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The Ad-Supported Operating System
An anonymous reader writes "The appearance of an ad-supported operating system is probably not that far off. This article takes a look at some of the finer points behind an OS which is financed with ad views, and more specifically the logic behind a free version of Windows which could make this a reality. There are a few issues which must be resolved first, but with Microsoft refining Windows Live and shifting some of their focus to advertising, many of the pieces seem to be falling into place."
I can't wait to have Explorer force me to view an ad for ten seconds before I can access the hard drive.
Or play "Punch the Monkey!!!" on my task bar.
No thanks. I've been sticking with Free Software lately because I like it better for research, but if this advertising crap ever happens, I might just become a convert to the philosophy.
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
Just in case windows wasn't slow enough, Microsoft decided it would be good to also have the software also worry about what ads are running. Just in case you didn't mind windows phoning home already, they added the benefit of logging everything you do so that they can better tailor ads toward you. Ohh, and don't think about having a computer running without an internet connection because Microsoft needs to verify you have all the latest adds running. I'm so glad I bought that widescreen monitor. That way after the adds arrive, I will still have the usable screen space of my old monitor. Forget about uninstalling other peoples adware, after windows, it isn't soo bad anymore. Unfortunately, this is a good idea to cheapen Microsoft products for those who have trouble affording them. The problem is those people will probably also have slower machines which this will place a burden on. Also, I don't want to have to pay a higher premium to get the non-add supported version.
Ads in place of a subscription make sense, but how do you justify ads for something with an exact value? When you see enough ads to have payed the price of the OS do they go away? I don't understand.
Micro$hit Winblows X-Pee is full of ads for M$'s services. There's ads for Passport, Windows Media download stores, MSN Search, MSN Explorer, Microsoft Plus, and other bloated bullshit. Don't forget the ultimate coercive ad, Windows Genuine Advantage. Loads of false claims of pirated software means more bucks for Satan.
....but I would rather pay $200 or whatever for Windows (or nothing for *nix) than get a copy of it for free but be forced to watch adds. In fact, I really don't think anyone would want to do that - paying a bit up front (relatively) definitely seems to be the lesser evil over being annoyed with ads all the time.
I suspect that this point of view is not in the minority either. I remember when the ad-powered ISP model was all the rage - even though it was free dial up, it sure didn't last that long.
Would you complain then? Free stuff in exchange for some ads is common and, when done tastefully, seems to be popular with end users. gmail anyone?
You bring up a good point. Wouldn't an ad-supported version of an OS drive up piracy rates? Would Microsoft (or Apple), while theoretically being against such things, not care so much because they're getting their pockets lined with ad impression cash?
Also, the arms race between OS vendors and ad-blocking software makers would be interesting to watch. I wonder whether more people would be driven to try to pirate the retail version or to try to block ads on the free version...
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
This Blue Screen of "Life" is sponsored by Blue Shield Health Insurance.
"Every time a bell rings, a Dell laptop bursts into flame."
How long before someone creates an adblock extension for it?
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
... click frauds ??
I don't want a signature.
Right now, I get paid to remove ads from peoples computers
In the future, I'll be getting paid to install an OS with ads preloaded.
/not gonna happen
This article is touting the ad-supported OS like it will have a million entrants, but who are the players that can go for this? Only 3 realistically, Microsoft, Mac OS X, and a company with their own branded Linux.
An ad supported linux will never take off. The good and free versions are just too numerous and the other trillion reasons that won't work. It will never fly on Mac OS X, that is just too contrary to contemplate. But Microsoft...... why would they want an ad free OS?
Right now, they make a set amount from each sale. An ad supported OS will not only lower that intake, it will not have long term gains from all the people who will patch their OS to fix it from the "crippled" version to the good version. Total loss for MS.
This seems to be just somebody's hair brained scheme to "compete" with google, but how does it compete with Google? It doesn't. Google, if they ever release an OS (I doubt), will supply it over the net while MS here just pushes a reduced cost version off store shelves.
Furthermore, the article states:
Um, no. Home Users already indirectly pay for Microsoft when they purchase a computer. No win for Microsoft there, either in marketshare or revenue. It would not be ideal for internet cafes, as people pay cafes (at least in Europe) to use those computers, so bludgeoning them to death is neither in the interest of the Cafe owner who sells time (and doesn't get any revenue from said ads anyway) nor their customers. In libraries, again, I have to ask why?
I chalk all this nonsense to a slow newsday. I swear, this is the dumbest fad that is making every idiots eyes light up as if this is the best thing since sliced bread. The advertising market is already saturated, people are becoming resistant to advertising in general, and the pie is only so big.
$ ls -l
...
