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Windows 10 Is Just 'A Vehicle For Advertisements', Argues Tech Columnist (betanews.com)
A new editorial by BetaNews columnist Mark Wilson argues that Windows 10 isn't an operating system -- it's "a vehicle for ads". An anonymous reader quotes their report:
They appear in the Start menu, in the taskbar, in the Action Center, in Explorer, in the Ink Workspace, on the Lock Screen, in the Share tool, in the Windows Store and even in File Explorer.
Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable, and even goes as far as pretending that these ads serve users more than the company -- "these are suggestions", "this is a promoted app", "we thought you'd like to know that Edge uses less battery than Chrome", "playable ads let you try out apps without installing". But if we're honest, the company is doing nothing more than abusing its position, using Windows 10 to promote its own tools and services, or those with which it has marketing arrangements.
The article suggests ads are part of the hidden price tag for the free downloads of Windows 10 that Microsoft offered last year (along with the telemetry and other user-tracking features). Their article has already received 357 comments, and concludes that the prevalence of ads in Windows 10 is "indefensible".
Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable, and even goes as far as pretending that these ads serve users more than the company -- "these are suggestions", "this is a promoted app", "we thought you'd like to know that Edge uses less battery than Chrome", "playable ads let you try out apps without installing". But if we're honest, the company is doing nothing more than abusing its position, using Windows 10 to promote its own tools and services, or those with which it has marketing arrangements.
The article suggests ads are part of the hidden price tag for the free downloads of Windows 10 that Microsoft offered last year (along with the telemetry and other user-tracking features). Their article has already received 357 comments, and concludes that the prevalence of ads in Windows 10 is "indefensible".
TFA is false and absurd! Windows 10 is not 'just' a vehicle for advertisements.
It also spies on you.
Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable
I agree.
In fact, they lost the grip when they first shipped MS-DOS that was a decade behind other operating systems with its single tasking and lack of memory protection and small memory limits and being a decade late to the internet and subsequent security clusterfuck when legions of insecure machines finally got online. Culminating now with spyware and adware built right into the OS itself. That does not even talk about their unacceptable business practices and abusing their monopoly to damage open standards and hold back personal computing. This is a company of foul colour.
There is a simple solution for all of these problems. Do not use their OS, if you find it unacceptable. It is unacceptable to me, so I don't use it. Problem solved.
Dear 21st Century Society,
So, Windows 10 is nothing more than a "vehicle for ads", riddled with telemetry that spies on you? That's funny, I thought that was exactly what the fuck you turned the entire internet into.
You love your always-on listening devices in your home. You love your telemetry-riddled smart phones, smart cars, and IoT. You love your "free" products and services, and your addiction to social media narcissism. A EULA never stopped you from clicking "I Agree", and you don't care about your entire online identity being bought and sold.
You're proud to let the world know everything about you because you don't give a shit about security or privacy anymore. You haven't for years.
Anyone who assumes otherwise at this point is an idiot. I don't give a shit how many comments show up in some "revealing" article. Nothing will change. If Wikileaks and Edward Snowden couldn't change public perception, you can bet your ass Microsoft won't either.