Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

theregister.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

531–540 of 647 posts

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#531

Post by orloffm »

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…

It's not harassment. It's just there is some set of managers of various levels tasked with increasing the % of people using the online account in Windows. They have a metric, and they work towards it. There is no one in the company who can decide to not do this nagging - either a person doesn't have the authority, or it requires negotiating with too many owners, or this metric is very high-level, or it's the CEO who doesn't care about such low-level things because he uses the online account and doesn't see it. It's always like that in all modern corporations.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#532

Post by deafpolygon »

thewebcount wrote: post #340
cduzz wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a car from a dealership, then yes indeed you are "less" of a customer of the manufacturer. Consider this relationship: Toyota makes a car to the specifications of general motors, who brands the car as a "Pontiac Vibe" and sells the car to a Pontiac dealership. The Pontiac dealership then sells you the car at mostly a wash because you're also financing the purchase and they want to sell "your" loan to a loa…

This seems like something we’ll get to see play out over the next few years. Given that GM has decided that they don’t care if customers want CarPlay, we’ll see if customers say “No thanks” to buying cars from GM because of that.

I'm pretty sure they're doing this because they know a good chunk of their customers don't want this.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#533

Post by midoridensha »

JohnFen wrote: post #69
izacus wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's obvious what are they thinking: "This gives us conversions, this gives us money, what are you gonna do, pay 3000$ for a Mac?"

I don't think they'll get many conversions out of it. They're fishing in a pool that already actively signaled that they don't like the bait.

They don't need a lot of conversions. If 2% of users take them up on the ad, that's an increase in revenue and profit. If it pisses off 40% of users, that's not a problem, because only 0.001% of users are going to get so angry that they'll stop using Windows (and those users probably paid for a license anyway as part of the computer purchase, so it won't affect MS's revenues).

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#534

Post by Toutouxc »

GuB-42 wrote: post #421
bottlepalm wrote: post #78

It’s funny for what is essentially a ‘file manager’ Microsoft makes it hell to manage your files. My friends and family and constantly confused by the 10 different interfaces there are for file management. Desktops are a mess of of half trash files. The cloud integration the file explorer is a confusing mess. The UI for saving a file from Office is the absolute worst. I’ve had to help someone just save a file and it…

File management in Windows is, I think, the best for a consumer OS, on par with Linux (sometimes better, sometime worse, depending on your distro). Not because it is good, but because Microsoft can't keep up with the others when it comes to messing up file management. iOS: you essentially don't have files, just internal storage for apps Android: you have files, but they are making it really hard to access them MacOS:…

Ad iOS: The Files app won't let you see the whole filesystem (and unlike on Mac there's no way to escape the jail), and the app itself is pretty anaemic, but it is possible to, for example, download a bunch of files from the web, make a ZIP out of them and copy it to a SMB share. Which is already the most complicated operation I'd want to do on a phone. iPadOS would deserve something better, that's true.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#535

Post by MaxikCZ »

yarg wrote: post #289
pbz wrote: post #167

These kinds of changes just make the OS look cheap (like a bazaar of sorts). They're visually ugly, but easily ignored (I rarely open the start menu). What I'm more concerned / annoyed by is the trend of Windows fighting with you. For example, try to disable the real-time antivirus protection. The UI makes it look like it's off, but then it turns back on by itself. Then you go to group policy to make it explicit that…

I tried to play spider solitaire not too long ago. It used to be a clean simple application, now it's adware - literal adware in the professional version of a non-free OS. Utter fucking madness. I quit in disgust and had another go at Tumbleweed. Windows 11 made KDE better.

Or when using the calculator asked you to rate it in Windows Store..

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#536

Post by MaxikCZ »

surgical_fire wrote: post #455
dimgl wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I play Valorant on Linux? I don't think Riot Vanguard works on it.

Never played Valorant. A quick search tells me that the "anticheat" malware that comes along with this game is not supported to run with Proton.

They made a big mess out of it, and I must admit I dont know if it really is malware, but IIRC the main drama was about it being kernel level, totally ignoring the fact that basically every major anticheat was running in kernel for years beforehand.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#537

Post by MaxikCZ »

dimgl wrote: post #444
npteljes wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games are my only reason too. Fortunately LTSC saves me most of the madness.

How do I get LTSC? I'm going crazy with Windows 11. It's one of the worst OSes I've ever used.

If you aren't part of a company that buys several licences, you basically cant get it legally. Thank Microsoft.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#538

Post by npteljes »

dimgl wrote: post #444
npteljes wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games are my only reason too. Fortunately LTSC saves me most of the madness.

How do I get LTSC? I'm going crazy with Windows 11. It's one of the worst OSes I've ever used.

I routinely downloaded it from a pirate site, but I see that it's available here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-...

Works well without activation, if you don't mind the overlay. But what I did is that I pointed it at a KMS emulator, which is a piece of software that responds to every activation request as a positive. The internet is full of lists of servers like these, but I host it myself - basically just built and compiled this one: https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#539

Post by npteljes »

mbar0 wrote: post #447
npteljes wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's hard. If the software uses an online account, it should clearly say so before buying. Not just Windows, games often do this too, for example I just bought Bloons TD 6, and discovered that it didn't sync my progress over Steam cloud. Turns out I have to register, in order to be able to sync progress. Would have been nice to know beforehand. Regarding the options I'm sure you have seen many cookie pr…

Just FYI but on the store page Steam lists features a game has. If it does not list Steam Cloud, then it does not use Steam Cloud for save games. Bloons TD 6 does not list Steam Cloud.

That's a very good tip, thanks, I'll look out for it the next time.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#540

Post by account42 »

nobody9999 wrote: post #381
diveandfight wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I've learned not to underestimate the extents to which people will go to rationalize their cognitive dissonance. In person, my tactic has just been to self-censor more - I guess I'm tired/lazy and don't want t…

>I've learned not to underestimate the extents to which people will go to rationalize their cognitive dissonance. In person, my tactic has just been to self-censor more - I guess I'm tired/lazy and don't want to be bothered unnecessarily. I couldn't agree more. As someone with decades of infosec experience, I stopped trying to get my family members ( especially those who don't have any technical background) not to us…

It's fair enough if you don't want to make evangelism your life mission but if you don't point bad things out to people at all then you are limiting your impact as much as those that have given up and submit to those things. Sometimes people are receptive to being nudged towards responsible behavior.
Post reply on HN