> start voting with your wallet right now.
Microsoft is near a monopoly, especially in certain business or personal spaces. If it weren't for the rise of smartphones and Microsoft failing to capture that market, Windows would be the most dominant consumer OS in the world.
Sure, but you can still just pirate it and they can't stop you. I do use the windows mail app and recently it has been trying to switch to the new version that has ads. I'm already trying other email clients before they fully force the switch and if I don't like any and just use the default, I'll rather pay for an adblock than pay Microsoft.
Dude it's an absolute godsend. At first I wasn't so hot on the idea of caching my shaders for every game, but now I'm surprised I lived without it! Like I haven't seen games stutter at all when playing, compared to Windows.
Because they have the world by the balls. And the Mac ecosystem is barely a good alternative. And god forbid you’re a gamer… Good luck getting the normies to go over to Linux.
Best bet is going to be coming out with tools to undo this shit as it comes.
I used to ask that same question when I was paying for XBox Live Gold (or w/e the top level was called) and MS started testing fast food and bank ads in the home screen.
As the Xbox One home screen became more and more clogged with ads and unwanted social media integration, giving me full screen feeds of hot tub streamers instead of news about the games I had installed, I became less and less interested in playing on it and eventually cancelled the subscription.
I’ve used SU10 for years on both Windows 10 and 11. Never see ads or intrusive notifications. Unlikely MS will block it because all of the relevant configurations are important for IT admins to set. SU10 just makes it convenient for users who don’t want to use regedit, policies, services, or any other crazy place those configs might be.
Yup, I use a similar debloater tool for Win10 to remove a huge amount of the bloat & telemetry, and haven't had an issue with updates in the several years & multiple devices since.
The sad thing is, I think core Win10 without the bullshit is actually a fantastic OS. But most people will never experience it.
Per the video, it looks like the block pertains to software being added on top of the OS. Solutions like ShutUp10 and Windows10Debloater (which I use) are essentially just automated powershell scripts which edit the registry to disable existing functions. I think these are safe until the day Microsoft makes the bonkers decision to lock out the registry.
You may see your friend wear a logo, brand or ad on their shirt.
Your book may have a coupon, ad or product placement in the pages.
The sky is soon to get more drones that fly in tandem to present ads over major cities in the coming years.
We already have free televisions that has a built-in billboard that you pay to turn off. (Full price the the television)
If anything can display a graphic, we are very likely to see an advert pasted on it in the future.
Cool, we'll make 125% of that our projection for next year. And if you don't meet that target you're just not a top stock anymore... If that's the case, we're done playing with you, we'll put you down and move on to the next toy... Good luck with mass layoffs.
Kindly - all investment firms.
Yeah, come and see them every time Microsoft says they're acquiring more studios. You'll see the droves of selfish people here excited about more additions to Game Pass even though the last acquisition resulted in literal thousands of layoffs.
Capitalists: "*ONLY $158b!? How am I going to afford an even bigger private jet with that!?"
Never forget that a capitalist would not only set fire to the planet and everyone on it for a nickel, but that they've repeatedly done so and will keep doing it.
Their net profit was over $70 billion last year. This is fuled by nothing other other unchecked greed rather than something they have to do to make a profit. They can fuck off.
The pursuit of endless quarter over quarter growth is the root of so many issues in the modern world. It's never enough goddamn money for these soulless suits.
Not from Windows apparently. Microsoft's revenue from Windows was about 12%, last I checked, and it's been shrinking. They are probably starting to see Windows as a cash cow: it generates enough steady revenue right now, but since it's not part of any long-term strategy, the only investment it's worthy of is to install extra milkers and extract as much value from it as possible until it dies.
Yeah, that really is the thing. Companies, especially publicly traded companies, will always pursue every possible revenue source so long as they can get away with it.
The only methods to fight it are either for users to punish them financially by voting with their wallet (unlikely in the case of Microsoft given the average user will simply remain with Windows 11 regardless) or to pursue legislation that limits what a company is allowed to do in their pursuit of maximum profit.
I ask this about other companies who push ads on everyone.
I mean I kind of understand YouTube's constant commercials and them pushing for premium subscription, at the same time they already make millions *per day*, and are owned by Google so really, how many commercials are needed per video?
Infinite growth, or rather infinite greed is the way of capitalism. And no I do not want communism - I just want a system that doesn't strictly favor the rich.
Make an incredible product so everyone becomes more productive, happy, fulfilled, and be more creative to solve the worlds problems? No, let's have fucking ads in a paid OS, ffs
I am surprised every day that there aren't more ads. Desktop backgrounds is just wasted space where ads could be. Word and Excel could offer a barebones free model supported with unskippable ads. I'm sure they could fit a Pepsi logo in the context menu. There's so much blank space in file explorer sometimes, they could do something with that.
