Microsoft nicks one more Apple idea: An ad-supported OS Microsoft's Department of Annoying The Users has been quiet since the end of the GWX scheme. The Department's Greatest Hit so far has been the "Get Windows 10" promotion, which involved a pervasive popup reminding Windows 8 and 7 users to upgrade. This co-opted a number of sophisticated malware techniques to get the message …
I saw another, sort-of-related, story on /. today about the pervasiveness of adverts in Windows 10, and it made me think...
I don't think I've ever had ads imposed on me by Windows on any of my Win10 machines - nothing in Explorer, nothing in the Start Menu...not anywhere.
I can't recall switching them off (from what I read, you can't switch them off anyway). It's got me wondering how come I'm leading a (thankfully) ad-free existence while other people seem to be getting ads foisted on them all the time.
"I don't think I've ever had ads imposed on me by Windows on any of my Win10 machines - nothing in Explorer, nothing in the Start Menu...not anywhere."
Have you managed to remove or disable Cortana by any chance? Ad-pushing is, I believe, the only REAL reason that this abomination exists - given its symbiotic relationship with Bing!
Not using a Microsoft account when using Win10 is the key step in disabling Cortana. Many of Win10's features e.g. Onedrive, Cortana, Microsoft app store require a Microsoft account to function.
Of course, there are various other tweaks and patches which have been generously contributed by the techies to get rid of the telemetry stuff in Win10. These should be used in addition to not using a Microsoft account.
The only negative drawback is not using Skype... which may be annoying for people who do video calls often. But there are alternatives out there which are better than Skype. Also, you might be able to use Skype without linking it to a Microsoft account.
Indeed. Windows 10 Pro takes a great deal of my time to rip out all those unwanted store apps that I don't want users touching, let alone trying to use. Then it tries its damn hardest to restore them. As a non-subtle hint that I should be using Enterprise, it's like a rino horn up the jacksie.
Windows 10 is fine stays out of my way. Rarely does anything annoying.
On principle I would like to use Linux instead. Itss just that everytime I try I end up forced to a command line to try and do what I want to do and invariably fail. Just too old to learn a new languagge to do simple thingss (though Spanish lessons are coming along a treat - but thats a bit different to sitting on my own swearing at my computer and resorting to rum to help the giving up processs. Spanish is a bit more social).
Lol, Used windows 10 once and found myself in the DISM. Powershell by another name, trying to add windows features.
Windows has a command line now and we ain't talking DOS, if you haven't had to use it then you are lucky. It is there and needed if you want to do something "extra"
Needless to say windows 10 didn't last as I couldn't understand why my new laptop had me in a command line and removing adverts for mirror.co.uk.
Minty penguins all round. Ain't no adverts here.
Powershell by another name, trying to add windows features.
Ah yes - PowerSHeLL. The monstrosity that came about then Microsoft engineers first got exposed to the linux CLI and thought "How can we take every broken feature in the Linux CLI and port it to Windows? And make it worse?"
They then proceeded to do things like random capital-letter sensitivity and huge processor use.
Run away. Run away now.
In other words, the only way you can blot out Microsoft's adverts is by turning off the service that delivers important, even critical messages from OneDrive too – such as telling you synchronisation has failed, or your cloud storage is full, for example.
Yeah, but those who use OneDrive will not mind the ads, anyway, right ?
I am astounded at how MS has since 2001 consistently tried VERY HARD to make Windows non-worthy for real business work. Ok, 7 to 8 really was an incredible leap forward, more so than 8 to 8.1 or 8.1 to 10, the funny thing is, each time, they try some new way ... I do not really think it is the department to p*ss off users, more like, Self Destruct HaraKiri Division ...
Errrr... I'm pretty sure it is enough to disable "Get tip, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows" in the "Notifications and actions" settings (at the very least I don't see the ads, and I haven't disabled sync providers).
Of course, that shouldn't even be necessary. I paid for Windows 10, I shouldn't have to jump through hoops avoid spam, phoning home and similar malware ('cause that's what it is!).