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am the wife of Dr. Mabunga, the former minister for internal affairs in Nigeria,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3409 2005-12-13 14:35 cpuload.c
-rw------- 1 root root 614363 2005-08-17 19:16 culturalgrammar.pdf
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 456 2006-03-23 17:17 cv
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27136 2006-02-03 12:08 cv+cover.doc
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2006-08-01 15:56 Desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 33995 2006-03-30 10:26 dilbert2006610630330.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 49672 2006-03-30 10:35 dilbert.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 245760 2006-03-16 15:57 djpenguin.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-11-16 17:44 dlmgr_.pro
drwxr-xr-- 2 root root 336 2005-08-19 15:55 download
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 223 2006-07-13 15:23 DVconfig.ini
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6461758 2006-06-13 15:07 E1.wma
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10583 2005-07-19 10:49 endian
And it's also true that Windows is indeed a big billboard for Microsoft's web services and software, not to mention other companies' offerings.
But what I find incredible is that with all the documented hellish experiences with spyware, anyone would opt for an OS which has it built in!
I'll stick with my Ubuntu, thank you very much.
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
The thing is, all the major software makers are desperate to find some sort of subscription or rental model so they can get a guaranteed revenue stream without having to stay on the product improvement treadmill. Improving software is HARD - Vista is a crystal clear example of how hard - which makes it expensive. If a software house can persuade customers to keep giving them money without improving the product, they're on a win.
That's why they're tying software to hardware with product activation and pushing DRM or other methods of artificially obsoleting their products. Almost all of Microsoft's OS sales are with new PCs but even then, your ordinary punter, after paying for the OS for the Nth time, is starting to ask "how many times do I have to pay for this crap? It's barely changed in the past five years, but I still have to fork out the same $$ as I did the first time." Expect to see more of this sort revenue model as software becomes more complex.
What's really needed, of course, is a new way of writing and maintaining software. The programs we use today are essentially bespoke, hand-built items, much the way cars were at the start of the 20th century. The primitive fabrication methods are masked because computer software can be duplicated infinitely without additional cost, but it's still an industry ripe for a new enry Ford to invent the digital equivalent of a production line.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Thing is, there already exists several free (both senses) OSes. The only one you can successfully sell is MS-Windows and even that only works because of inertia and monopoly-effects.
Nobody I know argues that Ms-Windows is so much better as to be "worth" what it costs. Instead, if they use Windows, they argue that they need it because some software they need runs only there. Or because that is what everyone has. Or because it's the only thing they know. In other words, the entire "value" of Ms-Windows lie in network-effects and not in the actual product.
A new OS has none of this value. Infact it will have less of it than Linux. Linux has some software, some recognition, some users. The new OS has neither. Linux can be had for $0.
Selling something that is poorer than Linux for a higher price than Linux is a no-go. (by "poorer" I don't mean primarily technically, I mean from the perspective of network-effects which is the dominant factor, unfortunately.)
There's Linux. Completely free (for the most part), and no ads. And with tons of different distros of Linux, it's not like you've got a narrow selection of free operating systems, either.
You mean to tell me all these IE popups aren't bundled with Windows?
So, I'd have to choose between #1: a free w/ ads OS #2: the same OS with no ads and a fat price tag Um...how about #3? What is Numba Three? #3: Pirate the SOB I thought Microsoft was trying to discourage pirating. WTF are they thinking? Even worse, it even encourages the dreaded Numba Four WTF is 4? #4: Install something better Is it me, or is Microsoft run by a bunch of...wait, it isn't just me, is it?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Ad exploits like the latest will be so much more effective, now you can target all the installed base at once! All your base are belong to us?
On the one hand, Windows is at most a couple hundred bucks, and pretty much works for millions of people (like it or not)... Linux is FREE, and also pretty much works for most of the rest.
Microsoft has spent umpty-billions trying to make something everyone's happy with. IBM, Sun, Novell and many others have spent more billions trying to perfect another family of approaches - with no small level of success. I simply don't see a niche for an "ad-supported" operating system. What possible effort will $2-$20 of revenue per seat fund, in terms of obvious and tangible improvements over either of the existing alternatives?? (I'm not even bothering to mention MacOS or a slew of other worthy contenders)
Advertising can work to support websites, browsers, games, even productivity apps - but even a numbskull marketing nitwit has to understand that the OS market is already well served.
Perfectly Normal Industries
Google is admittedly not an operating system in the classic sense, but it is systematically taking over the functionality that users expect their boxes to provide, and it is entirely supported by advertising.
Trying to plug an advertising-driven model into traditional "operating systems" is like trying to glue a Mini-ATX motherboard into a Palm PDA. Some things just don't translate. We have learned to accept Google's ads, because they sit inoccuously in parts of the screen that would be blank otherwise. How can Windows even attempt this?
I don't think Microsoft and Google are competing on the same terms any more, if they ever were. While Microsoft are still selling products that were defined twenty years ago and hit their peak a decade ago, Google is busy reinventing the online world, following its own designs and writing the rules.
