Windows 11 is getting out of hand with its push for advertisments, frankly - remember the recent full-screen pop-up to persuade users to install Edge or other Microsoft services? Then another advertisment was placed in the Start menu, and now Microsoft has finally worn my temper thin - with a new Game Pass ad coming to the Settings app.
This will likely arrive in the July update for Windows 11, or at least it’s almost certain to do so. It was present in the latest preview update Microsoft just released for the OS (and quickly paused due to a bug, but that’s another story). It’s also worth noting that the ad has been present in earlier test versions of Windows 11.
What’s next Microsoft? Replace the windows os loading windows page with a 30s ad? Or have defender uninstall apps if a competitor pays enough? Maybe capture a screenshot of my screen every 3 seconds for AI analysis?
Maybe capture a screenshot of my screen every 3 seconds for AI analysis?
Yep yep. Was hoping someone would call me out on that. 😝
Come on man, stop giving them good ideas!
Nah. I’ve been advocating for Linux for decades. For decades I’ve been trying to convince people to switch on its own merits, but none of that has been effective.
It took Microsoft sabotaging their product for me to see the needle shift. So I’m done trying to convince people with carrots, it’s time for Microsoft to convince the masses with sticks.
Yeah I think the masses are going to be a tough sell on Linux until computer manufacturers start offering Linux builds with a pre-installed instance.
I’m sure there are places that do it but there’s probably money to be made in just setting up Linux on machines for people.
Yeah I think the masses are going to be a tough sell on Linux until computer manufacturers start offering Linux builds with a pre-installed instance.
Everyone’s family needs a tech geek to install Linux on a brand new computer.
You can get laptops on Amazon now with Ubuntu pre-installed. :)
If comsic desktop gets a perfect launch, it wouldn’t be an over exaggeration to say, some amount of people will switch
The Next Great Thing™ will not make a number of users that is significant to any real world scenario move away from Windows. The only approach that might have a chance to do that is something that looks and feels as close as possible to Windows. Yes even the parts of Windows that are bad. All of it, except the most glaringly obviously horrible stuff (like ads in menus). And that also includes all the programs a significant number of users care about either running there out of the box without having to jump through any hoops or a replacement fulfilling the same “looks, feels and operates almost identical” criteria.
People care about something feeling familiar and not having to relearn stuff a lot more than about shiny new features.
Considering ms has changed the look and feel of windows itself over the years, sometimes pretty drastically, there’s some leeway there.
I like pop_os, I run it on my laptop and will definitely be using Cosmic, but I think people are putting too much hope in it.
Win11 becomes a less and less appealing switch day by day… When I can no longer hold into Win10, I think I’ll just have to jump ship to Linux.
Win10 is already quite privacy poor, but Win11 is straight up intolerable.
My machine cannot run 11 because of the arbitrary hardware requirements so I was looking down the barrel of Win10 being no longer supported next year.
I proactively installed Linux Mint on a second SSD I had kicking around just to see if I could live with it without making any commitments. I never looked back since then. I switched to OpenSUSE soon after though but that was because I wanted something that ran the KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment because I didn’t like how Cinnamon was handling multiple monitors. But I haven’t booted up my Windows 10 drive since then, other than to migrate some files I needed.
Microsoft has gone too far:
Just now, with this?
Must’ve been asleep for the recall shenanigans
The thing that irks me the most is that those things work. They’ll see a little complain from the most vocal ones, and that’s it. The revenue will increase, their shareholders will be pleased, the OS will be worse, and we’ll have no viable alternative.
Unless governments start to regulate the hell out of tech companies, it’s only downhill from there.
Regarding Linux, what commercial software are you dependent on? More and more, it’s all online, even Office.
Autodesk for myself, apparently its super dependant on .net and other windows framework so its not like they are going to make it linux compatible any time soon.
It looks like it runs perfectly via WINE from a few quick Google searches
Adobe Creative Cloud, which despite the name is pretty much local. And although Microsoft Office works online, it has a series of issues that the desktop version doesn’t have, like broken formatting on Word.
