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In Windows 10, Ad-Free Solitaire Will Cost You $10 -- Every Year
Wired UK reports that the pre-installed Solitaire on Windows 10 capitalizes on the long-cultivated addiction that some users have to the game with an interesting bargain: rather than being an ordinary included application like it used to be, what may be the world's most pervasive on-screen office time-sink of a game now comes with ads, unless a user wants to pay (by the month, or by the year) to remove those ads. Notes the linked piece: "To be entirely fair, this is the same as on the Windows 8 version, which wasn't installed by default but could be downloaded from the Windows Store."
At $1.49/month or $10/year, this might be enough to drive some people who otherwise would not to check out some of the free, open-source games out there; PySolitaire is one of many in this incomplete list.
At $1.49/month or $10/year, this might be enough to drive some people who otherwise would not to check out some of the free, open-source games out there; PySolitaire is one of many in this incomplete list.
A year from now you'll have to pay money for this steaming pile...
... and they know that... which means they're inserting ads in shit because "fuck you"... and that's cool. So long as we're on the same page. I'll respond by redirecting the DNS entries of their ad domains to localhost. And then go around systematically replacing, kneecapping, or tweaking all their shit to make it do what I want it to do.
Why?
First law of computer security.
Physical security is the first law. And I have possession of the OS in my hot little hands. Which means it does what I want to do so long as I can figure out what they did and I'm willing to sit there and fix it.
Which so far I've been willing to do.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
1) Use Solitare from e.g. Windows 7 (google for Microsoft Games Patcher).
2) Update your hosts: http://pgl.yoyo.org/ and http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/ .
Sure they're giving you Windows 10 for free, but will they still charge people who actually buy a copy of Windows 10 for an ad-free version of Solitaire? My guess is yes - duh.
After reading various articles about the business model for Windows 10, the actual new Privacy statement, and all the information it will collect and Microsoft will share, it seems clear that we are not Microsoft's customer, we're their product. (My niece's Fisher-Price toy notes that "The sheep says 'baaa'".)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
And so it begins....
next year nobody will want it and they will be the ones paying 10 a year to us.
Lots of people like solitaire, but the people who play it constantly don't tend to the most savvy. This is doubtless intended to capture money from the elderly and the otherwise disinterested, who are probably only vaguely aware that there are other video games available out there.
Why would anyone care about this?
Assuming you can't find a free game to send your time on you deserve to pay for it.
http://pysolfc.sourceforge.net/ is a better fork that has loads and loads of variations and mahjong and other games built in as well.
Carrys on with stable 8.1
http://saveie6.com/
n/t
It's a free country - that's like complaining that there are adds on TV and that HBO charges money.
There are alternatives, I bet a significant proportion of the audience could write a solitaire app for the Windows store and publish it for free.
Film at 11.
I've had Win 7 for years and never once started up solitaire. I've got Steam yah know. And if you're going to goof off at work we've all got pocket computers as cellphones now :)
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Looks like I will be doing a bit of copying and patching...
http://www.howtogeek.com/12214...
The first line of the article:
From the linked article, "Free Windows 10 features we would have happily paid for":
I guess even Wired writers don't read their articles.
Aren't there ads on Slashdot, and pretty much every other operating system like Android, iOS etc. Not entirely sure this is news, especially as it was the case in 8/8.1
Is so much cheaper.
Windows 8.1 which I've recently been forced to use because of lack of legacy BIOS support on most all new affordable hardware.... Had similar lack of the classic games... I simply copied the sol.exe? cards.dll etc etc. for all the bundled games over tothe new system.. THey work fine...
Also disabled metro, uninstalled all metro apps from the power shell... disabled updated, Installed Classic shell, and lots of other stuff'' to try and restore Windows to something usable.
Don't be touching Win10 with a 10 foot pole,it's just a shame newer systems are ever more difficult to run Linux/alternatives 'fully'.
Next, Minecraft by the hour!
Well, I've always said it was the only decent software Microsoft ever wrote...
Copy Solitaire from Win7 and save the world. (or any of the built in games from Win95 to Win7) Bam done...
TSIA.
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
Yet another reason to upgrade to Ubuntu.
Will
They should have done something like that 10-15 years ago. Too late now, as free or cheap (pay once) Solitaire games are easy to get on any Smartphone or tablet.
Look, everyone knew that something was up with the "free Windows" deal. Com on. MS never gives anything away unless doing so will make them money some other way. Now they are tracking you and your surfing habits even more than Google (because it's the OS doing the tracking) and they are going to shove ads in your face any way they can. I have a feeling that many people are going to wish they got an ad-free OS by paying up front. My concerns about upgrading grow with every dribble of information.
Windows 7; paid for, ad free, and I can control the updates.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
Good thing my Android comes with a free Solitaire game then. I might not have survived if it hadn't ...
Disclaimer: Some sarcasm might be present in the above text.
So Android doesn't track you? The Google apps inside Android don't track you? MS is behind the curve on this one...
The Microsoft Software Collection is full screen with themes, sound and animation. You won't see the adds if you are playing old-school Klondike without the daily challenges, leaderboards, and so on.