Let me give you an example... Office applications. On the one hand, Microsoft is wondering how to provide online access (advertising supported, metered, whatever) to Office. Now, Google are thinking, "in five years' time, people won't want to write documents this way any longer" and they're thinking of how to use the web to create documents, presentations, totally bypassing the Office metaphor (which is ancient, dating to before the days of the IBM PC). The very first microcomputers, running CP/M, ran office applications (WordStar, CalcStar, etc.)
I used to write many documents using Word, then I switched to OpenOffice a few years ago. Today, I edit my documents as text, post them to Wikis, and use text-to-PDF and text-to-HTML conversion tools to produce deliverable output. I don't open OpenOffice any more unless someone sends me a document. The only exception is spreadsheets. I've not yet seen a new online abstraction that replaces spreadsheets, though calculations would be a natural feature to add to wiki systems.
Google gets this, I think.
My blog
Never in a million years [...] would I consider an ad-supported OS. Linux is free, and ad-free. Why bother?
Ok, you wouldn't. But the vast majority of people use Windows, which in actuality already is an ad-supported OS. Many (most?) installations of Windows are (1) pirated, hence 'free', and (2) infected with adware, hence 'ad-supported'...
TFA even hints that the point would be to move the ad revenue from the adware companies to Microsoft:
This is no doubt why there was news about MSFT buying a adware company, probably so the operating system could essentially be infected with the most permanent adware possible, though at this point the term "adware" would not really be appropriate.
So, Windows would remain free and ad-supported, as it essentially is right now, but MS would get paid and not the adware companies. An interesting thought, but it's just speculation on TFA's part. MS will probably want both kinds of revenue, licenses (enforced by WGA), and integrated ads.
PC: "You have just received an advert!" |Ok| |$0.05| |help?| /Ok/
/Ok/
Me:
PC: "What are YOU waiting? Buy blah blah blah...!"
Or
Windows Security Center: "Your Computer might be at risk!" |Ok| |$0.15| |help?|
Me:
PC: "Got Milk?"
At first thought, *maybe* for the consumer market, but *never* for server-market. I mean, who regularly looks at the screen of a server, anyway? You use remote tools for that.
And as long as their OS comes packaged with OEM systems, why should they worry about selling Windows for less than they're charging already? Win XP is a fraction of the cost of a desktop from IBM, HP, or even Dell.
And that leave Retail boxes, where demand isn't exactly elastic.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
I can see the idea of having ads rotate on your desktop as a wall paper. Anything that *interferes* with the usage and operation of the operating system will significantly harm the OS's value to the consumer. Popup ads and drive by ad IMs is exactly the kind of thing that gave rise to the anti-spyware industry.
However, with the move towards making a visually appealing operating system a priority, I highly doubt MS will, in any forseeable future, introduce ads. The last thing you need is bright yellow flashing boxes with red text asking you to "click."
Bad Idea Operating System - vr. 0.6
So instead of getting reputable ads they start getting penis enhancment products and the like.
Or, if spam email is any predictor, the hijackers will advertise their services promising to reduce the OS-planted ads. Oh, and also how you can get your ad planted in 10,000,000 people's OS.
Isn't it just like Microsoft. They rarely try to entice people to purchase their products because they're good. They always are looking for ways to MAKE people by their products because they have to. I'm saying this in relation to the likelihood that an ad-based windows OS would be the one bundled with OEM computers. It's doubtful the ad-OS would be in a box on a store shelf anywhere.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Think about it, there are a lot of people out there who run Windows and Office without actually having paid for it. If they came with ads as default, which required you handing over a credit card num to remove then MS get revenue either way. (Adblocker cracks notwithstanding)
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Yes, and it'll be called "Vista".
Except that you have to pay for it in addition.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I've got Karma to burn, so here goes.... my true assessment of home-computing. A few of my relatives have home PCs - all running pirated versions of Windows. The ads come in the error messages:
e d-to-be-part-of-Windows, anti-spyware, external firewalls, broadband (modem drivers are clunkier in recent OSes), Flash, Support services etc.
* Program performed illegal operation
Sends the hapless home user scurrying to get a licensed copy of the OS.
* Windows did not shut down properly. Files may be corrupted or lost
And the poor chap goes out and buys a UPS. Never a chance to even imagine that ext3 rarely loses files even during a power shutdown.
* Photoshop Elements may not work well with this Service Pack
So the user pays Adobe for the privilege of being lazy enough not to explore better options.
* Windows encountered an error in lsass.exe and must shutdown
The user buys an upgrade since there's no support for the old OS any more.
And so on, Windows has been a huge advertising platform for anti-virus software, UPSs, Backup-software-that-actually-works-but-is-suppos
The fact that despite being an antiquated junkpiece several years behind in technology, Windows has succeeded as a platform, proves a coupla' things:
1. User apathy and lethargy is a very potent force. A user would rather patch a buggy junk, rather than learn something better, simpler and advanced.. like Linux, Opera, Firefox, Open Office, Gnumeric etc.
