Microsoft promises free terrible coffee every month you use Edge Microsoft is so keen to attract users to its Edge browser that it will pay people to use it. Folks in the US can earn credits that can be spent in the Microsoft online store on things like three months of advertisement-free Outlook and Amazon cards. Microsoft won't let you just run Edge and cash in: it will monitor user's …
Oh, this is just an extension of what they have been doing with Bing for years (only available in the US of A). A bunch of people have created scripts which collect your daily points for you.... It makes you wonder if Microsoft has many thousands to millions of searches a day for Bing to artificially boost their market share which no one actually ever sees. Very likely. If they dropped that Bing program, or even alter it... which they are currently doing, they would see their not that high now market share fall off a cliff.... You would think marketers would discount a search engine where most of the users are either scripting searches or just entering random stuff in order to hit their daily point total to get their once a month or two cup of coffee. Not sure how it is viewed or if marketers even realize it it happening.
If there was evidence, I think it would be a big story... but put it this way, there are several extensions in Chrome (ironically) for Bing rewards bots which script searches. They all have several thousand *reviews* of the extension. Even if you assume that every user that uses the extension submits a review, not reasonable, we are talking about millions of aggregate searches a month... just on Chrome extensions.
While I click through the top stories (with two accounts, not strictly kosher) each morning to get my news fix (and pull in about $150/year in Amazon credits), I doubt Bing Rewards is bumping the numbers up that much. It's more the sheep who use defaults on their PC without thinking (and this also applies to Google/Chrome and Apple/Safari). Just look at the complaints about Outlook ads. With Firefox and uBlock, I don't see ads on Outlook (or Gmail or Yahoo) but only because I went beyond the defaults.
Just playing devils advocate here, but isn't this a tactic used by a massive number of companies these days? It's like I can barely shop anywhere without being incentivised with a points system to buy certain products or asked why I don't have a "loyalty card".
"My standard reply to that is that I'm not a loyal customer."
My reply at my local Waitrose supermarket is that I am a loyal customer - but I don;t like being tracked.
It slows down the checkout queue when people fumble for their loyalty card, and a bunch of mostly ineligible discount coupons. - and then have to decide if they want a free tea or coffee. Finally they remember they have a "free parking" token to validate - somewhere in one of their pockets/purse/handbag.
The "basket only" checkout is compromised by also selling lottery tickets. People stand there while their several previous lottery tickets are checked to see if they won anything - before they then want to buy new ones.
God yes! The guy with a dozen tickets check, cash in, or renew, plus he wants to buy five scratch tickets, no, not that one , THAT one there, and can I choose which one you give me, and no, I won't accept a ticket with a random generated number, I want my LUCKY number.
Really? So I guess when Domino's, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut and all the other pizza chains give coupons for their pizza, it must mean they're desperate and "really really want you to be your friend"? Or When Macy's offers you a rewards card to shop at Macy's it must be a sign that their products are lousy and they're about to go out of business any day now?
They are now beyond even the most extreme fucking parody of themselves you could possibly imagine.
They pissed away phones, pissed away all credibility in their desktop OS's since windows 7, pissed away their IE browser share market lead even though it was bundled by default with the OS everyone was using, and now want to pay people to use their new browser instead.
Like I've always said, when people have a choice, they choose not to use microsoft. Their entire history is based on the premise they could do what they wanted because their users had no choice.
Now they do. Bye.
Zika virus researchers have a similar deal like that of Microsoft getting paid to use Edge. Researchers looking for volunteers willing to be infected with Zika virus & they will pay you too! Intentionally getting the Zika virus & dealing with the side effects of the virus & medications sounds like the better paying deal compared to being required to use Edge!
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/researchers-looking-for-volunteers-willing-to-be-infected-with-zika-virus/
"Microsoft's daily earnings restrictions which limit users to scoring 25 credits a day across 50 searches, 20 of which must be made on mobile."
So you have to use Edge, on mobile, to qualify?
And give up all privacy while doing so?
MS, Even you don't have enough money to pay me to do that!
