Microsoft is Testing Ads in Mail App For Windows 10 in Select Markets (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson writes: Ads in your inbox. Sounds like something you'd expect from the likes of Google or Yahoo, but Microsoft appears to be about to get in on the act as well. And we're not talking about online ads in your Outlook.com account -- we're talking about ads in the Mail app that's included with Windows 10. A new report says that Microsoft is currently testing ads with Windows Insiders, so it could be just a matter of time before they spread wider. In a support page, spotted first by news outlet Thurrott, Microsoft says, "Consistent with consumer email apps and services like Outlook.com, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail, advertising allows us to provide, support, and improve some of our products. We're always experimenting with new features and experiences. Currently, we have a pilot running in Brazil, Canada, Australia, and India to get user feedback on ads in Mail."

Update: ZDNet reports that Calendar app for Windows 10 is getting the same treatment.

Comments

Hey Microsoft - I have some user feedback:

[slashdice]

Fuck you.

Re:Hey Microsoft - I have some user feedback:

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. There are two types of users I help; those that embrace change and those that are terrified of it. For the first user I install Linux Mint on their machine and help them through the learning curve. The second I upgrade their systems to Windows 7 (and yes, you can easily get Windows 7 working on the latest generation CPUs). The best thing you can do to help rid the world of Microsoft is help people away from Windows 10 in any way possible, even if that means upgrading to an earlier version of Windows.

One more reason...

[KookyMan]

Not to use Microsoft Mail. Thanks for that! I was really worried about having to find a bad reason to not use it, but you gave me a good one.

Re:One more reason...

[dwywit]

Have you ever tried it? Ads are *way* down the list of reasons not to use MS Mail. I think I'd prefer Outlook Express to that steaming pile of "user experience".

Outlook 2010 OTOH, has been pretty stable for me.

Re:One more reason...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Windows mail app consistently complains it can't access my contacts list, and directs me to my Windows privacy settings to fix it. Thing is, I *want* access to my contacts disabled, that's why it's set that way. It's called, uh, privacy.

Yeah, this ads idea is just one more reason not to use the Windows mail app. Thunderbird works fine for my purposes, thank you very much.

Microsoft == Assholes

[Rick Schumann]

When I read shit like this, it validates my choice to move to Linux that much more.
Currently running Ubuntu 18.04LTS and no regrets!
Screw you, Microsoft.

Of course

[DarkRookie2]

This is no surprise.
They already have adds on the start menu and Solitaire.

Re:Of course

[Teckla]

You got me curious, so I tapped the Windows key, typed in "Solitaire", and clicked on the first selection, thinking it would be, you know, Soltaire...

What I got was signed into Xbox Live (I had an Xbox 360 years ago) -- mind you, a sign-in that took something like 30 seconds -- after which it popped open an ugly ad-laden window which told me I was automatically getting a free week of something-or-another premium (what?), and Edge (choke) popped up... with an auto-play video advertisement.

Microsoft has never been worse than they are now.

I am shocked!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

People are still using the Mail App bundled with Win10?

Enough people use it to make it a viable advertisement platform?

Come on, is it April 1?

WTF

[DarkOx]

Look Microsoft you have been shipping a mail client (of a kind) with Windows since at least 3.11. Now maybe that was just a ploy to sell some NT Server and later Exchange licenses. All fine; whatever. Here is the thing though you are charging me for the OS. The license fee should pay for you to improve my experience.

The addition of advertising will certainly NOT improve my experience. Now I would argue that a mail client really is out side the scope of an OS anyway. If you don't want to support it or develop it; than just drop it entirely. Plenty of freeware mail clients out there you crappy one will be missed by exactly nobody.

Keep in mind though you are continuing to destroy the general value proposition of Windows. Apple seems to be able to deliver OSX with a suite of software that would be pretty adequate for most home users needs and give it away for free with (or pay for it by bundling it with) the hardware.

If you expect anyone past the current generation of midlevel IT managers who have just always bought MS; to pay premium prices for your Surface hardware well you better deliver a premium OS. The rest of us are NOT going to pay for your adware.

Re:WTF

[Solandri]

The addition of advertising will certainly NOT improve my experience

You don't get it. You're no longer the customer. The advertisers they're selling your usage info to is now the customer. Microsoft is just seeing how much they can get away with doing to you (in favor of their real customers) before you give up and ditch Windows. They laugh that you're so set on running Windows-only apps that you're still willing to pay them for letting them exploit you.