2. It's not possible to release Newer OSes forever, that's still prone to viruses and malware... remember You Can't Fool All The People All The Time...
and so, it appears
Microsoft has patented Web-Service-OSes that can be metered like Electricity and Gas. It's about time, one would've thought. Suddenly, all these lower-life-forms like anti-virus and backup s/w firms who depended on MS for their living.. would become redundant! There'll be hell to pay, since these guys don't die overnight.
Symantec, Trend Micro, Citrix or Veritas wouldn't take such initiatives lying down. Interesting times ahead!
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Just the term ad supported OS is crazy! I should'nt say this because someone will do it but why not make an ad supported toaster and microwave while your at it or maby a dvd player with commercials. You can't treat an operating system like a web browser or a video game, it is an integral part of the machine. i can see an ad supported browser on the other hand though. I dont think i would be able to tell the difference, i get so many ads already.
Easy enough with all that malware out there.
Has everyone forgot installing Windows 95/98, and going through the process of deleting the bundled AOL trials, CompuServe this and MSN Online that? It's not "Punch the monkey and win a free iPod!"-style advertising, but it is paid product placement and it is advertising. Also in Windows 95 and 98 was a "Sampler" directory on the CD with games and reference utilities, although most were distributed by Microsoft Games, there was a game from Scholastic and another company. In Windows XP, view your My Pictures folder (or any folder you or windows has identified as a photo folder), and look at the task pane: "Order Prints Online" takes you to a list of paid links to photo printers, "Shop for Pictures Online" takes you to a page with two microsoft links and one to 'BizPresenter.com'. It's not a new concept! It's just been subtle, but I doubt it'll get too much more obvious (viewing a 10 second advertisement every time you boot up, or "Targeted Media" on your desktop, ala Win98's Active Desktop items but with Coke ads instead of CBS News -- wait, they're both advertising!
From the don't-eat-that-johnny-that's-poop-dept:
Ads cost brain cells, time, bandwidth, screen space, cache space, mouse clicks. They accelerate carpal tunnel and dimish visual acuity. They undermine asthetics and camoflage the point of the enviroment they are in. This is the same sell as television is free because of the ads. Cable, sattelite, whatever, costs you monthly just so you can watch "free" television rather then "pay" television. WTF? I doubt free windows will come with a free ISP connection. I don't want ads on my screen, piling up in my mailbox, filling my answering machine or blocking the view to the lake. Ads, no matter what or where they are cost you something directly, everytime! A "free" version of windows will most certainly not be free.
So how does the presence of a mandatory ad server at kernel level impact the performance and reliability of microkernels vs. monolithic kernels?
Do all Dark Ages follow the same pattern?
Microsoft would only need to change their slogan a little bit.
Officially: "No comments"
If the ads aren't too intrusive. Right now, I'm reading Slashdot with a ThinGeek ad at the top. If the ads weren't in the way and if there weren't forced delays to make me look at or click ads I'd be willing to give it a try.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Hmm, it seems in Capitalist Redmond, even the adware can have adware. someone mod me down please. Its the only way i will learn.
The primary cause of unsolicited commerical email (spam), and the dislike of advertizing on the internet in general is capitalism.
There are those advertisers and companies who like to use video ads. Even without the sound they are distracting. Then there are all the other unplesantries and deceptive adverting methods they use such as flashing epilieptic-siezure-inducing advertisment, pop-ups, pup-unders, dialers, flash advertisements that forward them to their website if you click, mouseover, mouseout, mousemove, avoid, or even do nothing (they run some dumb animation that sends you to their website without your approval), to upload dialers, spyware, toolbars, attachments, cookies, images (remember that JPG virus a while back?), viral marketing, or some other malevolent form of unauthorized, unorthodox, and down right evil form of advertizing to repeat the cycle and urge you to consume stuff you don't need that is shady or has the qualities of a timeshare real estate agent, carney, carpetbagger, or a person who solicitist for either the mormons, jehovahs witnesses, or the cult of $centology, by making you feel inadequet, left out, in danger, or entertained.
Greed motivates the entire process. There was a massive water main break near my home yesterday. The road buckled. A hole about 8 feet by 8 feet and nearly a foot deep means that the intersection must be repaired. However, because of this, the gas station next to the hole increased the price of gas by TWENTY CENTS. Never mind the fact that my neighborhood was in a boil order, or the possiblities that the gas tanks might also be damaged amd their may be gasoline leaking into the water supply. (That's ExxonMoble for you!) The point is that some people will take advangate of the misfortunes of others by stealing more than time and resources, but also money. Since most adveertizement lately has appealed to the lowet common denominator, has allowe commerical advertisers to get away with what TV shows cant, waste twenty minutes yelling and flashing images in front of children and teenagers till they have ADD, ADHD, or shock-induced epilepsy, put college and high-school students in debt, and lie, decive, and even use the the money to influnce the thinking of policitical leaders to supporess technology, information, and sound science to contintue spreading what I have caled "The Virus"
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
until my free ad-supported Wonderbread tells me to go pick up some free ad-supported Coca Cola.