Ah. Yeah, I don’t know of a way to get ACC on Linux.
- Adobe Creative Suite. They will probably never release a Linux version
- Industry standard music production s/w
- Offbeat collection of educational/research s/w, creators of which don’t know that Linux exists. They sometimes don’t even support MacOS
- Office Suite which is compatible with MS Office shenanigans
You’re correct on all counts, but you’re also not a typical desktop user, you’re definitely a professional or power user with specific needs.
The average user needs the ability to use a web browser and that’s honestly about it. That’s why Chromebooks are so popular with schools. A basic Linux desktop is quite capable for a standard user.
For the things yoi need you’re correct that it’s not 1:1 and you’d need to move to open source alternatives or tinker with VMs/WINE to get those apps working and it would be a chore.
Why wont we have viable alternative ? We already have
Agree with everything expect for the viable alternative. Linux is viable for many people
Solution is easy - just don’t use windows
I know that this expression desensitises people to something serious, but it describes Microsoft - the “it”/corporation - perfectly: rapist mentality. It shows how eager Microsoft is to disregard consent, users saying “no, I don’t want it”, and to forge itself over the users as long as it gets some benefit out of it.
Including new obnoxious advertisement slots into an already released product - one that you paid for - is only a result of that mentality.
Microsoft, stop. My computer can only be so switched to Linux.
Been 100% linux for like 6-9 months now, these stories make me thankful for finally making the switch.
I’ve tried to make the switch 3-4 times in the past and was stopped by 2 main things:
- Drivers / Laptops were tough to get set up
- Gaming
The experience was so much better this time and I really have no regrets. I don’t imagine I’ll ever run Windows again outside of a VM
I’ve been full time for a year and a half now. I tried switching a bunch of times before that and same problems as you. I love it now, it’s a pleasure to use my computer and know that it’s not doing any bullshit behind the scenes.
I’ve kept Windows installed on a spare drive for years now. I don’t remember when I last booted into it on purpose, it was certainly more than a year ago, and was just to install Minecraft Bedrock to play with his friends (his friends bailed). My kids have only ever used Linux. :)
I’ve been using Linux off and on for about 15 years now. It’s so much easier to use now compared to when I started. I understand why people might’ve avoided it in the past. But the list of excuses is getting pretty small these days.
I have run out of things to install Lunix on without getting fired.
I could probably install Linux on my work MBP, but my boss would make me test on macOS, so it would kind of defeat the point.
At home, everything is Linux except my SO’s desktop, and that’s a job I’m unwilling to be fired from.
Have you installed it on an NES yet? Because that kinda happened: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/you-can-sort-of-run-linux-on-an-nes-demo-shows-a-unix-like-os-running-completely-on-the-nes
Sounds hard, I’d just toss a Pi in it and call it a day.
That’s pretty much what they did anyhow, just with way more steps.
Lemmy: why aren’t people using Linux? It’s so easy
Also Lemmy: webp huh?
What’s webp and why should I care?
Google’s image format
It’s smaller than png which a company that shows images really likes because it’s cheaper so to force adoption they convert a bunch of images to .webp on google images
The problem is that 1. It hadn’t been adapted anywhere so people would have to convert it back to png to use 2. It is worse in every aspect to jxl files so Google has had to block the adaptation of jxl on the web as much as they can (jxl retains more quality and is half the size of webp)
Currently only webkit browsers support jxl out of the box. Firefox has had it in their nightly builds for years now but have never moved it into standard
If Google wants to push webp because it is smaller than previous formats, and jxl is even smaller than that, why would Google have an interst in blocking jxl?
Not saying Google did not or does not block jxl, just you chain of logic as to why they do that does not make sense to me.
Because it’s not theirs
It doesn’t make sense which is why people believe Google has ulterior motives. I haven’t seen any real reason not to use jxl as the new format; but I also haven’t looked that far into it. ¯\(ツ)/¯
WebP is a raster graphics file format developed by Google intended as a replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as animation and alpha transparency. Google announced the WebP format in September 2010, and released the first stable version of its supporting library in April 2018.