SolSuite is the gold standard for Windows solitaire, with about 600 variations, 80 card sets, 300 card backs and 100 backgrounds. Frequently discounted to $10 and bundled with MahJong or Sudoku,
Android itself doesn't track you and you have many options as to which version of Android you want. Gapps isn't a necessity in Android, you only need it if you want to run Google's crap.
My phone runs a custom AOSP based build of Android, without gapps, and it works just great. I use F-Droid and Amazon for my apps.
How does lack of BIOS "force" you to use Windows 8.1? The last time I tried Xubuntu 14.04 LTS, it supported UEFI just fine. And all the desktop applications I use either have a port, have an alternative, or work in Wine.
(Yes, I know that's not what it stands for.)
There exists free (as in DFSG) solitaire for Android.
In a year you will have to pay to stop ads in the OS itself. its not like you can stop the upgrade to enable that 'feature' when it comes.... ( and in 5, you will have to pay to keep it running.. )
I think you missed the point I was making. MS is going to try and use Windows 10 to generate income in ways that don't involve charging for the OS up front. That means ads, tracking etc. I don't use smart phones because I haven't found a use for them that I need yet. But I do use a computer for work every day, and for entertainment. So when they announced Windows 10 was free, I knew that they had something cooking that I would not want to be part of. I expect ads on more things than just Solitaire, and so should you.
I have a feeling that we are going to hear lots more complaints about the "free" version of Windows as people have more experience with it. I also expect that if they get a few million complaints, they might make it so that you can pony up the $130 obligatory dollars per copy to make the "FREE" ad-based Windows into a paid-for, ad free version.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
If they can't give away solitaire then they must be in dreadful shape or, at least, see a bad future. This is grasping at straws at best.
Personally I think that it is just the beginning. Firstly they deprived us of ways to fighting back (automatic updates) and they are going to start stuffing ads wherever they want using unique advertising ID generated for every user.
OS will be free, but IPv4 stack is licensed separately. Oh, and IPv6 is yet another separate distinct license. And you want share out your files and printer on your windows box to other computers/"smart" appliance on your lan? that's another distinct license. You want your games to work? Direct3D is a separate license too.
I predict Win10 will be the most profitable OS for MS, ever.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Shit! May as well buy a Mac now.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Here you go.
Ran Win7... Upgraded to 10 to see out of curiousity where Microsoft was headed for the future...
Now I'm running on Debian.
=D
I hope that what you're missing is the businesses that supply professional laptops will continue to offer them with Windows 7 and no junkware for the foreseeable future. They'll cost more than all the consumer junk that is subsidised by pre-installed promo junk and spyware and so on, but if you want a system that actually works in your interests, someone will probably sell you one at a viable price unless some sort of legal agreement actively prevents it.
I also hope that this is finally the must-get-worse-before-it-gets-better moment for all the nasty recent trends of never-finished software, built-in spyware in everything, and subscription everything. Something as big as Windows screwing as many people as it's presumably going to screw might actually bring enough people to their senses that the industry reconsiders the path it's been following lately.
As I've commented before, I don't see Microsoft themselves changing course again as long as Nadella is at the top. He is exactly the guy the board hires if this is what they want to happen. However, given that Win10 is already looking less appealing than Win8 and people are still only just finding out all the ways it's a mess, the current generation of leadership at Microsoft may be short-lived if they can't turn avert the impending train wreck very quickly.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
use this http://www.abelhadigital.com/h... system wide adblcoking.
What is to stop me or another from putting the MSI installer of the Windows games on line or on torrents. I've given it to people that went to Windows 8/.1 for free. Heck I could even sell it.
oh I can hear the fanbois yelling again no rent it's totally free.
MU-HU-HA-HA-HA
At $1.49/month or $10/year, this might be enough to drive some people who otherwise would not to check out some of the free, open-source games out there
Out in the real world, people only care about the "free" part - doubly so, given we're talking about Windows users.
#DeleteChrome
My phone runs a custom AOSP based build of Android, without gapps, and it works just great. I use F-Droid and Amazon for my apps.
Fair enough, and you can do that... but I hope you're aware that you're in the extreme minority and always will be... Your average consumer will never do that...
Of course I realise that. It still doesn't prevent anyone else from doing it if they truly value their privacy, but they might have do a little bit of reading. These days unlocking the bootloader and loading up your favourite ROM on most phones isn't very difficult, but following directions is important.
You are way off base. MS stated that the upgrade is free for life of the PC it was installed on. The catch is that MS will try to capitalize on in-app purchases, where they make 30% and their push to be the one stop shop for even desktop software. If anyone decided to buy $1000 worth of programs from the MS store, MS;s cut is $300, plus any add-on sales attached to the program or app. That's their hope anyway. So, no you will not have to pay for the "steaming pile that is Windows 10". Just be smart and unpiin all their start menu tiles along with the store and treat it like an older version of Windows, after shutting off the couple dozen settings that let MS get your data. Here are the settings that I've posted elsewhere on how to turn off the ridiculous shared Windows Updates to keep MS from using your Internet bandwidth. 1. Open All Settings 2. Click on Update and security 3. In the left column click on Windows Update 4. On the right side click on the text link Advanced Options 5. Around the middle of the window, click on the text link Choose how updates are delivered. 6. Click on PC's on my local network. This disables send updates from your PC to random users on the Internet. 7. Close the Window. Check the setting monthly to make sure an update didn't change it back, until you have confidence that your setting sticks.
