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Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

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Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies should really accept a "No" from their users. No I don't want to use a microsoft account just to use my computer. (Without jumping through hoops) Don't ask me again the moment I say "No". You can see the same with all those dialogs that only have "Yes, do $THING" and "Remind me later".

It's what the phrase "the customer is always right" originally meant. It means you can do all the market research, development, testing, polling, and seeding to sell a product. But the ultimate decider of whether the product is "good" is whether or not the people buy it. If your sales plan flops don't say "it's not the product's fault, I just need to do a better job marketing it." No, the product is wrong, the custom…

Please define "Customer" in this context?

There are several parties at this party. One is the person who bought a computer with an operating system on it; possibly they even paid for the operating system itself, though more likely they are using the operating system that came on the computer they're using. Another party is the one who bought a license from microsoft; occasionally they're the same party but more typically it is some sort of vendor who did this. And there's also the party that's giving microsoft money to put advertising in front of the "consumer."

So -- it isn't clear to me who in this context is "always right"

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are fonts still ugly as sin? That was the biggest drawback last time I tried linux as my main desktop. That and having to muck around in config files for every little thing.

Fonts have looked better in Linux than Windows for over 15 years now.

I wish I could find a screenshot of it, but I believe the default Arabic font in Ubuntu ~10 years ago was pretty horrendous, whereas Windows had a much more reasonable one.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies should really accept a "No" from their users. No I don't want to use a microsoft account just to use my computer. (Without jumping through hoops) Don't ask me again the moment I say "No". You can see the same with all those dialogs that only have "Yes, do $THING" and "Remind me later".

Users should learn to say "no" to companies. The surveillance advertising economy is not some hapless mistake that companies will suddenly wake up to one day and realize the error of their ways. Whatever Microsoft "should" do is just wishful thinking. Change will come from users or regulation, and regulation seems unlikely.

In my comments here over the years, I have occasionally mentioned how I don't do business with certain companies or use certain sorts of products because I find the companies objectionable.

What I find interesting/hilarious is how often someone will reply to me saying that my life would be so much easier if I just gave in and used them anyway, or (worse) how I'm being wrong in some way by being selective about who I support with my money.

That borg-like "you will be assimilated" sort of commentary is fascinating, disturbing, and goes far to illustrate how there are ordinary people who absolutely don't want you to exert your economic authority.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> using an Android phone (that hasn't been de-googled) without a Google account. This is still very doable (or, it was when I got a new phone a couple of years ago). It wasn't even hard to avoid using a Google account.

> It wasn't even hard to avoid using a Google account. And then you launch any of the included apps. Chrome wants you to sign in, calendar wants you to sign in, photos wants you to sign in, not to mention Google photos pushes notifications ads trying to sell photo albums. The photo app will also try to sell you a premium subscription to store your photos online. The phone is very much designed to be used with a Googl…

> And then you launch any of the included apps. Chrome wants you to sign in, calendar wants you to sign in, photos wants you to sign in, not to mention Google photos pushes notifications ads trying to sell photo albums.

Yes, if you're going to use those apps, you may as well sign in with a Google account. I don't use them, though. There are plenty of better alternatives to all of them.

> The phone is very much designed to be used with a Google account, you can avoid it, but the experience is limited.

No, it's really not limited. It does take a little more setup to install the apps you want, though.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#258

I haven't used windows in a really long time but are there really ads in the START MENU? jesus christ

I only use it for games, so not paying too much attention. There’re definitely some local content being loaded by default(like news) which by itself is horrible.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently installed Windows 10 in a VM to port a program to Windows (Was a horror story). On the left side in the start menu I have ads and other crap: "Trending searches", "Trending videos from the web", "Games for you", "Trending news" and some other stuff like a reminder for the International day for Monuments and Sites. On the right side I have a weather/news widget from some really shady or local newspapers abo…

All of these gross advertising decisions baked into the operating system disgust me. Not to mention all the tracking they probably do to you on top of it. The best solution I've found is Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. It feels like an alternate timeline where Microsoft didn't dive headfirst into manipulative advertising practices. None of those pointless bloatware apps, no blatant advertising loitered across the OS. I do…

> The best solution I've found is Windows 10 IoT Enterprise

What is the difference between this one and LTSC?

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#260
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…

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'm not sure it ever does ask you to set up those things again. I never set up fingerprint scanning and I don't recall it asking later to set those things up. (maybe it has after a patch though I don't recall it.. also maybe if you go to the place in settings where you might set one of those things up, like if you went into the siri control panel it might prompt you to set it up there... but that seems very reasonable.)
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