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Microsoft Targets Chrome Users With Windows 10 Pop-up Ad (pcmag.com)
Google Chrome users on Windows 10 are apparently being treated to a new experience: a pop-up ad. From a PCMag report: If you have Chrome installed and the icon present on the Windows Taskbar, chances are you're going to start seeing a pop-up advert appear suggesting you install Microsoft's Personal Shopping Assistant Chrome extension. Microsoft touts it as "Your smart shopping cart across the web." Opting to install the extension results in Microsoft monitoring which products you've searched for and viewed while using Chrome, and then offering to compare those products to find the best price. There's also alerts when prices change, and the ability to track products across all your devices. Of course, Microsoft will make money if you opt to purchase any products using the Assistant.
When OS start offering Punch The Monkey! ads you know all hope is lost.
And this is exactly why I run Opera! Everyone just pretends it doesn't exist.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I have all major browsers installed on my Windows 10 desktop at home. I use them for different purposes.
Whenever I launch Firefox or Chrome, I get a tooltip style pop-up above the Edge icon on the task bar which states that Edge is some % more secure than whatever browser I am launching.
It would do it every time too... not just on the first launch. Because of this, I unpinned Edge from the task bar... I think you could also turn off a setting but unpinning worked... so I didn't look further.
Pretty annoying. I also am pestered by ads in Bing search results to use Edge. It's like I am being punished for living in the MS ecosystem....
The thing is Google is no better. Every time I go to one of their properties in a non-Chrome browser, I get pestered to use Chrome....
It's just a new level of crap I have to ignore.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Is this a one time thing, once a day, week, month? Does it show up on enterprise installs?
It shouldn't be appearing AT ALL - but if it's a one time thing to show a new "feature" (cough, spit) I can begrudgingly acknowledge it.
But this proves to me that the entire point of Windows 10 was not to ease computer usage or make it easier for me to get my work done or do more work but to turn all windows machines into store fronts for Microsoft.
"Hi I'm clippy - I see you're trying to write a Word Doc and haven't typed for a few minutes - Would you like to buy a Red Bull - it gives you wings? YES, RIGHT NOW | SPECIFY DELIVERY TIME | CHOOSE A DIFFERENT DRINK"
Microsoft seems to arrogantly double down on everything people hate in Windows 10. Even if it was a great OS with awesome features and stellar usability (that's "if") I wouldn't want to use it at this point.
Sorry, but I prefer to, you know, own my own computer.
To be fair, though, smartphones and tablets are probably as bad or worse. Can we trust Android? iOS? Tell another joke.
BSD: Free as in Speech
Linux: Free as in Beer
Windows 10: Free as in Herpes
My wife is also getting notices from somewhere in Windows 10 that her Chrome is eating up her battery and using Edge would reduce battery consumption by 50%.