Search with DDG, email with my web host, Firefox as my browser and tons of open source software for other productivity needs. It's easy to avoid Microsoft and Google's garbage.
Until MS issues a forced update that turns it all back on. There are also a few things that can't be disabled, like device data eavesdropping, the keylogger in search and the Windows Store results from search.
Why are people going gaga over every new Windows release? I waited 2 years before moving from XP to 7. The Windows 8/10 Architecture is the same as Windows 7 except for the WinRT API. For those who are not into MS apps you are basically paying for an optimized Windows 7. Just run Windows 7. Anyway, 95/98/ME/2000/XP/VISTA/7/8/8.1 were all pretty much buggy when they first came out so it's better to wait for a year or 2 before you jump into 10. I wonder if in the future they will start charging for builds.
Linux?
1. Too many distros with different configurations, which one to choose and waste your time on.
2. Unstable and buggy thanks to the 24/7 ever changing fixes and updates.
3. No universal api like win32 for example.
4. Software installations require an internet connection to install software and fix dependencies and this process is not really needed since we have 500gb+ HD space that can allow each application to contain the same libraries and such without running out of space, but linux dev's are still living in the 1990's past where you did not have much HD space to begin with.
6. It's internet dependent unlike Windows where you can download and install drivers and software at a later time without an internet connection. TWC, Verizon Fios, etc.. all suck and are unreliable.
7. GPL scares the shit out of proprietary software developers so you wont get any of the productivity tools that are available in Windows, you get gimp.
Only good thing about linux is the eye candy settings for DE's.
There is Cyanogen mod...
Hm, this business model would work if Windows would somehow close itself against 3rd party app stores...
Now they are tracking you and your surfing habits even more than Google (because it's the OS doing the tracking) and they are going to shove ads in your face any way they can.
Recently it appears that TiVo, of all companies, has started to aggressively insert advertisements onto the screen when you're watching the TV shows you recorded. Rumor has it that Nest thermostats will soon be displaying advertisements on its display.
.
The computer companies seem to have been taken over by the advertisers. Microsoft is probably just jumping on the bandwagon to get some of the money.
Free as in "We're selling you to make up the difference."
Completely agree. This is the new, wretched business model they are all pursuing. I would mind somewhat less if they offered both options, the ad-filled version for free, and the no-ad version for the regular price. This should be something that most people would probably say is acceptable. Forcing everyone to the ad-filled version, which will happen as they phase out 7 and 8, is not very good for customer relations. Obviously they will make an enterprise version that is ad free, so they should also make a version you can buy, and not have the ads or the subscription price for things like solitaire.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
Windows 7; paid for, ad free, and I can control the updates.
Linux. Just as ad free, just as easy to control the updates and it doesn't cost one, red cent.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
There is a free and premium version of the app. The same as it was in Windows 8. These comments from people just wanting to comment something (read "spit" at something) are annoying. Get life dudes.
that this kind of bullshit is okay, same with Apple.
Microsoft has always been evil but they're not even trying to hide it any more. I'm a hardcore gamer so for now I'm sticking with Windows 7 Ultimate on my desktop but my next upgrade will probably not be Windows. Not that Valve is spotless but I sure trust them more than the other, worse, options.
Spending time trying to clean the shit they rubbed in your face out of your eyes doesn't help anyone else. How about just don't let them rub shit in your face?
If PySolitaire actually *worked* on Windows 10, it would be nice. Too bad it doesn't. :(
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
The only people who actually like Windows are shills and idiots who don't understand security and privacy
And gamers.
There is nothing "free" about Windows 10, and I predict this will come back to bite Microsoft like Vista and whatever that "Metro" thing was.
I don't use Ubuntu, but this offers great potential for them, and for the average non-tech savvy computer user, it offers the "cleanest" experience.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
True, but I already own Windows, and my stuff is on it.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
*Shrug!* So set up a dual-boot system, defaulting to Linux. Linux can read/write Windows partitions quite well, TYVM, although the opposite isn't true. (There may be third-party software for that but if so, I'm not aware of it.)
Good, inexpensive web hosting
So Android doesn't track you? The Google apps inside Android don't track you? MS is behind the curve on this one...
"Other people do it" isn't a valid excuse to me, especially not when you're comparing subsidized mobile devices to computers that I paid full retail price to own.
Linux is free, and it doesn't track what I do on my computers. FreeBSD is free, and it doesn't track what I do on my computers. Microsoft has decided that Windows 10 is free, but I must sacrifice vast amounts of my own data, habits, etc. to Microsoft (and from there, who knows? Governments, business partners, it's not like they're publishing a list). That's not an acceptable trade-off to me when there are already other free options available that don't do this shit.