The difference being that Microsoft only tracks you if you:
1) Sign up for Microsoft Rewards
2) Use the Edge Browser and
3) Sign into your Microsoft Account while doing so
Meaning that you can turn off the tracking any time you like simply by signing out of your Microsoft Account.
Of course Google tries to watch everything you do. It's in the disclaimer that everyone dismisses the first time they signed in to Chrome or "improved" their GPS settings.
The difference is that Google offers nice stuff for your soul. It's hard to feel like you're getting a good deal with Edge and Starbucks.
Do Microsoft even have 20 'active' Windows 10 Mobile Users left?, and by active, I don't mean having a Nokia Mobile to test the latest Windows 10 insider build, just in case they might actually write a Windows 10 Universal App, but never do.
I mean someone still using Windows Mobile day in, day out, and also using Edge (and Bing for that matter). That 'exclusive' (elusive) user seems to be about as rare as a misprinted Penny Black stamp.
I'm not sure how this came up, since you don't need to use Windows 10 Mobile to use Bing Rewards or its successor, Microsoft Rewards. The current version of Bing Rewards (sometimes) distinguishes between PC and mobile searches; currently users can earn 15 credits on the PC and 10 on mobile (regardless of device or OS used). That said it would be nice if Microsoft gave extra credits to those of us who do use W10 Mobile.
The current version of Bing Rewards (sometimes) distinguishes between PC and mobile searches; currently users can earn 15 credits on the PC and 10 on mobile (regardless of device or OS used). That said it would be nice if Microsoft gave extra credits to those of us who do use W10 Mobile.
Thank you, Cortana!
Please tell me more about Windows 10 mobile.
Starbucks? 3 Months of no ads on Outlook? WTF is this? I'd find ads on Outlook enough to stay away from Win10 and Outlook... but Starbucks is adding insult to injury. It's not coffee. It's something that's been burned to resemble coffee. Excuse me while I go gag....
Edit... they can pull all the happy horsecrap they want... no Win10 for me... ever.
I skimmed the article too and didn't catch this until I read Mark 85's comment.
Do people really get adverts in some version of Outlook? Hah, that's like having a special window that iterates through your spam folder. Kudos to MS in getting people to think that's a thing - and then getting them to sell their privacy to get rid of it!
How low can you go?
Microsoft started a Gmail competitor called Outlook.com years ago. That's what they are talking about.... It would be hilarious though if someone called up Microsoft and said "I want my three month of ad free Outlook... get all of these buttons about Skype and Delve and Sway off of Outlook."
I've been using outlook.com for years, well technically Hotmail, but that got switched over about a year ago (though thankfully it didn't change my email address) and it works great. I've also never seen a single ad in all that time, but maybe that's because I use NoScript and ADP?
"I've also never seen a single ad in all that time, but maybe that's because I use NoScript and ADP?"
But what about all the phishing spam pretending to come from Hotmail/Outlook/Live/whatever admin that they fail to filter out? Maybe an offer of Outlook without spam for 3 months would be better.
I'm sure it sends emails when you hit send, but no version of Outlook is as good as Gmail. Gmail is clean and intuitive, but beyond the surface simplicity... very powerful. There is no other email system in the world where you can do things like find an email from 8 years ago with only a vague remembrance of the subject in 4 seconds. I don't know who doesn't like the conversation structure as opposed to the old school random chronological structure (those set in their ways, I suspect), but I think it is clearly better too... Gmail organizes email where as others just give you a long list. There is nothing close to the social and promotional tabs in any other email systems either... not that I care about looking at them, but it is nice that I don't have to worry about listing my email on any site and getting spammed because Gmail figures out what I want to see and don't want to see almost perfectly. I don't think they will ever catch Google in email.
Having used Gmail extensively before switching to Outlook last year, I know for a fact that Gmail sends your e-mail when you hit send, but no version of Gmail is as good as Outlook. Its look is clean, modern, and intuitive, and I have never had a problem locating an e-mail in Outlook. Gmail doesn't even provide you a full screen to compose your e-mail; you're forced to use a little dialogue box in one corner. I know many people who don't like the conversation structure in Gmail, but for what it's worth, the same structure exists in Outlook and can be turned on and off as the user pleases. Gmail also generates advertisements based on the content of your messages and does not offer any paid version that can turn advertising off. Outlook.com, on the other hand, provides advertisements based only on demographic information you provide when you set up your account and, for $20 a year, will let you not be advertised at, at all. Then of course there is the fact that when you use Gmail you are forced to use Google Drive for cloud storage, which in my experience tends to mangle Office documents when they are uploaded.