The format has spotty support across applications and some vulnerabilities were discovered that required patch efforts last year. It’s not clear why you should do anything.
I don’t want to help Google control yet another aspect of the internet.
What’s there to control? It’s a completely open format. No royalties, no control, nothing.
If windows becomes an advertising platform, isn’t MS forced to open it to competitors lest they are misusing their power?
I’ve never actually seen an ad in Windows… Like, literally ever. The worst I’ve seen is Windows trying to trick me into making edge my default browser.
If I believed all the articles on Lemmy, every part of the OS now has embedded ads, and the OS itself is recording everything I ever do against my will and without my knowledge.
0 ads too, windows 11 last update. Lemmy circlejerk is pretty much this. These threads are either fake news or ragebait, and the comments are just uninformed/untested opinions.
That without saying that win11 ltsc exists now. At least is something to test.
I see ads pretty much everyday in Windows. They’re not as attention grabbing as traditional ads and I think this is part of why some people don’t see them.
Yea same here. In all my years using a computer, I’ve never seen such a thing aside from “preinstalled” apps. Is this a regional thing?
Windows is selling data from what you do and making money and you just aren’t noticing the adds are tailored to you.
It’s the type of thing that seems harmless, unless you are a woman searching for an abortion provider and Microsoft sells that, and then an ultra-right wing religious majority comes to power and decides to retroactively put to death all women who have had an abortion and use that data to put you to death.
This surveilance mechanism is mostly harmless… until one day it’s not.
Win 8 was aggregious. 10 is more subtle (little notifications now and then)
Enterprise is better
I’ve personally seen ads in the start menu. It was my last straw, convincing me to move to Linux full time.
when was the last time you installed windows? Also, what version? If you’ve only ever had it set up for you, then you may have only used windows that had already been cleaned of all the bullshit. This includes pc s provided by your work.
For win10, the install iso provided by microsoft puts ads for games in the windows store in the default start menu. I have installed many win10 pc s over the years, and candy crush (among others) is always there.
Should I point out the irony of this complaint being posted on a site with ads every other sentence and doesn’t even show what the windows ads looks like?
It’s a valid complaint and all I just laughed as I scrolled past all the blank “ad here” blocks to read the article.
If you order the shit soup, don’t act surprised if it tastes bad.
These people are CHOOSING to use Windows. They need to just STFU and use Linux or enjoy the shit soup they keep ordering.
I updated my work laptop, and they put their shitty copilot button on the bottom right and TURNED OFF MY SHOW DESKTOP BUTTON.
nothing more to add, just wanted to vent with people who may understand my rage with windows lol
I believe Win + D will do the same as that missing button.
As tech support this has made my job a bit more annoying.
If you have adapted to it, rejoice! They are changing it back. Copilot will be a button beside Start button now.
It’s time to ditch Windows and all move to macOS or (even better) Linux
MacOS has different flaws but has major flaws nonetheless. Linux is the one that truly lets you own your computer, you decide everything.
I agree, I use Linux. But “normal people” aren’t able to install an operating system, and they can’t easily go to the shop and buy a Linux computer. They can buy a mac though. Still better than nothing.
For the money you save by buying similarly good hardware that isn’t from apple you can pay someone to install an OS
Yea it annoys me too, you can switch it back, but I can’t do that every time I’m working on someone’s computer.
yeah, I switched it back. for a split second, I just couldn’t believe they had the audacity to do that… lol
I think this community exists only to complain about Microsoft. Not sure I ever see anything else.
Yeah but it is mostly warranted.
I wish we Apple-bashed more. Fuck Apple.
They do make it very hard to speak about anything else
Thing is, most of these complaints are serious non issues.
You’re being slowly boiled alive, frog friend
Seems to me it’s mostly complaining about Google.
That is patently false.
…Sometimes we also complain about Facebook or Tesla.
I read the title and thought, “Oh is this another ad for Linux?”
Wrong, this is the elon musk complaint forum. Always has been