This is the same Solitaire Collection app that was released with the Windows Store in Windows 8.
Now they are tracking you and your surfing habits even more than Google
Do you have any quantifiable information to back that up? I'm pretty sure Google still tracks more for the purposes of turning you into a sellable product.
Because I use a lot of Windows software, I am now hoping that the shift to Linux becomes a thing. More and more developers are releasing Linux versions.
If not, I'll just pirate Windows 10 Enterprise, which allows you to disable all of the data harvesting, ads and auto updates. Fuck them, if Microsoft want to play at being a dick, I can be a bigger dick and bypass their shit.
Dual-boot? That is so 90's.
Just setup a VM (Virtual Machine) -- VMWare or even VirtualBox. You can even decide which Host OS you want:
* Host on Windows and Linux in a VM or
* Host on Linux and run Windows in a VM (which probably isn't a bad idea since you can track / block networking(
What choice do Windows 10 users have? They can't just download a surveillance-free Windows 10.
I trust no one. Do whatever you want with the OS. If it is in my hands then it will do what I want it to do. It will not phone home. it will not rat me out. It will speak when spoken to and speak to whom I permit it to speak. Period.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I hope that what you're missing is the businesses that supply professional laptops will continue to offer them with Windows 7 and no junkware for the foreseeable future.
I don't see how they can continue to do that lawfully. From Windows lifecycle fact sheet: "End of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled [...] Windows 7 [...] October 31, 2014"
That should have said "The only people who actually like Windows 10 are shills and idiots who don't understand security and privacy"
The choice is not to use that steaming pile of crap, which would deny Microsoft their data mining revenue.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
You got that right.
There is a really really obvious reason Microsoft gave away Windows 10 for free. They take 30% of all apps sales.
Give me a break. Solitaire is still free and *ad-free*. That's right I said Ad-Free, because it is if anyone actually bothered to open Solitaire on Windows 8 or Windows 10. If you want to play Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 7 solitaire aka Klondike solitaire it's still free and it's still completley ad free.
They also added, in spite of everybody here being entitled little brats, 5 other versions of solitaire like Spider solitaire and freecell. If however you want to try out one of the "Daily Challenges" you may use the curated, daily content for the outrageous price of watching an ad.
God, Slashdot has really hit a new low. God forbid an app, that can be uninstalled is included with a free OS that gives you 5 games for free but offers one tiny bit of premium content in exchange for an ad.
If your tin foil hat paranoid brain can avoid clicking on the daily-challenge button you get multiple high quality card game apps for nothing. Or you can right click on the app in your app list (because it's not even pinned to your start menu by default) and click "Uninstall". Lord have mercy! The pain and trouble! Oh my!
They aren't tracking your surfing habits more than google. They're tracking them exactly the same. The OS isn't scanning the contents of your files and applications and uploading them. Put simply this is some of the most rediculous FUD I've seen in nearly all of Slashdot's anti-Microsoft FUD. Which is saying a lot.
For fuck's sake, Solitaire is not part of some master scheme to spy on you. In fact of all of the large tech companies Microsoft is the one most actively avoiding ads to pay for their products and instead choosing for subscriptions.
No one said solitaire was going to spy on you. I started this conversation because I don't like the move to an ad-based, MS-store-based business model. I would rather just buy Windows and have it be a solid, reasonably useful operating system. I mentioned the spying as an aside, which by the way, is really irritating nonetheless.
Are you defending the new MS business model? I personally don't like thinking about getting nickel and dimed all the time when I use something. I'd rather pay up front and not have to think about how much this costs or that costs as I use the OS.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
Anyone who knows the long reaching impact of these options is in the extreme minority, but that is changing slowly forcing even MS and Google to at least make a bigger deal out of privacy.
I would like to point out that it now costs more than an actual, physical, deck of cards.
Windows Professional didn't start to include BitLocker until Windows 8. You need Windows 7 Ultimate for that, and that was withdrawn from inclusion with PCs along with Windows 7 Home Premium. Is Anytime Upgrade from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate still in operation?
Uh. Dont use the store then. Nobody is making you. Its a binary. Delete it. Ffs, you guys spend literally days getting graphics drivers woking in free other free oss, but you bitch and whine about a single fucking app that nobody is making you use.
Goodbye slashdot. Your users are a bunch of grouchy douches.
Dont use the sigital assistant. Im bot. I disabled it. Im also not using the app store. Is there an actual issue, or do you just find yourself to use pre installed and disabled by default software?
Gamers don't actually like Windows. They just tolerate it for the ecosystem.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Here you go and only $5.97
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bicy...
e I don't like the move to an ad-based, MS-store-based business model.
If your biggest complaint is that there are ads in some areas of the solitaire suite then just spend the $1 per month for the next 10 years and you'll be back to where you were paying for windows before. You can even write it off if you're a business as an expense instead of a purchase.