You can definitely expand the Gmail compose window to make it larger. You can also pay to have Google not webcrawl your email for ad purposes or display ads, if you have the Google for Work Enterprise version of Apps. I don't really care if they scan my email for ad words. As nearly half the world population with internet access has a Gmail account (1.2 billion active Gmail users, 3 billion people on earth have some access to Internet), it doesn't seem to bother many people... but others may have different views of privacy. I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder, but I find the Outlook full client to be anything but "clean" or 'modern' with their ribbons, myriad of buttons, menus which I never used. It is a younger generation vs older generation thing too. 76 of the 100 largest unis in the US (probably similar globally, not sure) use Gmail and Google Apps. Most K-12 use Google Apps and Chromebooks in the US. If you are accustomed to Google Apps and then are thrown into Outlook having never used Outlook or Office (many people coming out of Uni have never owned either), you are thinking 'what is all of this? Delve?'. Many people who are older though have used Office applications for years though so they feel the opposite..... IMO, the killer feature of Gmail that Outlook has no answer for is the Google search of emails and never having to delete or archive an email..... Oh, and drafts. I always hated when I worked at a company that used Outlook that I might start an email on my phone and then want to pick it up on desktop or vice versa... you can't do that in Outlook as the draft files are saved to the local copy. In Gmail, like Chrome, they are real time synced.... I can't speak to the file format thing as we use Google Docs at work. Possible, but I would pin that one on MSFT's refusal to adopt the common standards to disrupt open source, not Drive.
Total, utter bollocks.
The search in Outlook and Gmail are both very good. Nothing between them.
Drafts are saved in Exchange, so I can start on a desktop and finish on my mobile.
You're confusing a company buying something and them using it at scale. A large college we support has 2 Chromebooks, but over 10,000 students. Your comment would include them, but 98% of their estate is traditional Windows and they aren't looking further at Chromebooks. Another large company we support flirted heavily with Google, pitching them against MS. Created a few accounts with GAFE etc. Opted to stay with on premise Exchange but got MS to toss them free O365 for hybrid stuff. Again your "figures" would included these as people buying and moving towards Google, but that's a spurious claim at best.
Like saying "over 80% of businesses have deployed Windows 10". Maybe factually correct, but all that means is 80% of businesses have deployed ONE copy of W10 for testing only to decide it's shite.
At best your information is severely outdated or you're simply talking nonsense. The last two versions of Exchange/Outlook stored drafts server side rather than client side, the last three versions (at least) do server side indexing and searching. Suggest you push your employers to invest in more modern versions of Exchange, or compare like-for-like by comparing Gmail (cloud service) with Office 365 (cloud service). Both have excellent search, server-side drafts, integration with various cloud storage providers etc. Biggest difference is around scanning the content of your emails and the user interface. Oh, and Google do that weird "Inbox" feature, although I personally don't like it.
Source - 16 years working for enterprise and education sectors directly or via a MSP deploying Exchange and O365 whilst comparing and competing with Google's offerings.
"You can definitely expand the Gmail compose window to make it larger." Larger is not the same thing as "full screen", and why should I have to expand the compose window to do this when every webmail provider for 20 years has managed to automatically give me a full screen to compose a new e-mail?
You can also pay to have Google not webcrawl your email for ad purposes or display ads, if you have the Google for Work Enterprise version of Apps." Not the same thing as ordinary, consumer-grade e-mail. Of course they would provide some ad-free version for corporate clients who pay them since no company is going to put up with having its internal e-mail scanned for advertising but that's not the same thing as the Gmail any ordinary consumer can sign up for. Google makes virtually all of its money but selling advertising so it doesn't surprise me in the least that they don't offer this simple option that its major competitors do.