Outside of gamers (who will also willingly limit themselves to console exclusives and 5-year old GPUs) and businesses who need a uniform desktop environment (but they've managed to get a version of Windows without the deep surveillance), there's almost nothing you can do with a computer today which requires Windows. Yet people keep insisting on not straying outside their comfort zone and not using Windows. It's like the dog which has been chained to its doghouse for all its life, and when the chain is removed it finds it can't move beyond its old limitations because it's been conditioned to stay near the doghouse.

this is why

[FudRucker]

why i refuse to use MS_Windows anymore

VIVA GNU/Linux

Thats the only benefit of the mail app

[Anonymous Coward]

That was the only benefit of the mail app over using webmail. The UI isnt any better, the features arent any better, its not any more powerful, the ONLY reason to use the email app over webmail was because you didnt get ads.

Does this mean Windows will be ad supported?

[CrankyOldEngineer]

If the OS will start showing us advertisements, does this mean they will stop charging for this POS? Not that I care; since 1999, I use Windows only at work.

Microsoft do not respect their customers

[peppepz]

Windows 10 will automatically install gigabytes of software onto my machine without me knowing, approving, or having the choice of making it stop. This is unacceptable for a supposedly professional product that costed me 260 â. Also, it is me who is paying for the bandwidth required to download those unwanted applications and games, and for the disk space required for their installation. And I don't want to trust the developers of that software to have any kind of access to my computer or the data contained therein. It's incredible how greed trumps every other consideration in the behaviour of those multinational entities. If they can get away with something, they will do it; and as they grow in size, what they can get away with is more and more.

A little PowerShell action will fix that right up

[Guyle]

Right click PowerShell, click "Run as Administrator".
PS C:\Windows\System32> Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.windowscommunicationapps | Remove-AppxPackage
Mail and Calendar both gone. Enjoy.

Re:Where shall we run to?

[b0s0z0ku]

Thunderbird is still worlds ahead of the 2018 version of Outlook Express...

Re:Where shall we run to?

[squiggleslash]

Yeah, been playing with Thunderbird for the last week or two, and I wouldn't say it "sucked big time" but it's clearly an unfinished labor of love project. The UI is... a weird mix of mobile and 1990s desktop application with hamburger menus and ugly fonts, the calendar support is missing integrations due to an API change a year ago, the application keeps warning me that mailing list digests are actually scams (WTF? And no, I can't whitelist the sender...), and..

...and there's features in there that are... why are they in there? And if you're going to put them in there, why not finish them first?

Like there's a "Search the web" thing, and you wonder why, and go "Well, OK, guess it might be useful, I might highlight a word and think "What does this mean", and want to Google it", but then you find out the Windows version, and only the Windows version, doesn't support Google, but that's OK, because what you can do is (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP) craft a special XML file, and then open the Thunderbird console (yes, there's a console, it's like the one in Firefox), and enter a long convoluted command that includes the path to the XML file, and then, voila! You have Google as a search engine.

Also you can enable and disable cookies. In your mail client. And you need to enable them when you're logging into Google to authenticate, and then disable them afterwards because, seriously, why would you ever want to store cookies sent by web servers displaying your email content? Rather than make an executive decision as to how this should work, the Thunderbird team made this an option. There's a UI for this option, which you're forced to use on a regular basis because on/off isn't appropriate, it needs to be "On for this, off for that", but there's no UI for adding a search engine.

It'll be great when it's finished though. They just have to have a clear idea of what it should be, and then finish that. At this point, despite being an older product, it's not as good as Windows 10 Mail, and that's really unfortunate.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Where shall we run to?

[tsa]

I have been using it since I can't remember how long and I think it's still the best email client for me out there. It has some very nifty features like "Throw all sent mail in the inbox" and "Put replies in the mailbox you sent them from" that you don't find in other email clients. Yes, it looks a bit strange and it doesn't get a lot of love at the moment, but it never crashes and does its job very well.

Re:Wonderful

[PPH]

Next, ads on the BSOD.

Improve

[phantomfive]

"advertising allows us to provide, support, and improve some of our products"

He seems extremely confused about the definition of the word "improve."

Re:A little PowerShell action will fix that right

[DarkRookie2]

get-appxpackage -allusers | remove-appxpackage
get-appxpackage | remove-appxpackage
get-appxprovisionedpackage -online | remove-appxprovisionedpackage -online

That will nuke all but Defender, Edge, and Cortana now
And you will need to do that every 6 months. Also, delete the contents of C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

Re:Yes people use it

[snakeplissken]

What did you do that your parents never trust you?

You don't have parents do you :)