Better, take the $170 for Windows xp/7/8 pro and invest it. Every month you should make about $1.70 in returns. Take that $1.70 and get solitaire every month for life. Take the other $0.70 and every other month buy yourself a nice ad free version of the apps you want for $1.50 like MetroTube. Most ad supported apps in the store also have an ad free version you can buy outright.
Meanwhile the Microsoft Store Based business model works great. All of your purchases are instant. No more filling out a shady as hell paypal form and waiting for a cd key to arrive. No more trying to find virus free freeware on Downloads.com which then ends up installing a firefox extension to spy on you. No more installing tiny applications which may or may not solve the problem you have and may or may not add a rootkit to your system. The Store is safe, it's well sandboxed by the WinRT APIs. It's cheap, since most apps are more like $1.50 instead of $9.99. It's convenient, you just search and all of the apps are in one place, you don't google and hunt through their poorly designed 1980s BBS inspired website. All of the libraries and packages are included no hunting for dependencies. And yes there are some ad supported apps, but I'm fine with that because I believe in developers being able to make a livelihood but sometimes I'm not willing to actually buy an app outright. I'm more than happy to look at a reasonable amount of ads in an app if I don't feel like spending the $0.99 for it. And when I do feel like spending a couple dollars to support an app it's bought outright 99% of the time and I can install it easily on all of my computers without registration or DRM or any bullshit.
I don't use any software that I haven't reviewed the source code line by line. I've almost made it through Lynx but until then I'm simply using wget and reading the HTML as bare text.
You can't spell "oneiromancy" without "roman".
They better remove all these ads if I have to buy this in a year.
Why not just copy the "sol.exe" app from Win95,WinXP,WinME,Win7 or any version of windows really.
Neat, a free solitaire app.
Or, I can slap something together in VisualBASIC, charge people for it, and invade their privacy at the same time. Just like all those android flashlight apps, that need full permissions for some reason.
Bite me!
Because it's got what plants crave.
Hopefully someone will release a noob-friendly, W10 Fix Pack that removes all the unwanted crap, disables all included spyware, and installs useful things like Classic Shell, Firefox & Chrome, some other useful utilities/codecs etc. and optionally freeware games. But you'll see the mandatory updates (which should make MS liable for any damages, but that's beside the point) will quickly break this.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
Fuck yourself in the ass with a rusty, flaming chainsaw set on "puree" while castrating yourself with a spoon coated in heavily salted vinegar.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I have a feeling that we are going to hear lots more complaints about the "free" version of Windows as people have more experience with it. I also expect that if they get a few million complaints, they might make it so that you can pony up the $130 obligatory dollars per copy to make the "FREE" ad-based Windows into a paid-for, ad free version.
Yes, and then just like the cable companies, the ads will also sneak into the $130 fully paid version.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Rumor has it that Nest thermostats will soon be displaying advertisements on its display.
Wait, a thermostat that you paid 10 times as much for as a regular thermostat is also going to display ads at you?
Lucky for us nobody spends more than 2 seconds a day looking at their thermostat. I suspect their ad revenue will be on the order of dozens of dollars a year.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Just like Apple started charging subscriptions for the latest OSX after they gave away the latest versions for free?
Nah. The proprietary OS makers have finally figured out that it's better to have an actual marketplace to sell to, than to try and convince people to buy the marketplace in the first place. They'll easily make back what they lost in OS licenses in actual software and game sales.
The only issue Microsoft has is they have tons of old enterprise and business contracts that depend on Windows releases being "worth" something.. hence why they'll still have versions of Win 10 you can buy, but they're wink wink nudge nudge making it pretty goddamn easy to get Windows 10 for free. Apple didn't have this issue. The last time they had this issue, Steve Jobs flushed all contracts down the toilet and told everyone to kick dirt.
The era of the OS "box release" is dead. Linux was already there a long time ago, Apple got there a few years ago, now it's time for Microsoft to get with the times.
When I posted this foreboding warning to Reddit, I got downvoted so hard, I swore that I was brigaded. People said that MS would not do that.
Well, here it is folks, the first 10 bucks that you'll get to spend for software to run in Win10, ad-free.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
The regular game that everyone plays is still ad free, there's a daily challenge you can now play, for that you watch a 15 second ad. This is something worth mentioning in the article. Otherwise, it's very misleading
Lol listen to you paranoid neckbeard dinosaurs go!
I love how they use your bandwidth to send Windows Updates to others unless you know where to opt out, I'm sure there are gonna be a LOT of users on metered connections gonna be having a heart attack next month when they get their bill!
I'm advising my customers to avoid Win 10 for now, look I REALLY wanted to like Win 10, I really did, but it seems to be more of the ham fisted stupid shit we've been getting since Win 8 instead of a return to Win 7 greatness. the settings/control panel frankenstein clusterfuck, the datamining that makes Google look like they are privacy focused, I just haven't seen a thing that can't be had better by simply slapping Win 7 on an SSD. Even their "whiz bang" features like Cortana are slow, have a bad learning curve, and demand you give away pretty much any privacy to use the thing.
