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Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

thurrott.com

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Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#151

Dear Microsoft, As a vocal critic of the Linux Desktop, your horrifically misguided attempts to "improve" Windows since Windows 10 have so degraded the experience of using it that I am now only 2 reasons[0] away from switching anyway, so at least I don't have to pay for the privilege of using crappy software. I would ask you kindly to cease your endeavors to kill off the Windows Desktop and personal computing in gene…

> As a vocal critic of the Linux Desktop well, go on then, elaborate...

Not the OP but my most recent attempt to ditch Windows on my gaming desktop ~6 months ago was tripped up when I discovered that core software like file managers and such still crash or wig out constantly (it's always been that way, I simply used to put up with stuff like that, just hoped that had changed since I'd been away) and generally basic interactions (e.g. drag & drop) are still inconsistent and buggy. This on Ubuntu which is allegedly relatively polished. Tried KDE and Gnome both (Gnome's performance was also terrible, incidentally).

And all of it looked pretty bad. I'm a fan of (though not insistent upon using) "ugly" old school interfaces, so it's not that it wasn't "flat" or "beautiful" enough or whatever the current trend is, just lacking consistency and the result of a whole bunch of small, poorly-chosen defaults adding up to a big stew of gross. I could overlook that if it weren't also crash-prone and janky as hell, but it is.

So I'm still stuck on Mac for anything serious, and my gaming desktop sits in storage because I can't be bothered these days to screw with either Windows post-10 or Linux. Sigh.

FWIW my favorite desktop I've ever used, as far as core software, stability, desktop UI/X, compared to its contemporaries, was BeOS.

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#152

What does HN recommend as a better Win10 email client? I'm familiar with Thunderbird and I'll probably switch to it if nothing else, but I'm not a huge fan of the UI/UX.

This might sound glib, but as someone who has used both Thunderbird and Outlook extensively, I don't recommend any desktop email client. Email clients were designed for a whole different era, and only work well in that context. Gmail, Outlook.com/O365/etc, are designed for you to "keep everything." Problem is that all desktop email clients aren't designed that way, they want you to have a very small limited subset of…

You have this opinion because you haven’t used a good desktop client yet.

I use Mailmate. It’s everything I wanted Thunderbird to be.

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#153

Dear Microsoft, As a vocal critic of the Linux Desktop, your horrifically misguided attempts to "improve" Windows since Windows 10 have so degraded the experience of using it that I am now only 2 reasons[0] away from switching anyway, so at least I don't have to pay for the privilege of using crappy software. I would ask you kindly to cease your endeavors to kill off the Windows Desktop and personal computing in gene…

Why don't you like package managers?

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. I hate package managers as an application installation paradigm wat so you prefer go to vlc.com for vlc, 7-zip.com for 7-zip, update them by hand or add custom system services constantly running for every program to install themselves, etc etc instead of a `pacman -S 7z vlc krita libreoffice [every other software you need]`

Yes. I like having software that is up to date and delivered direct from the developer. I like having portable applications that don't even need installation. I like being able to put applications on different disks. I like being able to have multiple versions of an application. There is not a single package manager in existence for Linux that gives me these things.

AppFS is a package manager for Linux that exists and solves all these problems, except the "putting them on different disks", which it doesn't prevent you from doing but it doesn't really make any sense either.

http://appfs.rkeene.org/

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly Postbox, it's a commercial app but derived from Thunderbird. I've been using it for years on Mac since Eudora was discontinued, and plan to use it on Windows now that I'm switching back to PC this month: https://postbox-inc.com/

Looks good, but is it worth $40? At that point I'll probably just do what others suggested and go back to webmail with browser notifications.

For me, email is absolutely mission critical. $40 is an absolute steal for the software I use the most in my business & spend lots of time in every day personally. It's cheaper than Sublime Text too.

If you do feel that's a lot, try the demo first to see if you like it, and maybe wait for Black Friday in case they have a sale.

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#158
post #47

Amazon has lately been putting ads on prime video for other prime video shows. I have a feeling we're rapidly going towards most paid services having ads. Also, on prime video, occasionally, pressing the fast forward button won't skip the ad. I'm sure it's one of those "bugs" that just happens to force the user to do something the company wants but the user doesn't but I have a feeling it might just stop working all…

I have a feeling we're rapidly going towards most paid services having ads.

This is why I won't subscribe to Hulu. If I'm paying for it, I'm not going to watch ads unless I absolutely have to. And "absolutely have to" is why I pay for satellite TV. Can't wait until I move to a place with OTA TV again. I don't mind watching ads on broadcast TV because it's free.

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#159
post #69

All I want is to be able to give companies my money in exchange for not being spied on, manipulated, or locked into some walled garden. I can't for my OS - I have to use free gnu/Linux because everyone else treats me like crap. Is my money not good enough for them? This is getting absurd

> All I want is to be able to give companies my money in exchange for not being spied on, manipulated, or locked into some walled garden. I can't for my OS - I have to use free gnu/Linux because everyone else treats me like crap. AFAIK a license is paid with every new computer coming WITH Windows, so it isn't like people get Windows for free. I'm not sure it is even possible to transfer Windows's license from compute…

I am sure this is going to happen.

For anyone curious about vscode, there is a fork called "VSCodium" which is vscode without any telemetry shit in it.

https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium

Re: Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you're assigning "walled garden" to macOS, but macOS is still UNIX underneath, and you can run any open software you want on it. I still think it's an excellent option for the privacy conscious. There are plenty of free software based operating systems that will take your money. Red Hat seems like the most obvious one.

The noise-dive Apple's software has taken, it might fall under the "treats like crap".

What "nose dive"? It has never been better.
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