Microsoft starts testing ads in the Windows 11 Start menu : technology

[-] SuperSynthia@lemmy.world 137 points 7 months ago

So Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies in the entire world. They have a stranglehold on corporate America, power a huge the cloud infrastructure, hold one of the largest sources of telemetry/user data, and are the defacto standard of PC environments worldwide.

Why in the fuck do they need to pivot to ads? I’m genuinely curious. Even if they lost 50% of their entire business they would still be one of the most profitable companies in the world.

[-] jasep@lemmy.world 126 points 7 months ago

Because when you have shareholders, there's no such thing as "we're profitable enough". Shareholders always demand more. Ads means more profit, at least in the short term. Next quarter profits are all that matter to public companies.

It's obscene, but it's the way it is.

[-] amju_wolf@pawb.social 30 points 7 months ago

It's not just that they demand more, they demand more/faster growth all the time. It doesn't matter that the economy has slowed down to borderline recession, it doesn't matter that they pretty much captured all the market they can, they still need to make more and more money every quarter otherwise they're considered a failure even if they are one of the biggest companies in the world.

[-] mortalglowworm@reddthat.com 46 points 7 months ago

Because they were "leaving money on the table" instead of getting it for their shareholders.

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[-] joby@hachyderm.io 35 points 7 months ago

@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 because once untamed capitalism sees a money spigot they can't help but wonder how wide it will open.

[-] mihor@lemmy.ml 20 points 7 months ago

[-] tkohldesac@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago

I think it’s the same reason games offer a cash shop for things you can get in-game. Sure they’re making billions but why not billions plus ad revenue? I don’t agree with the practice but the answer always comes back to money.

[-] foolishowl@social.coop 10 points 7 months ago

@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 Because for capitalism, profit is not the end, only a means to the end. The end is to accumulate sufficient capital to absorb all competitors and achieve total control of markets.

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[-] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 102 points 7 months ago

Cool

I'm learning more and more about Linux while using Linux Mint

It's pretty cool NGL

[-] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 35 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

asdfasfasf

[-] stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub 62 points 7 months ago

HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN

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[-] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 53 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Although not the same, this has been going on for about two years now. Jensen Harris, a former MS engineer, criticized the ads as well as the design of the new Start Menu, over here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1564399431545667585.html

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 19 points 7 months ago

Weren't they doing this as far back as windows 8?

[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

It just highlights the downward spiral to user hostility becoming the standard. Pretty sad.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 47 points 7 months ago

KDE Plasma 6, and their distro KDE Neon, are both really good.

There are many very friendly Linux communities on Lemmy who can help you get set up.

[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 7 months ago

Windows 11 looks like a crappy knockoff of KDE with all the good bits removed and replaced with spyware and adware.

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

It looks much better actually, with the fancy blur and transparency effects. Not to say it works better than Linux, and I'm sure it must be possible to customise KDE to look better.

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[-] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I had the same issue holding me back from giving up Windows, until I discovered the Python keyboard module.

How to bind key presses to it varies, but here's a recipe for Ubuntu, as an example:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/525482/how-can-i-assign-a-keyboard-shortcut-for-the-script-that-i-have-created#525495

Overall, it's not quite as elegant, as AutoHotKey, but it's ultimately a more powerful, since there's so much else I can also do from the same Python script.

Edit: Most notably, I don't recall AutoHotKey having any nice way to tell which apps are open, and Python can quickly call out to ps. It's been on my to-do list to leverage this to let me map keybindings according to what is open (i.e. a favorite game, or a move player.)

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[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 44 points 7 months ago

I have a feeling that this year is going to be the year of the Linux desktop.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

If there is a recommendation that satisfies:

A nice looking UI with good fonts, and a clean interface.
The ability to run random Windows applications with minimal fuss.

All without needing to use the terminal, then that will likely win the battle.

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[+] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 7 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

[deleted]

[-] Contend6248@feddit.de 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

And my houshold 😁

Ther is for sure a 2.5k line powershell script from someone totally trustworthy which fixes this issue though

[-] ahriboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The French National Police also use Linux machines with its modified Ubuntu distro Gendbuntu.

Plus, Russia uses Astra, based on vanilla Debian.

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[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago

If they could inject the ad's into your veins, they would.