Sorry MSFT but at this point I'm even advising my Windows 8 customers to stay away, in fact Windows 8 plus Classic Shell is frankly better, with all the speed ups without the datamining and nickel and diming and you can grab Win 8 for $65 on Amazon, if you need a Windows OS and don't have the excellent Win 7 that is what I'd point customers to, Win 10 is just not worth what you give up.
BTW anybody else notice the insane astroturfing going on by MSFT trying to keep 10 from becoming another 8? Even sites like El Reg is seeing accounts that were dormant since the Win 8 release suddenly shooting down any complaints and singing the praises of Win 10 in market speak. Normally I condemn any talk of shills and astroturfing because...well I had customers that liked Windows ME, and there is everything from AMC Matador to Zune fanclubs because there will always be somebody who likes it no matter what it is, but just like previous ads by MSFT its just so.....well hamfisted and obvious, you can almost see the PHB standing behind the typist telling them to stay "on message" while going down a print out of a PPT with buzz words like "social integration" and "unified user experience". C'mon MSFT, if you are gonna turf at least do it well, half assed turfing is just lame.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Unless MS can mine data from the Steam client they'll get nothing from me. My Windows box is a headless Steam server I use to stream windows only games to my Linux desktop and laptop. The only thing installed on it is Firefox and Steam (and the games, of course). I've been using the MS Insider preview with Steam for a couple of months now, and it's been working great.
I've got to hand it to MS on the distribution/upgrade of Windows 10. I fully patched my Win7 Pro, reserved my upgrade and removed the Windows 7 disk from the computer. I installed the preview edition , installed Steam and transferred my games and data over, and kept it up to date patching or reinstalling as needed the whole time. Low and behold, without me having to reinstall the Win 7 drive and upgrading, MS went ahead and upgraded the Win 10 drive for me. Rather surprisingly smooth, it was.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Well aren't you a charming combination of an entitled cunt and a whiney little priss.
Nice overly broad claim you make there. I didn't know you spoke for me and the millions of other gamers out there that actually like Windows more than the steaming pile that is the Linux Desktop or the snob crap Apple puts out.
I do not have many Windows boxes around any more. I put a different distro (if it ran well in a VM) on pretty much all the computers in the house. (I have a lot of computers. Too many, really.) After doing so I discovered that, to my dismay, I had actually installed Linux on all the computers that had 7 on them. I have licenses aplenty (I get five new ones for every OS every year - MSDN subscription) but I have not been willing to actually go back and change any of them back. Other than one laptop on 8.1 and a tablet that I do not use I have one Windows install left and it is Vista SP2 on a desktop. I wonder if upgrading will work? I have backups so it is not an issue and, really, if it fails I will probably just put CentOS on it.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
You could just install a different solitaire game, you know... There is nothing compelling you to use their version. If you do not want the ads then, yeah, do not install the game. This is not even complicated.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I liked Windows ME but only on one system. I had uptime for months with that thing. It was an Acer with an AMD K6-II @ 350 Mhz and I had OCed it to a bit over 500 Mhz. It came with Windows ME installed and proudly displayed a label saying something along the lines of "Windows ME Ready" (later more commonly seen with XP Ready stickers or Vista Ready stickers). Restore was new and was awesome as you could restore from outside of the OS. You still had DOS as I recall. It was stable and insecure as all hell out of the box but that was easily cured.
I was a happy ME user. I think there were six of us in the United States and maybe twice that many on the planet. Not even the Windows ME newsgroups got much use. Also, Media Player was kind of awesome too. It was much less bloated than it was the last time I looked at it. Then again, I have not used Windows Media Player in a whole bunch of years - since some of the XP updated versions got to be bloated, unintuitive, and generally crappy.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Strangely enough, this is time for the hosts file.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
No, it is free for the life of the OS. You got some spittle on you so I will ignore the rest. You can easily confirm this if you want. And no, I am posting from LinuxMint so I am not some sort of shill. You're insane and drolling on yourself - or drunk. Or stupid. Or willfully ignorant.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
Linux.
As a long time Linux user let me point out that it still is completely useless for your average consumer. The main desktop environment suffer from feature creep and "oh shiny", breaking things that worked for years or simply introducing more new bugs with each update than they fix. I have used Gnome, Unity, XFCE and KDE none of these worked without breaking fundamentally once in a while. Sometimes its just badly tested applications where half the features suddenly segfault, sometimes its issues with the way the window managers now require OpenGL acceleration and their interaction with applications that also use OpenGL and every other major upgrade its the complete reinvention of the desktop.
Linux has the potential to be great, sadly a lot of projects are just not focused on the boring parts of software development that would lead to stable and high quality software.
For fuck's sake, Solitaire is not part of some master scheme to spy on you.
Who said that?
God, Slashdot has really hit a new low. God forbid an app, that can be uninstalled is included with a free OS that gives you 5 games for free but offers one tiny bit of premium content in exchange for an ad.
That's because people that can see more than 15 minutes into the future know this is just a step in a long walk of more and more advertising over time.
Ad supported services are only free if your time is worth nothing. I value my time, so fuck off.
Millions would still be a tiny fraction of a percent of the users.
