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Microsoft To Try Works As Adware

Several readers noted that Microsoft has announced plans to pre-install an ad-laden version of Works on some manufacturers' PCs in coming months. Works is Microsoft's lightweight docs-and-spreadsheets software. The manufacturers involved were not disclosed. The adware Works will come with a pre-installed cache of ads that will be refreshed when the machine is online. Microsoft will decide by mid-2008 whether it can afford to forgo the $40 normally charged for Works.

10 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Have they ever managed to sell works? by NickFortune · · Score: 4, Funny

    Exactly. Now instead of just bundling office software that no one wants and no one uses with new PCs, they're going to bundle sotware that no one wants, no one uses, and that advertises at you.

    Of course, this being MS, they're going to try and sell this as an added value proposition: "seventy five percent of all the sock puppets that responded to our market research all said that they felt the lack of advertising was a serious lack in Microsoft Works"

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    Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
  2. Do they censor the ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Excellent. Now how do we purchase adspace for Open Office and KOffice in this wonderful program?

  3. Re:Switch! by Kpau · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've heard tell legends of small cults of people who actually use Works but during my decades of travels as an IT wizard, I've only encountered one who actually *used* it. Typically people only use it until they figure out it is mostly incompatible with the rest of the freaking world... even within Microsoft's world.

  4. Ad-Laden? by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't he the number three Al Queda guy these days?

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  5. Re:Switch! by Bluesman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "a lot of Girls who wrote their paper in works needed it converted to a Doc or even .TXT format went to us geeks."

    Yeah, I've got a life size picture of that:

    Girl: "Can you convert my files for me? I have to go fool around with my boyfriend."
    Geek: "Sure!"

    --
    If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
  6. Brilliant... by msimm · · Score: 4, Funny

    but only so long as they use Clippy to present the ads. It would be like life in hell in a great cuddly way.

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    Quack, quack.
  7. Re:Works?!?! by bumby · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and I then delete it because it's a WORTHLESS piece of shit.

    works or windows?

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    Hey! That's my sig you're smoking there!
  8. Wait...what? by Control+Group · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft still makes Works? And they charge money for it? Is it still one of the best document-encryption tools around?

    I haven't even seen a Microsoft Works installation since the days when I'd carry around a floppy with Norton Utilities on it - and use it often.

    --

    Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
  9. Re:Why would anyone want Works anyway? by bilabrin · · Score: 4, Funny

    IMHO Works is garbage. Here's a list of progams I'd use as a text editor before I'd consider using Works again.

    Wordpad
    Notepad
    Paintbrush
    Pencil and paper.
    A sandy beach, a stick and a camera!

    Seriously, Works is a puchline!

  10. Re:Switch! by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, if a girl won't cheat on a guy with me, he must be hotter than me, and I gotta say, that's pretty damn hot.