"76 of the 100 largest unis in the US (probably similar globally, not sure) use Gmail and Google Apps. " I have no idea what your source for this is. When my university switched over to a Gmail based system for alumni e-mail addresses, I dropped my alumni e-mail address. They had a perfectly fine proprietary webmail system and instead they chose to put my e-mail in the hands of a company that has shown repeatedly it has no respect for privacy or intellectual property rights.
" As nearly half the world population with internet access has a Gmail account (1.2 billion active Gmail users, 3 billion people on earth have some access to Internet), it doesn't seem to bother many people... but others may have different views of privacy." 1.2 billion people have a Google account which is necessary for accessing all kinds of other Google services; how many of those people actively use their Gmail account for e-mail is unclear. Google has been slowly inuring the public to disregard privacy in all kinds of ways so it doesn't surprise me that a lot of the public no longer has the sense to be upset about having their private e-mail scanned to generate advertising.
"but I find the Outlook full client to be anything but "clean" or 'modern' with their ribbons, myriad of buttons, menus which I never used." You are comparing apples and oranges here. I am discussing Outlook.com, not the desktop version of Outlook, which I have never used and have no need for.
IMO, the killer feature of Gmail that Outlook has no answer for is the Google search of emails and never having to delete or archive an email..." All of which you can do on Outlook.com, which also comes with unlimited storage.
"Oh, and drafts. I always hated when I worked at a company that used Outlook that I might start an email on my phone and then want to pick it up on desktop or vice versa... you can't do that in Outlook as the draft files are saved to the local copy." Again you're comparing apples and oranges. I do this constantly with Outlook.com on my web browser and my Windows phone. You're describing the advantages of a cloud-based e-mail system, not any advantage unique to Gmail. Everything you're describing can be done equally well or better with Outlook.com and Microsoft web apps.
" I can't speak to the file format thing as we use Google Docs at work. Possible, but I would pin that one on MSFT's refusal to adopt the common standards to disrupt open source, not Drive." I have spent hours putting together beautiful PowerPoints only to upload them into Google Drive and have fonts and pictures absolutely mangled. Switched to Outlook.com and never had those problems again. Regardless of whose fault it is, Google advertises Drive as having compatibility with Office. If it doesn't it should stop advertising that.
grrrr...
get off my email ! ! !
yes, i am one of the troglodytes who prefer to have email SEPARATE and in chronological order... who said what, when, is often critical, and when it is all blobbed together in one mashup, it is becomes unwieldy...
i OFTEN want to refer to one particular email for some link, some info, some address, NOT a lump of undifferentiated text i have to wade through to pick out a nugget of what i want...
HATE one-blob email, HATE it...
The ads on Outlook are no different from the ads in Gmail or other web providers. Unlike Gmail, however, Microsoft does not use the contents of your e-mail to generate ads (only some very basic demographic info you give when you create your account) and will get rid of the ads together for a fee (currently $20 annually). One of the rewards you can choose on Bing Rewards is to have your Outlook account ad-free for a period of time.
Other Rewards currently offered are Amazon, Chipotle, and IHOP gift cards. There's a wide range of choices for the rewards so I don't understand this author's fixation on Starbucks.
Naw, they dropped the other third party rewards. It is down to Amazon and Starbucks, and they just raised the point value required for both as part of this little re-org. I bet they will eventually drop the third party gift certificates altogether and just use Windows Store gift certificates.
"Edge is at over 5% (combined all versions), not at 3.91%"
yeah being off by ~25% on a pathetically small market penetration was SO wrong, it deserves the deepest of apologies, and/or being whipped with a Cat5-o-nine-tails or caned with a cluebat...
So it's doing better than C-pound on the TIOBE index, then?
/me made a cat5-0-nine-tails once, with some old cat5 that would never be used. you basically use 5 cables, folding them in half, and the 10th strand wraps around the bent end using a 'noose knot', forming a nice handle in the process...
Edge is at around 5% of all browsing on all PCs worldwide. Take into account, though, that:
1) Edge is only available on Windows 10 computers. As only about a third of PC users have upgraded to Windows 10 thus far, that number is lower than it would be otherwise (and likely will be in a few years).
2) The statistics include Macintoshes, which do not offer Edge but do offer Google Chrome and Safari.
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