But lets ask a question about your statistic, HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW? Have you canvassed the opinions and likes of MILLIONS of people who are gamers? And that figure would have to be tens or hundreds of millions to get past those who don't care or even dislike windows.
No.
You haven't.
You've made up a large number because you don't have anything other than fellating yourself as proof, and you know that's not going to be accepted by anyone else.
MS have nickled and dimed corporate users with their server per-seat license CAL PLUS the license per machine, PLUS the at-your-own-cost compliance enforcement PLUS at-your-own-cost visit by the BSA, PLUS "oh, you need this too" additional licensed cost, PLUS....
Not to mention the treadmill or their attempt to internalise it that fucked up because it took so frigging long to make Vista.
Not to mention the Office365.
And if, after all this, companies aren't moving off Windows (because more expense means bigger budget means bigger empire, plus the problems are solved by someone who doesn't make the decisions, so no cost to the executive order), then what the hell makes you claim this would kill them when all the stuff before THAT THEY DID ANYWAY didn't manage it?
@im_thatoneguy We are happy that you are content to be the revenue generating property of Microsoft.
Just understand that your long rationalization of how convenient and awesome your computer lifestyle is overlooks the blazing moral issues the rest of us are displeased with. What you really are endorsing is a future where the single corporate gatekeeper model is perpetuated with said gatekeepers in a position of power which has never been so concentrated in the history of the world.
All of the large OS and Web Service corporations are gunning for this role: to be positioned such that they will
1. Extract profit on all human purchasing activity
2. Control what you are allowed to see via advertising, search and censorship bubbles
3. Complete awareness of who you are and what your personal motivations are so as to maximize the above while providing value to the nation states in which they must operate who would gladly be given access to the above data treasure.
This is all being sold to you in the name of your benefit and convenience. And you bought it.
This I'm sure will sound alarmist to you, but we see the end game, you don't. Enjoy it while you can.
Hope you reviewed your CPUs microcode.
Not entirely sure about all the technology out there, but I do know Google Plays Developers terms allow tracking be enabled as long as their is an opt out.
False. Did you actually try it? You get an ad when you finish a game.
First of all, Fuck solitaire. 2nd Windows is already BS. It's the most difficult POS I've ever used. I know how to use a tablet, and how to use a computer, But that Hybrid app based shit they put out really pisses me off. I literally downloaded Blue stacks on it because the interface is so bad. I'd rather give myself a 2nd circumcision with toenail clippers then worry If I'll ever get windows again.
Yeah, the gall of that guy, asking for some lube before MS gets behind him.
"I not only inhaled, I drank the fucking bong water afterwards."
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Better than being a naive little tool like you. I take it you enjoy the ass reaming that MS gives you.
"completely useless for your average consumer" Tell that to my 61 Year Old Computer illiterate Mother, my 59 year old friend down the road and my 22 year old Brother. You are definitely not a Linux user, that's CLEAR.
Jeeeezus KUUH-RIST!
I use Ext2Fsd but I don't write to my EXT4 partitions from Windows.
And by 'neckbeard dinosaurs' you of course mean people who are way smarter than you and know more about how things actually work than you ever will, right?
Have you tried LXDE? LXDE is pretty much as lightweight as you can get in a DE without going barebones.
Geez, the paid Microsoft shills are out in force today...
My feelings exactly. I really hate the whole idea of Windows being an MS app store posing as an OS.
Not going for the "free" deal.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
How does that solve the problem?
You cannot access the data on the disk via a VM unless the VM is started and vice versa.
No, Dual Boot is a much better solution in this case.
The solitaire game is not part of the operating system, you fool! Windows has the largest software library on the planet. A library so large it makes OSX and GNU/Linux look like a disgusting laughing stock. If you don't like the fucking solitaire game then use a different one! You never have to buy anything from the store. As if anybody would give a damn about your miserable little life. Spying? Shit, you wish!
And for those who want to pay: that is possible as well. (No, not a lame joke about $699).
Redhat and SUSE will be the best known ones.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
S-o basically you prefer Amazon tracking you.
That is because being "Windows ME Ready" meant that you had all WDM drivers. You see what I found the fatal flaw with WinME was some numbnuts at MSFT decided that BOTH WDM and VXD drivers should be supported...what a fuck up! If you mixed WDM and VXD drivers? It was pretty much guaranteed to shit itself and BSOD then only question was WHEN it would happen. I saw PCs at the shop (those Mini HPs with the CD holder on the top, can't recall the model ATM) that you could literally set your watch by, it would crash ME in less than 20 minutes from first boot every time. Replace the VXD only built in sound with a WDM card? Magically ran just fine.
So count yourself lucky, all WDM was a rarity when it came to ME thanks to all the Win98 parts the OEMs had, most were a mix of the two which is why IMHO Windows ME became so hated.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Microsoft's Partner?
Yes, but what you're paying for there is support, not the OS itself.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
>and I can control the updates.
As long as there still are any.
You can track and block networking using a software firewall too.