There are people who equate power over other people with a carte blanche licence to do to them whatever they see fit. They live simpler lives than most, unencumbered by any kind of moral concerns. The rest of us all, we're just Non-Player Characters in the great game they are the heroic protagonist of. If they could, they'd probably be deeply offended that we don't just stop existing and de-spawn when their game ends. I don't think they ever realize the real name of each of them is Ozymandias...
noone uses computers for anything serious anymore
Too busy, that's why.
Noone presents a weekly show on SiriusXM satellite radio.
Noone was Herman (of the Hermits).
The word you're looking for is "no-one" </grammar-pedant-mode>
I don't like the idea of advertising in the OS. I don't like the idea of advertising in any software. But the prevailing opinion is that software, not being tangible, isn't worth anything. It's a race to the bottom, and it's the professional software developers who are being squeezed.
So what should we do? Put advertising, however unwanted, in the software that we write? Starve? Or are users going to start ponying up and paying for the tools that they use?
The free model works for Apple because Apple sells hardware, which pays for all that development work - with cash to spare. The free model works for Google because they can sell data scavenged from their users (oh, and advertising besides). The free model works for some Linux distros because they sell vastly expensive support contracts to enterprise. But other than that, it's a bloody bad time to be a developer.
. . . Linux again.
Last time I tried I had two big niggles and a small niggle:
- lack of an acceptable DLNA server - I've fixed that now by buying a NAS box. Which works great using Plex. The Linuux desktop version of Plex was pants. Wht the f**k did it want to run fullscreen - I didn't want it too.
- unable to get the screen on my Yoga to autorotate. I don't use it as a tablet very often - but I do. I died a death in the command line trying to get that to work last time I tried.
- lack of native Office install - I would have had to use Office 365 web apps. Microsoft might come around on this one eventually if tthey keep forcing people onto Linux. They did it for Macs.
Oh well - I don't use IE. I'm not going to see the ads.
They did it for Macs…
I could argue that Office was Mac first, Windows second. Certainly, Excel and PowerPoint were Mac first, Windows second. As was a GUI version of Word. So the circumstances are a little different from those for Linux.
On my Linux box I use LibreOffice. After all, if you're going to break from Microsoft then you might as well go the whole hog. I use Office 365 on my Windows PC - and it works nicely enough with LibreOffice.
The Cumulative Effect of everything slurps, is I buy nothing now. No smart TV's, no IoT, no Android Smartphones, and certainly no Win10 infested sh*t.
For now at least its possible to buy basic non-smart TV's and basic feature phones, and we can safely ignore smart IoT, after all who needs to spend 1,2,3,4 grand on a Smart Fridge etc. But you can't ignore Windows-10 slurping even on Pro / Enterprise judging by comments on the Reg recently.
Tech is at a serious tipping point. Even if you're in a coma you can't ignore how few benefits there are versus the risks from surgically invasive Tracking, Snooping, Ad-Slinging and leaks to Hackers / Cybercrims / Spies...
You may well have 'done it'.
Ask yourself if the average user could do what you did?
The answer is certainly a big fat NO.
Us smartarses here can do all sorts of tricks that just bamboozle the average user. There is no way that that can do that. So they are left to suffer at the hands of the Ad slingers unless we can persuade them to move platform.
...and it seems that this is currently only happening in the beta for the creators update. May well explain why the vast majority of sites that mention this are, like the reg, just pointing back to the same reddit article. I use Windows 10 all day every day at home and work and the only adverts I see are in browser windows and they are pretty infrequent.
I do also find it interesting that several people on here have complained about Windows and how much they hate it and then put down a long list of hoops they have to jump through to make their chosen Linux look and work just like it.
I welcome your downvotes,
Make a good point, people jump to Linux and immediately make it look like windows. Not sure why myself as I like the cinnamon look as is.
Like the Golf adverts in the UK they used to have, where they made a point of people buying a car that was like a golf, but wasn't a golf.
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