If they're unhappy with the next Windows' performance/price, they'll just NOT upgrade (that'll work for at least a year or so)... after that they'll find a way to crack Vista, or just pay up for a version that'll do.
Ad-sponsored Windows? It'll work if Vista "spartan edition" is sold for 450$, and Vista "the-one-you're-supposed-to-have edition" for 600$.
This idea will work out very well, because thats just how the economy works these days.
So... if some WINE applications work better withn a native Windows install, one could install this Ad-Supported windows, and use the directory as their "Native windows" for running some software.
I'm all for it!
Make America grate again!
"your program has executed an illegal operation. Would you like to enlarge your pe*is ?
by Anonymous lazy.
Indeed, with all this fuz about "Web Operating Systems" a la MyOS, Google application platform. Probably Ad financed.
I think a Windows/ Vista Personal Edition with the following options certainly makes sense:
-Ad financed
-Installable from an image
-Off line storage via webservices (Amazon S3)of Documents and Settings. Computer crashed, image reistalled, Documents and Settings synchronized from webservice, user application installed again and of we go!
-Easy and super fast install and uninstall of applications
-A number of free application (basic version of office), payed by advertising
-Zero admin e.g. non fragmenting hard disks
-Super stable, always use hibernation, almost never reboot.
This takes away about all advantages of a so called Web OS/ Web Application Platform.
And I think this is the way Microft is heading. Google might have the fuzz and the hype on its side, but microsoft still has cards to play. Maybe Linux should go that way too.
Regards,
I thought Windows was already ad-supported! The money I spend on Viagra goes towards helping starving children, and funding further development of Windows, doesn't it?
Karma: Bad. (As in Good?)
At first I was just thinking to myself that: "I'm glad this guy is just a pundit and in no position to do anything about implementing such a cruel device of torture."
But, then he had to mention 'the monopoly' and suddenly things seemed plausible. Not a nice thought.
The thought has passed in that I need not concern myself with such matters since I have both FreeBSD and GNU/Linux experience (with Solaris 10 soon to follow).
Please direct all bug reports to
I'd rather pay the $100 WinXP costs than see these ads. Even paying $500 would be worth it.
I also watch almost no TV because of commericals, I watch a lot of shows on DVD instead.
If this becomes popular enough, I think things might reverse. Instead of presenting it as "you can use it with ads if you don't want to pay", at some point it'll switch to "you can pay if you don't want the ads". At that point, the paid software becomes something like cable TV, which in the beginning promised no ads, and that's what you'd be paying for.
But of course they realized they could get even more money by placing ads on their networks, and that the people quitting wouldn't be that many, so now cable has ads too.
Couldn't something like that happen here as well? Paid version would have more features, and perhaps less intrusive ads, but still have them.
i dont think MS needs this to carry on getting revenue from windows. on a new computer the price of windows is included so its like its "free" anyway in most people's minds.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
If MS provided retailers with a cut-rate version of Windows to distribute on their products, how many people, really, would bother uninstalling said OS from their new computer?
Can MS make enough selling adverts to match or overshadow the profits they'd otherwise make from selling a straight system OS?
I'd venture a big fat 'Yes'.
An OS driven ad is very different from an internet ad. --Why? Because the internet ad only comes up if you go to a specific site. An OS ad comes up if you turn on your computer. How easy is that to sell to a company?
And who cares about click-throughs? Click-throughs are for small companies trying to hawk wares on the web. That's small potatoes. When you can guarantee a hundred million pairs of 'eyeballs' you can now get advertisers like Coke and Tide and GM sending checks to your accounts receivable department. Coke and Tide and GM don't care about click-throughs.
-FL
Fuck that. Given the choice between pirating Windows and OS-level adware, I'll take the former, thank you.
As if most users don't install enough of their own spyware, now they even bundle it with the OS! Brilliant!
Even though the idea of an advertiser-driven OS was a total joke at the time, it did seem like an inevitable development someday.
...you'd actually consider an ad-supported Windows Vista, then?
The view was horrible and the smell was even worse; Julie severely regretted becoming a proctologist.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Sure, movies have gotten cheaper with the ads and product placement, right? Microsoft Money is a great program, with ads all over it. Quicken? Need a loan? It will cost the same but just have ads - which means higher profit.
It is highly unlikely that developers would begin writing applications for another operating system than Windows. This is the problem for Linux, and will be even more of a problem with X operating system, no matter how decent an OS it is.
Click here or here.
Because ad-supported software is so much better than free software.
Seriously... does anybody think this idea is good? At all?
Nothing to see here. Move along.
See Mike's ad-blocking hosts file.
Opens in a new window.
I've been using this for years. It's only down-fall is the inability to block some ads (java? flash? I don't know) but it works damned well otherwise. Hell, I don't even see the ads here.