Really any Windows machine should have one (the included Windows Firewall does not count). Something like Agnitum Outpost Firewall can also block attempts by processes using other processes to do nasty stuff.
If Windows 10 was totally free those arguments might hold up. People paid for the OS they upgraded from.
I play Windows 10 Solitare Collection and see the ads every time a game finishes. Plus there is a nag to upgrade to the paid version.
People migrating from Windows 7 will lose big time. Win 7 has a lot of high quality ad-free games
BTW For fucks sake makes no sense.
TV stations gear their ads to appear about every 8 minutes with 1minute 50 seconds of ads, making a cycle of 10 minutes (station breaks are 10 seconds). 10 minutes fits in well to 30 minutes, and to 60 minutes.
So why can't we do the same with isps blocking ads inside of the 8 minutes and allowing them in the 1 minutes 50 seconds between?
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
Ads in the other apps stand out more and mine your info too.
Desktop model downgrade to the Phone Business model is a loss.
How much does it pay to be a Microsoft shill?
You can simply go to an XP system, and download the application exes (they're tiny 1.19MB for all) for Freecell, Hearts, Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Spider Solitaire (plus a dll called cards.dll) and then just paste somewhere (program files if you want) and make shortcuts - they work perfectly on my 8.1 pro system and I would assume they would work fine on a 10 system. Personally, I like the old style MS games rather than the new 8 style.
I can also state that it was the only PC that I ever owned that it ran properly on. Not one other PC would even remotely hold up. And, yes, it was major driver interrupts that were to blame - frequently in video - on other people's computers. If you sacrificed a chicken, burned three black candles, and said the proper incantations then it was a 'not terrible for the time' OS. It had some great new features. Few people knew the proper incantations.
KGIII - AC due to posting too much. 50 posts is a silly limit.
I have an MSDN subscription. I get five new licenses for every supported OS every year. I should be okay. I am not sure why I keep my MSDN subscription but, well, I like poking at things.
KGIII (post limit of 50 is arbitrary and silly)
And what guarantee of paying for Windows 10 is there of no ads or easy removal of stuff that isn't a working part of the OS? Like MS store,Server services"cloud"?
Jack of all trades,master of none
Probably fresh with its own pile of malware, thanks to SF.
Not doing Windows 10 because I don't want or need the MS app-store, ad-laden, works on your phone OS. No benefit to me over Windows 7 Ultimate.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
Best thing to do is stay away from Windows Operating systems altogether. Linux is free and it has Play it on linux or the Wine application will let you install some programs that use the .exe extension but most all Linux Operating systems come full of free software thats lets you have a free office program and free Photo editing programs. Theres no need to even consider using any windows machines anymore except maybe inside a Virtual machine. Do yourself a huge favor stay away from Windows. Get Linux, Ubuntu, Linux Mint or any of the other thousands of Operating systems based on Linux or debian.
The makers of Windows are for profit and will find any way they can to rip you off.
They didnt make Windows 10 for the consumer, they made it so they ca make money off you. They will not ever get any of my money. Not long as theres Linux.
I agree, but that's not my only reason.I have many reasons i dislike Win 8 And 10. We as you remember were lied to before.They were saposta give us many more features in Ultimate. We haven't been compensated for that lie as of yet. IMO
Jack of all trades,master of none
Because pirated windows builds are way more trustworthy than the official Microsoft Windows releases.....brilliant logic
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx
"Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary...."
Where are you getting consistent 12% returns on a $170 investment?
A year from now you'll have to pay money for this steaming pile...
Or you can install Linux for free, which you have been able to do for years but people still prefer to pay for Windows. Perhaps the Linux community needs to change strategy.
And by 'neckbeard dinosaurs' you of course mean people who are way smarter than you and know more about how things actually work than you ever will, right?
No he means people disconnected from broader society. The people who have been telling us all about the year of the linux desktop and the dangers of proprietary software for decades but the linux desktop is still relegated to the low single digit percentage of usage and for all the paranoia around proprietary software there still isn't any objective, quantifiable damage done. Not even any real case study for the free software camp to present that supports their theories. The Windows NT and 2000 source code was leaked some time ago and if anything it proved that all the postulating about backdoors and such was utter garbage.
Even if all the pontificating were true, what is the damage that has been done?
Okay, how do you get a reliable 12% annual return on your money?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
No you don't see the endgame you're imagining an endgame. If someone wanted to spy on you they could do that easy as pie, they just bribe Angry Birds to include a secret root kit. SSH was vulnerable for years and the source was public so that's no guarantee either. Simply put... if a nation state wants onto your computer they'll get there.
If I want an app that isn't available in the store I can just sideload it, so the existing annoying installation systems exist. Of course they know who I am. But there isn't a whole lot they can do with it. Again, if they do want to monitor me then they have the mechanisms easily enough on their own without anyone helping them. If someone wants to hack me badly enough, they will.
Yes. I trust Amazon far more than Google or Microsoft.
Actually, they are.
If they allow free and open source apps, just like Debian's repos (apt-get install vlc, for instance), I can see a huge positive side to the new MS store model. If the only thing in the store is closed software for sale, that sucks.