[-] spicytuna62@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago

Good thing I use Ubuntu for >90% of my computing now.

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[-] obsolete@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 7 months ago

This is amusing. They might as well replace the wallpaper with an ad.

[-] lemontree@lemm.ee 15 points 7 months ago

They have on the lockscreen already, so not too far off

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[-] DestroyMegacorps@lemmy.ml 22 points 7 months ago

Thank you microsoft for doing bad changes to the windows operating system im sure linux users will enjoy this

[-] Logical@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago

The second Win 10 stops receiving security updates, it's Linux for me.

[-] Goodtoknow@lemmy.ca 17 points 7 months ago

I remember people saying the same thing with Windows 7

[-] anarkatten@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago

Some people probably did the switch

[-] Logical@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

I considered it before I switched from 7 to 10, but since 10 still makes it possible to create an offline account and disable most of the spyware and other bloat, I opted to stay with Windows for another generation of OS. 11 is different though, it's several steps too far into proprietary hell.

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[-] pepperonisalami@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago

You can start the switch early to get used to it 😉

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[-] foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Killing myself one day🤦‍♂️

MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE : Just switch to Linux 😃

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 11 points 7 months ago

Why yourself? Let M$ kill itself.

Anti Commercial-AI license

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[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 18 points 7 months ago

it was already full of ads on win10

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[-] Bangeo@aussie.zone 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Cool. I just started testing Nobara

[-] Dagamant@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

I’ve used Linux on every PC except my gaming PC for years. This year I made the final leap because of decisions like this from Microsoft.

Very few games have failed to work, the ones that have are all from Epic and they fail because of their shitty anticheat software. The only other things I feel the lack of are paint.net and the Affinity apps.

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[-] kirbowo808@kbin.social 15 points 7 months ago

This is why Linux rules tbh, little to no rules what so ever in terms of customizing your desktop whilst also not having shit like this too like having so much bloat and constant ads, like telling you to install edge everytime whilst protecting your privacy too.

[-] gomp@lemmy.ml 21 points 7 months ago

linux rules because it's the only os built for its users rather than some company stocks

[-] GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago

BSD?

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[-] TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

[removed by mod]

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[-] SouravSatvaya@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

It's time to switch.

[-] azron@lemmy.ml 12 points 7 months ago

If you have to stay on windows check out: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

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[-] sunbunman@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago

Aight time to try and learn Linux for the 10th time and see if someone without strong console knowledge can use one now.

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[-] eugenia@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think that this betrays their plans: Windows will go "free with ads", with an ad-free version that is subscription only. That doesn't hurt their bottomline since the governments and companies of the western world will still go subscription in order to get support. The ones who don't have enough money for that (individuals, small countries/companies, small municipalities), they will go "free with ads". I mean, practically, Windows is free even right now. They have oem serial numbers that activate the OS for free, legally, to be reused. So why not make it profitable, it's their thinking. Also, on newer builds of Win11 you can't avoid logging in without an msn account.

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[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Microsoft: how can we get even more money while enraging everyone?

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 7 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store.

“This will appear only for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel in the US and will not apply to commercial devices (devices managed by organizations),” says Microsoft in a blog post.

The app promotions can be disabled in the Settings section of Windows 11, but it appears that Microsoft will enable these by default.

Microsoft is seeking feedback on the changes, so it’s possible the company could decide to ditch these ads in development builds of Windows 11 if there’s enough feedback that suggests they’re not going to be a popular addition.

Microsoft started testing ads inside the File Explorer of Windows 11 last year before disabling the experiment in beta versions of Windows 11.

Microsoft has been experimenting with ads inside Windows for more than 10 years.

The original article contains 222 words, the summary contains 152 words. Saved 32%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] ConstipatedWatson@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

I stopped using Windows in 2008 (juggling between a mixture of Linux and Mac OS). One of the reasons, is that at that time I thought Windows was legitimately a mess.

Over time, I thought it got a bit better when seeing it on friends's computers.

Due to laziness, Windows 11 got installed on my office computer (which I use 1% of my time) and I thought it was honestly pretty good (as in, I never thought about switching back, but it was fine to use it when necessary).

Now that they plug in ads, I'll certainly want to switch back /s

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