Unless they move away from using a hosts file (is that even possible?) this should fix most of that.
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
I don't really advocate piracy yet I can't really condone paying for Windows.
It's a nice paradox (which I like to think is zen in some way - moral strafing) that gels well with over-empathising in the sadness of valuing Windows.
I know Windows, Linux and everything else only has the value we attribute it. That's not why I wouldn't want to pay for Windows. That has more to do with how I despise Microsoft and its shitty OS.
Also paradoxical is the phenomenon of advertising. It has absolutely no value whatsoever and is a complete waste of human intellect yet it has become much more than just tolerated. It has evolved into a integral part of modern civilisation (at least in as much as economies are concerned).
So, while I concur that a free, ad-supported OS is anathema I can't say I'm not expecting it to catch hold. Computers are increasingly taken up by the non-savvy masses. The same masses that constitute modern civilisation. What do they value (besides 'clever' advertising)? Free shite. That sounds like a perfect niche for Microsoft.
So now a question of ethics (heh). Which is worse: hacking out the ads of a free MS OS or pirating a non-free one?
The real issue here is how many days it will take for someone to hack the OS to make it ad-free, and then it becomes a free-for-all as the OS becomes more aggressive with advertising, and soon, pulls out all the stops with spyware and all sorts of other desperate marketing ploys.
Another issues is kids. Mom & Dad buy one of these for the children. Who do you think advertises more than anyone else? Pr0n. As much as someone can tout filters, if something slips through, I'd like you to start considering class action from some slimy outfit in California... the parents of all the victims in the class will receive coupons for $2.00 discounts at Amazon.com for children's books, and the lawyers will receive $50 million as part of the settlement.
An ad supported OS is like buying a car with 200 bumper stickers already plastered to the car. It just doesn't happen, and it doesn't appeal to anyone I can think of EXCEPT if the machine is located in a public kiosk. And frankly, a public kiosk has to be a locked down machine, or you'd spend too much time keeping it clean and running.
Good luck on the ad-laden OS. I wouldn't take it if it came with free hardware.
Ever hear of Spyware? Most people ALREADY have an ad driven OS. All Microsoft would need to do is refund the purchase price of Windows for a free AD OS.
Does nobody remember FreePC? In the late 90s, they would give you a free Windows-based PC bordered with ads, which constantly phoned home with your demographic info and surfing habits. IIRC you'd get a 1024x768 desktop, but the usable area was the 800x600 in the middle, and the rest was ad banners. It was basically consensual spyware in the vein of those purchase-tracking store club cards.
I always wanted to get one to just run as a monitorless file server, but they stopped answering my emails after I asked what was being done to stop me just reformatting the thing. Oddly enough, they disappeared when the bubble burst. Can't imagine why...
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
You'd have to be to think that public libraries would want a free version of Windows that requires the public to view ads. Most American libraries are non-profit organizations. More to the point, most libraries will NOT let you host a gathering in their meeting rooms if you are seeling a product. They have no problem with your business coming to do a presentation for partners or your staff, but no sales are typically allowed. Libraries are funded with public money, so it is imperative the the money be SPENT on the public and not on for-profit activities.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I'm not trolling, but for almost everyone I know who uses Windows, it wouldn't really make any difference anymore. Most have a popup fest, either because of ad/spyware, worms, or browser bugs, whatever. For them it would be a few more popups, but they wouldn't have to crack/pirate Windows and have a legitimate copy instead.
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
Nobody I know argues that Ms-Windows is so much better as to be "worth" what it costs. Instead, if they use Windows, they argue that they need it because some software they need runs only there. Or because that is what everyone has. Or because it's the only thing they know. In other words, the entire "value" of Ms-Windows lie in network-effects and not in the actual product.
I use Windows because it's worth the price. Paying $200 for its functionality is well worth it.
've been sticking with Free Software lately because I like it better for research
Guess what... You aren't the target audience!
I get sick and tired of people debating shit like ad supported Windows on slashdot. 99% of you aren't the targeted audience.
So I'm guessing using such wonderful programs as Ad-Aware would be a bad idea....
"brix_zx2, What is your sole purpose in this forum!?!?!"
"To do whatever you tell me MODERATOR!!!!"
An OS with builtin spyware!
AD's are becoming omnipresent. It's no longer possible to do anything without being bugged by advertisemensts. I don't think I need some stupid fucking companies to tell me what to do, think and buy.
My sympathy goes to the GNU community for providing a free, stable and *ad-free* operating system environment.
Will running ad-aware, spybot totally hose the system?
First, let me say that I get that a free ad-supported OS is the user's choice, and that's wonderful and all. However, what came to mind is browsing MySpace on an ad-supported browser on an ad-supported OS.
*shudder*
Please stop stalking me, bro.
It's the people who *pay* good money like Sky/cable subscribers only to still be subjected to constant advertising that I don't understand (and before anyone flames me, I'm lucky enough to be in the UK where I pay a small annual sum for ad-free television and radio from the BBC).
