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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

#281

I cannot stand how everything with internet access is just becoming a vehicle to shove ads down everyone’s throat. This web browser wants to sell me credit deals. My expensive TV has banner ads in the menus (well, it did until I blocked about two dozen domains). An increasing amount of apps are sending “offers” I never requested via push notifications on my phone. My belongings are not a fucking corporate billboard.

Because nobody wants to pay for anything and ads won the race to the bottom for monetization.

Except I paid for my TV.

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

#282
Yeah, I briefly fell for msft not being evil.

Not only edge is not free because I paid for windows, it's also slower and much more user hostile and mindfulness hostile than Google.

Say what you want about Chrome engineers, but they wouldn't go to this low.

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

#283
post #8

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.

It is a for profit company, the reason is always profit.

Chrome doesn't do this.

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

#285

I cannot stand how everything with internet access is just becoming a vehicle to shove ads down everyone’s throat. This web browser wants to sell me credit deals. My expensive TV has banner ads in the menus (well, it did until I blocked about two dozen domains). An increasing amount of apps are sending “offers” I never requested via push notifications on my phone. My belongings are not a fucking corporate billboard.

Maintaining browsers has become a significant undertaking, so complex that only well-funded corporate interests can afford to keep one patched and up-to-date with the latest web standards. It surpassed operating system complexity. It surpassed pretty much everything else too. So we can forget about it ever being truly "free" (and free from ads) unless we simplify the web somehow. I also don't think we're going to go…

>I also don't think we're going to go back in time and start cutting features out of browsers.

Well, there has been a recent spike of interest in small protocols (Gemini, Gopher). It's mostly limited to esoteric tech enthusiasts though.

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

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though I love my M1 Macbook Pro and iPad Pro, I have a lot of problems for them working together with my Android phone. I was thinking of switching to iPhone Pro Max (the only iPhone with big enough screen for my bad eyes), but it’s so thick and heavy (as thick as the tablet), that I feel like it would be uncomfortable for me.

Go to an Apple store and ask to try to lift one. You could also find something that weighs about the same, but in my opinion the actual weight is often secondary to its form and weight.

Of course I tried it, and I was not satisfied with its screen-to-thickness ratio, especially compared to my Note 10+

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

#287

> 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.

Just wait for what’s in store in 2022!

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

#288
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just fell for the con!

But why is it a con though? Marginal cost of TV is $600, amortized business cost for projected sales is $400, expected average lifetime revenue from user data and ads is $60 ($15/"user"/yr for 5 years which is damn good for an ad network), throw in a 6.3% profit margin and we get TV priced at $999.99. Throw away the ads and user data collection and up the profit to 10% to make it worth their while (since someone will…

> But why is it a con though?

The product would work just fine without all the extra monetization, that's how it worked for the longest time. Nobody asked for savings trough selling their privacy, that was very much forced on us, and now they force the upsell to "enterpise privacy edition" as the solution to a problem they themselves introduced.

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

#289

I cannot stand how everything with internet access is just becoming a vehicle to shove ads down everyone’s throat. This web browser wants to sell me credit deals. My expensive TV has banner ads in the menus (well, it did until I blocked about two dozen domains). An increasing amount of apps are sending “offers” I never requested via push notifications on my phone. My belongings are not a fucking corporate billboard.

I typically respect Apple products, but they also shove ads in the settings app...

> I typically respect Apple products, but they also shove ads in the settings app...

This is insanely horrible - another flagstone on the road to hell.

I'm kind of shocked that the HI people at Apple would be OK with it.

Apple has built its entire business on user experience, so it doesn't seem wise to sacrifice that on the altar of marketing for services.

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

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can still edit your message on the older thread/page, you should link to this discussion (or post a new message). That way, the circle of life will be complete haha I’m kidding of course (you should still do it if you can/want) ;)

Sadly (but understandably) HN doesn't let me edit old comments. I guess the circle of life (read recursion!) can be complete here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29355580

It's very annoying. I think the time limit should be on the order of months rather than hours.

I tend to think that online discussions are better when people can edit their posts, correcting mistakes, adding context or information, or even changing their position in light of new evidence or convincing arguments.

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