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Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

theregister.com

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Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#211

Post by soraminazuki »

dotty- wrote: post #134
irrational wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has a similar problem. On setup it wants me to set up siri, payment, etc. My options are to setup now or do it later. There needs to be a third option that I will never setup these things and never ask me again.

I don't think Apple recurringly hounds you to sign in when you hit "Do it later" though. I read "Do it later" here as a subtle reminder that "the option is not gone. You can do it later on your own in your system settings if you want", as opposed to "ok we'll ask you again later unprompted :)"

Not to mention that it's also easy to skip. I had Windows 10 on my spare machines, and never have I seen an OS that showed so much level of contempt towards its users.

Every OS update forces me to go through pages and pages of privacy invading settings before letting me use my own computer again. Each time the UI for those settings change with fresh new additions of dark patterns. Each of those settings must be carefully disabled or I'll end up with a key logger on my system.

It's not done even after it shows me the desktop either, proceeding to add Edge to the desktop, taskbar, and the default browser settings, all without even asking.

No other OS comes even close in terms of hostility.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#212

Post by pengaru »

xeromal wrote: post #169
pengaru wrote: post #96

MS Windows is the daytime television of operating systems: If you're still using it in 2023 you have only yourself to blame. It's not like there aren't better options at your disposal...

Not many people use this excuse, but I'm honestly too old to give a shit about any other OS. lol I'm gonna die using windows and that's alright.

> Not many people use this excuse, but I'm honestly too old to give a shit about any other OS. lol I'm gonna die using windows and that's alright.

It's actually ^this^ perspective that most fits the "daytime television" analogy. The old fogies have precisely that attitude, and they're primarily who still watch daytime TV.

Now that most of the population aims their eyeballs at something other than TV, TV has become a wasteland of geriatric-targeted ads/political propaganda (old people vote) with a pittance of content mixed in. It's being stripped clean of what flesh remains, in its final death throes until its remaining viewers completely die off.

MS Windows is on the same trajectory, which started with MS failing to get Windows on smartphones. Now that so many grow up using non-Windows mobile devices instead of home PCs, Windows will only become increasingly desperate, dated, and tasteless in its revenue/power-generating schemes.

Hopefully FLOSS can prove more robust against this cycle... It's not like we don't see similar patterns emerging with Mozilla embedding ads/"suggestions" in Firefox tabs, or Canonical putting ads in Ubuntu. But at least there will always be alternatives thanks to the ability to fork and compete when the source is available.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#213

Post by r00fus »

Kye wrote: post #126
Scarbutt wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$999 macbook air is perfectly usable?

With a 256GB SSD? Please. Some of us use computers for creative work and don't want to pay absurd markups for soldered on SSDs and RAM.

Yes, for most people it's fine. Cloud storage is a thing, and so is cheap external storage.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#214

Post by johnsea »

bigger_inside wrote: post #85
JohnFen wrote: post #54

> As Microsoft puts it: “We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA).” What is Microsoft really thinking here? You have to go out of your way (and probably do a web search) in order to figure out how to install Win 11 without using a Microsoft Account. So…

I've never used linux. After a hundred frustrations with my new laptop that runs Win11, I'm now looking to install ubuntu. Windows pushed me there.

Have a look at Pop!_OS too.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#215

Post by JohnFen »

not_a_shill wrote: post #204
JohnFen wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get if you’re a scrappy startup growth hacking taking ethical shortcuts. Nope. Scrappy startup or established corporation, it doesn't matter. Taking ethical shortcuts makes you a Bad Guy.

[flagged]

I don't think I agree that ethics are ultimately irrelevant. Regardless, though, I think you're confusing being "manipulative" with being "opinionated".

I'm 100% being opinionated. I'm not being manipulative, though, because I am not trying to make anyone do anything -- let alone trying to do it through unwarranted emotional appeals.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#216

Post by not_a_shill »

JohnFen wrote: post #215
not_a_shill wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I don't think I agree that ethics are ultimately irrelevant. Regardless, though, I think you're confusing being "manipulative" with being "opinionated". I'm 100% being opinionated. I'm not being manipulative, though, because I am not trying to make anyone do anything -- let alone trying to do it through unwarranted emotional appeals.

[flagged]

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#217

Post by yetanotherloser »

Kye wrote: post #116
yetanotherloser wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you need a niche application that's only available on Windows, or you don't want to rebuy it or a near equivalent for the Mac.

Or don't want to buy a Mac when you already have a perfectly serviceable PC.

Also a good point. My family desktop isn't quite grandfather's axe but it would be wasteful to just dump it, and if I convert it to Linux some of the games my wife and kids want to play can't follow.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#218

Post by GeekyBear »

com2kid wrote: post #142
dotty- wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apple recurringly hounds you to sign in when you hit "Do it later" though. I read "Do it later" here as a subtle reminder that "the option is not gone. You can do it later on your own in your system settings if you want", as opposed to "ok we'll ask you again later unprompted :)"

Everytime my BT headphones connect, Apple Music opens up. Own and iPhone and you are reminded quite often of the benefits of an iCloud subscription. Try setting up an iPhone w/o an apple account for that matter, or using an Android phone (that hasn't been de-googled) without a Google account. Not to mention, users expect their files to be with them everywhere. IMHO Microsoft should make OneDrive free with some obscen…

> Everytime my BT headphones connect, Apple Music opens up.

https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes

> noTunes is a macOS application that will prevent iTunes or Apple Music from launching.

Simply launch the noTunes app and iTunes/Music will no longer be able to launch. For example, when bluetooth headphones reconnect.

You can toggle the apps functionality via the menu bar icon with a simple left click.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#219

Post by wolpoli »

JohnFen wrote: post #54

> As Microsoft puts it: “We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA).” What is Microsoft really thinking here? You have to go out of your way (and probably do a web search) in order to figure out how to install Win 11 without using a Microsoft Account. So…

> “We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA).”

Wow. Even the sentence itself is incredibly indirect and obfuscated. They aren't able to own it and say "We are exploring new ways to promote the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account by adding badges to the Start menu for users logging in with local user accounts." or "We are adding badges to the Start menu to bug users with local user accounts to switch to a Microsoft account."

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#220

Post by hef19898 »

copper-float wrote: post #184
dylan604 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying Windows has become nagware?

Absolutely, well beyond nagware at this point (with default settings).

I vaguely remember a time when browsers would install all kind of crappy add-ons, or any other software installer for that matter. Now we reached a point were the OS does it...
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