Even worse are the designer clothes crowd that pay a premium sum purely to turn themselves into advertising billboards for Gap and the countless other clothes stores (the names of which escape me due to my immunity to their brainwashing).
Me, I'll stick with a proper free OS and keep configuring Firefox to block every advertisement possible.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
| worry about characters in soap opera's as if they were real people
I still guffaw whenever somebody reminds me of Murphy Brown and her single motherhood and the politicians who went into a froth over it.
Honestly, I think this is something the Linux crowd is being wishful thinkers about. The idea being, MS would offer a free, ad-populated version of Windows while increasing the costs of non-ad-populated Windows, thereby pissing off every customer they have that doesn't pirate their software.
As a person who uses Linux religiously at home, I'd love this myself, because it would hopefully give Linux more regular desktop users, which in turn would increase attention game programmers and more importantly, hardware vendors would give to it. Alas, I'd have trouble being even MS is that stupid. People hate ads more than they hate Jar Jar Binks and thats saying something.
This blue screen of death brought to you by,
MICROSOFT
all that you have been working on is lost, please keep
the advertiser in your memory.
"It looks like you are trying to write a letter...would you like to buy a vowel?"
What are these "ads" of which you speak? I know not this abberation...
I still can't understand all the ad biz, I really don't pay much attention to 99.99% of the ads. Really, are all those companies paying for those ads getting a benefit from them?
Even on TV it has been years that I pay attention to an ad, usually I will switch channels or fast forward. On the internet I just block those sections of the page, and just read the article or the forum.
How much money is being spent on advertising, that money could be used on making things cheaper for consumers, or just donate all that money to other countries and then they will have a bigger market to sell their products.
I'll be really interested in reading some study about the efficiency and success of all those ads, I bet some are really good, but 99% of them I think is a waste of money, just like e-mail SPAM, and regular spam in your mailbox at home. I don't know anyone that doesn't throw that to the trash without reading. We could be saving some trees.
Stop the ads and make something useful with that money.
So with my ad suported OS browsing the full of ads web with my ad suported browser on my ad suported connection will there be any space left for the content?
My first reaction was along the lines of: "WTF?!? --No way in hell!, etc..." After thinking about it though, I'm actually liking the idea.
I've had a simple rule since I bootstrapped myself onto OSS, namely: I don't run win32 OSes unless somebody else is paying for them. This works for me actually.
For personal computing, it means access to win32 if needed for some reason. A recent example for me was having to perform an upgrade on my ReplayTV. The better tools are win32 ones. I've no problem booting the OS, doing the task, then back to my OSS environment. Running an AD supported version would not have impacted me one bit. I don't need commercial apps for anything these days, so it's just about running win32 programs that do very specific things that may not be so easy in OSS land.
Where work related tasks are concerned, I'm still very much tied to the win32 system. However, that's on somebody elses dime. Fine by me.
I say bring it on.
You know what's gonna happen though. There will be an AD for the OS, then another AD for the application, and another for the browser.... Might have to get a pretty high pixel density monitor for it all!
Blogging because I can...
My Beta copy of Vista has ad placement - not standard adverts, but it IS a way for the owner of the code (Microsoft) to make money off the user. Throughout the OS there are places that prompt you to "find software for a machine with your rating" (I don't remember the actual wording).
When you click these prompts they take you to WindowsMarketplace.com.
My studio - www.graylands.ca
Ok, so let me get this straight: If I change the hosts file, I can use an ad-supported OS, without the ads? Better yet, I'm sure that the security center will alert me that "Windows Live Ads" is attempting to access the internet, and ask if I still want to block it. Yes, I do!
Ad-Aware would become pretty much useless.
Absolutely ridiculous. >.>
Let them do the ads. Those of us willing and able to avoid them, can just do what we do.
Might make you watch one at boot, after login, before unlocking the screen, every morning, etc...
They will cache them, queue impression data, then send when they can later. Block the hosts file, see the same damn ads until you allow new ones. OS hardcoded to look for the ads. You'll have to firewall, etc...
Won't be dead simple, but won't be impossible either.
I personally don't care for reasons already given.
Blogging because I can...
Nothing will drive people to Linux faster than having Windows keep popping up advertising messages.
Good job Microsoft! Now you're finally contributing to the Open Source movement.
Once upon a time Internet marketers could have had a brighter future. In metaphorical terms I feel that too many of them cooked the goose that laid golden eggs. While the Internet matured they exploited it with spam, adware, unwanted pop-ups, malware, exploits and any other slimy scummy technique they could think of in order to push themselves before unconsenting eyeballs -- be damned whether the user wanted it or not.
