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Windows 10 App Starts Showing Ads, Microsoft Says You Can't Remove Them
Microsoft displaying banners in the official Mail app for Windows 10 is something that we’ve seen in the past, but this time the company has apparently returned with a more aggressive approach.
If the original ad only showed up for insiders as part of what Microsoft described as just a test, the new version is displayed in all instances of the Mail app.
These include not only insiders, but also non-insider devices such as production machines. I’m also seeing the ad on my device running the stable version of Windows 10 version 1909.
The banner shows up in the left sidebar and recommends users to “Get the free Outlook app on your phone.” The weird thing is that the ad is displayed even if the Outlook mobile app is installed on a device where the same email account is configured, as I also use Outlook for Android and Microsoft Launcher on my mobile phone.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @01:06AM (12 children)
Windows 10 Starts Showing Ads On Top Of All Screens, Microsoft Says You Can’t Remove Them.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @01:15AM (2 children)
As long as they promise not to switch to systemd, they can show whatever ads they want.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @02:00AM
I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Monday December 16 2019, @02:37PM
There is an interesting timeline coincidence between systemd and Microsoft's interest and involvement in Linux.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Monday December 16 2019, @01:49AM (6 children)
But the bigger question is, will you be able to remove Windows 10?
It would only take a few small steps to get hardware manufacturers to lock down desktop/laptop hardware as tightly as a toy cell phone. These ads show what Microsoft thinks of their users. They will move in this direction if they can.
(Score: 3, Informative) by EJ on Monday December 16 2019, @01:51AM (4 children)
Yeah, no. I know for a fact that certain manufacturers have already told Microsoft to fuck right off with their bullshit.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @01:57AM (3 children)
References please?
(Score: 2) by EJ on Monday December 16 2019, @02:25AM (2 children)
Nobody is getting fired for your curiosity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @03:03AM (1 child)
I have an uncle who works at Nintendo /s
(Score: 2) by EJ on Tuesday December 17 2019, @09:17PM
He wouldn't go on record about anything either, no matter how true it is.
(Score: 1) by zion-fueled on Monday December 16 2019, @01:36PM
I've got my hardware programmer... at least if it's not intel with bootguard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @03:19AM
"Windows 10 Starts Showing Ads On Top Of All Screens, Microsoft Says You Can’t Remove Them."
Sounds like M$ has throne down the gauntlet, in defiant challenge. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday December 17 2019, @11:35AM
Correct, inevitable, but probably slightly wrong on the prediction.
Proprietary software, including Windows, used to be funded by the "inevitable upgrade" model. Software was moving so fast that inevitably you were going to have to upgrade PhotoShop some time, or Office, or Windows, and then you'd pay.
Eventually software progress slowed, five or ten year old version of PhotoShop or Office or Windows were good enough, sometimes they were better. Upgrade revenue dried up. Subscription services arrived - remove the worry about how you are going to pay for the upgrade when the wonderful new version with the must-have new feature arrives, for a small monthly fee you can guarantee you get it - and I can pretty much guarantee in five years time you'll look back and wonder where that must-have new feature went...
OSes are slightly different, more support needed for updates particularly security ones, more downside (in theory, *cough* Android *cough*) for the developer if they leave people unsupported and insecure, and less appetite for subscription because the OS is seen by the consumer as part of the device, which they bought outright.
Enter Ad-supported ware.
But that isn't where it ends, it's just one step:
1. windows becomes ad-supported
2. corporate users on SA (MS subscription service) get zero-Ads
3. consumers get offered a version of SA with zero-Ads
So, you see, my prediction is that MS won't say you can't remove them, in fact they'll say "yes you can"... for a small monthly fee, every month, forever, or it stops working completely (of course).