it.

"Microsoft was apparently hacked today and someone managed to install crapware into the default install of Edge. Crapware, mostly known to be installed by dodgy software installers when you forget to untick something, has been a problem for many decades, but this is the first time it's been installed by default in a Microsoft application (Unless you count Windows 10)"

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does anyone need a payment plan for a $35 item though?

As crazy as it seems, in Brazil, payment plans are accepted everywhere. You can literally buy gas , groceries, medicines or whatever on your credit card and they will split make those installments for you. Maybe this market exist outside of the US?

Colombia too. It was weird as hell when Starbucks kept asking me how many installment I want to pay for MY CUP OF COFFEE in.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#94
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an industry, we should encourage power use of core products. Power use is adaptive, competent usage.

Isn't that what linux and OSS is for? That's the industry you're probably thinking about, as Microsoft, Google and Apple have the obligation to their shareholders to make money which today translates in milking the consumer by keeping them uneducated and clueless about how computers work so they can lock you into their respective ecosystems where everything is so polished and Just Works(TM), so you don't need to thin…

I appreciate your perspective, and having thought about it for a few hours I find that I disagree. Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc. as operating systems are within the same domain of users; power user differentiation is currently a difference of preference, not of class or kind.

For other technologies, defaulting to open and targeting power users (and encouraging reasonable onboard skilling) is how we target all other tools, such as vehicles, power tools, and so forth that are used with a craft. Tradesfolks know their tools, and their most important tools they know enough to modify to suit their needs.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#95
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly not sure how much profit a 2 trillion dollar company is supposed to generate from an interest free pay later browser bloatware feature Even if you're Scrooge McDuck that sounds not worth it

Of all the FAAMG out there, Microsoft arguably has the most diverse revenue streams, I don't see what's surprising with them going after another market (let alone payments). It's just another layer for monetization and doesn't prevent them pursuing their other business lines (it's arguably different teams anyway). Nothing's ever worth it if you take the approach of "It's already worth/earning 100x, adding 1x isn't wo…

> Of all the FAAMG out there

Of all the MANGA* out there

FTFY

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#96

> It allows any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made through Microsoft Edge to be split into four payments over a six-week period. > While the service is being promoted as ‘interest-free’, some were quick to point out that all transactions are subject to a “$4 flat fee”. $4 in fees on $1000 over 6 weeks is an effective APR of around 4% - pretty good. $4 in fees on $35 over 6 weeks is an outrageous APR of around 123%.…

Why does anyone need a payment plan for a $35 item though?

It's a months income for a huge number of poor people.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Today's Google is a saint compared to the nineties Microsoft.

> Today's Google is a saint compared to the nineties Microsoft. Definitely not the case. See: rigging the advertising market in cahoots with Facebook (Jedi Blue). See: conspiring with other large tech companies to artificially limit salaries for tech workers. See: leveraging its search monopoly to gain additional monopoly or near-monopoly positions (YouTube, Chrome, Android), as well as using it to harm competitors (…

> The Feds have hardly even looked under Google's corporate hood

"Well of course I know him ­— he's me" https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-ci...

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#98
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly not sure how much profit a 2 trillion dollar company is supposed to generate from an interest free pay later browser bloatware feature Even if you're Scrooge McDuck that sounds not worth it

As another said, the goal to increase revenue is per team. The Edge team must likely find proof for how they will drive revenue in the future. Suddenly you've got a full browser engineering team trying to figure out how to monetize a browser - tough sell. So they can't come up with anything, that's fine because a product manager is the owner of this task anyway. They propose a myriad of different ways to monetize Edg…

This is a pretty good breakdown of how it likely came to be, but leaves out the satanic rituals and incantations that also (seemingly) play a big part in how microsoft makes decisions.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#99

> It allows any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made through Microsoft Edge to be split into four payments over a six-week period. > While the service is being promoted as ‘interest-free’, some were quick to point out that all transactions are subject to a “$4 flat fee”. $4 in fees on $1000 over 6 weeks is an effective APR of around 4% - pretty good. $4 in fees on $35 over 6 weeks is an outrageous APR of around 123%.…

Now web browsers are gonna become credit cards attached to your browsing history... Great job guys! :| Ugh, who ever would have thought 2021 would have come to this.

Ugh, who ever would have thought 2021 would have come to this.

1980's cyberpunk writers

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#100

> It allows any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made through Microsoft Edge to be split into four payments over a six-week period. > While the service is being promoted as ‘interest-free’, some were quick to point out that all transactions are subject to a “$4 flat fee”. $4 in fees on $1000 over 6 weeks is an effective APR of around 4% - pretty good. $4 in fees on $35 over 6 weeks is an outrageous APR of around 123%.…

Why does anyone need a payment plan for a $35 item though?

Because they promote it as a $9 purchase, less than the price of 2 cups of coffee!!!

And most people are far too financially illiterate to understand what that means.

An APR of 23% for $50 sounds like I will have to pay $12.

A $4 flat fee is so much CHEAPER!

Nevermind that a credit card means I can pay back in 3 weeks minimum in the US, without paying any interest, and further, a $4 flat fee on $50 over 6 weeks is an APR that's over 60-70%, if not a lot more.

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