The end result is (just speaking for myself mind you) that I *HATE* marketing now. Yes, I admit it. I know it's not PC, but I despise all forms of marketing, even forms that could be considered ethical. I now change the TV channel when a commercial comes on. I change the radio station when an ad comes on the radio. I throw away all my direct marketing ads in the mail without even glancing at it. I use all of the pop-up filtering technology available so that I don't have to see it on the web. I don't want to see ANY of it now.
The thing is I don't think I'm alone, I think there are a following of people who feel the way I do.
How did we reach this state of marketing-hatred? I think perhaps it's related to the attempts by online marketers to prevent me from blocking the ads, whether we're talking about hashes in spam to bypass checksum filters or anti pop-up-blocking technology -- that's when the war on the consumer started and they don't deserve to win.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
disgusting
I have to say this is the most crazy idea ever. Those that give their OS away for free still have problems competing with the commercial versions (OSX and WinXP). Why would anyone want a free OS without any supported applications when they can get one for free without them (Linux) and they can for a fraction of the bother pay $100 to never see ads. Are those guys just brain dead or what?
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
Get an adware supported version of Windows to run as a server. Get the latest DirectX, since 10.0 will only be supported by Vista. Install and run your game server on an adware Windows server. The only time you'd see the ads would be when you had to reboot/debug the system on site.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. an ad-supported OS, huh? windows xp isn't ad-supported and i didn't pay for it. can you IMAGINE the whole vast slew of problems this would cause? "man, the bigass at at the top of IE9 installed something that yells at me about having a tiny, limp penis and being poor and un-refinanced about every 8 minutes."
I just got a new Dell laptop for my wife. The damn thing acts
like it is full of adware out of the box. It seems that every
program I run is trying to sell me an upgrade to a fancier version.
The virus scanner tells me how many days are left on the free
trial, why don't I sign up for a subscription now.
There's an annoying commercial for Ghost 10 that drones on
about the importance of backups that doesn't have a button
to skip to the "how much to buy".
Musicmatch pops up a "Why not upgrade to the Plus" version
everytime it exits.
And on, and on.
I've seen more sell out articles in these past few days... It's like a bunch of marketing and lobying whores managed to socialy hack the articles that get /.'ed in order to promote their craptastic ideas and push their whacked out spin. I've seen drug pushers levy less effort and better products! Please, somebody, buy a gun and go on a good spree through publishing firms throughout the country. Start with the one's that haven't a pair of solid balls but rather a pair of spread opened legs and work your way up until there's a sensible degree of levity and common sense in our articles again. Bunch of friggin cheap 4$$ WHORES!!!
Ok, add supported OS idea just set me off. I'm sure it was really just a prank.
I don't know why when I saw the title, I envisioned an OS that would not do any
system calls unless some advertisement requirement had been met. I.e., you must
look at some advertisement before you can do an fdopen() system call. I guess a
malloc() call would require 1 click on an HP advertisement.
Once I had an ad-supported OS. :-(
oh, no, wait! It was just uninvited spyware showing pr0n ads
As easy as installing an adv. filter for windows :)
Anyway, I think I would agree to a few adv. in my desktop to support my distro (Ubuntu). Especially to finance their bandwith costs and their free CD shipments. And maybe even pay to some developers. A sort of "thankyou"...
I can't really see an ad-driven OS being successful but maybe software. Lets take an example. Kde/Qt library win port is stable enough to allow a media player called Ama... to run on windows. It is a free download from a popular shopping site called Ama.... When somebody downloads and installs Amarok on their Windows XP. They like it and explore the features. They turn on the last.fm feature and find out about other people who enjoy the music they do. They listen to music that were recommended by other users in last.fm. They either like it or not. At the bottom of Ama... they see a sub-window saying 'As you listened to this..you may be interested in this... >' This is a hypothetical supposition posted by myself and in no means bears any resemblance to software created or to be created in future.
We are sorry, windows has detected and error and needed to close the program. A report of this event was cerated. Ads by Microsoft: Windows errors? Get Red Hat Linux | FREE windows anti-virus scan | Got windows errors? Call BOB!
Great Intellect...
My brother allready uses something similar. His windows is Pirated, and since he can't update (or operate his computer properly for that matter) it's full of spyware. Giant pop ups turn up whenever you do anything, especially on the web. Great fun! Adwindows(tm) will probably the greatest annoyance the third world will have to face once we start shipping the 100$ pcs for humanitarian purposes.
-b.
If Microsoft owns a lot of motherboard/chip stock then making Windows bloat bloat bloat bloat at a steady pace would be a great way to make people {force people} to constantly upgrade hardware, video cards, motherboreds... It would make for a magnificent Act of War against Americans, but of course that might be treason. Kind of like making your own financial snowballs & knocking the stupid americano in the ten pins every second of the day. It's Christmas all the time at Bill Gate's home. He does much the same thing Bush does. Just drive the Sales artificially up, then contribute lots of money for Charity because all the poor schucks out here can't afford to. It's a clever way to steal pthe ordinary man & woman's glory. It isn't so bad tho. He just reaches into your chest and borrows some blood.