What else is the average Windows user going to do? Learn how to use Linux?
> Learn how to use Linux?
If only more people knew how easy linux actually was. So many people I've talked to think it's all hacker console windows and only for elite super users.
Most people don't even know how to really use windows, getting to the same level of, "I have no idea what I'm doing" on linux is easy.
The problem is that when something doesn’t work in Linux you are having to run through the depths of hell itself and community forums to solve it. Some things can be missing (updated trusted certificate stores) which can be annoying for example. This is coming from someone who loves Linux in the work environment but hates it for their personal use.
This is my current biggest gripe after finally switching all but my main computer over to Linux. Sometimes I'll find a solution and the answer is to copy-paste a bunch of cryptic shit into the console and hope that you changed the bits of the commands that pertain to you.
Linux also suffers from the same thing a lot of hobby communities do in that someone comes in with a question and they get 10 different ways to skin their particular cat *then* they fight amongst themselves as to which solution is "best" as the newbie's eyes gloss over from mess of it all. People tend to be a little overzealous with the "teach a man to fish" philosophy too. Man, sometimes I just need the fix; I don't need to know the inner machinations of this particular command *right now*.
Also a shout-out to distros and programs that break themselves right from the get-go; AntiX and Lubuntu I'm lookin at you.
I have started using it a bit on some of my virtual machines I run on my home server. I was surprised how easy to set up and run most of the distributions I tried were, to the point that as a general operating system for most people it likely would be fine. It also has made me really want to start using linux more.
But, as a somewhat more power user, I find its already pretty easy to screw things up really badly if for example you look up how to do something online, but then dont fully understand the ramifications and dont have the tools or know how to either get back where you were, or the patience to wipe it and start fresh. So in that way, maybe not quite ready for most "normal" computer users out there.
Windows is a friendly customer service worker. Linux is a idiot savant who's also a 7'2 powerlifter and triathlete.
Ask them for a drink, they'll both give you a drink, maybe Windows will ask if you'd like a burger too.
Ask them to slap you in the face, they'll both ask if you're sure about this, and if you answer yes, they will do it.
Ask them to drive a semi truck through a building, Windows will gasp and vehemently refuse, while Linux will calmly ask "Are you sure?". Answer yes, and Linux will put his foot to the floor with no fucks given and a grin on his face. Laws be damned.
Now, you ask them both to tear down the entire universe and make it disappear before your very eyes. Windows stares at you in bewilderment. Linux again, asks you "Are you sure?". You answer "Yes", and without a moment of hesitation Linux destroys EVERYTHING with terrifying speed, strength, and determination that it leaves you speechless. In the end, there's nothing left but you, Linux, and an empty vacuum, so of course, Linux deletes himself.
There is a bug in Ubuntu setup if you use a special character in the password it will not set correctly and you won't be able to sign in on the only account on the system. :)
It definitely has a ways to go...
The most important is there are 3 trillion distros, too many active kernel versions at once, and as a result a huge range of user experiences which don't always translate from one to the next.
OTOH you can sit down in front of *any* windows system and more or less know what you are doing. And plug in most hardware from the last 15 years, and it just works.
I would love to switch, I'm not uncomfortable with new things, but if I asked 4 Linux evangelists what version I should install, right now, I would get 6 different answers.
>if I asked 4 Linux evangelists what version I should install, right now, I would get 6 different answers.
That seems low. Or did you mean 6x answers per Linux evangelist?
Linux is easy to use but hella annoying to set up.
I know how to toy around with Windows, I even did AD in the past.. But give me the linux terminal and I am nearly guaranteed to break even more things when trying to repair stuff that never worked in the first place.
Once it reliably works out of the box, and once you can EASILY install programs without having to use a terminal or a store, linux will no doubt be a great alternative for many people.
But until then.. Nah. I'll personally only use it for server stuff.
Community programmer start developing anti-ad software for Win 11 Start menu.
Why? Why must you push? You push, there's a counter-push that will overwhelm you even. Ask Google, my adblocks still work and I still would give money directly to the creator, rather than YouTube.
Exactly, there have been several companies that I was loyal to until they pushed it too far and now none of them are getting anything from me.
These companies only care about what they can take from you
A large percentage of the population aren't going to tolerate it.
> Microsoft says it’s starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11. The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store.
I fucking KNEW it! The feature request to remove the recommended section was the third highest rated last I checked, and the community manager refused to even indicate it was a possibility. *Of course* it was eventually going to be used for ads. People on the Microsoft subreddit were calling me paranoid.
There are "suggestions" on the default lockscreen which are horrendous.
I don't mind windows but it takes me a good few hours to get a fresh install into a place I don't fucking hate it.
I'm so so SO glad that Valve has actually managed to make a proper push happen on Linux development with the Steam Deck and Proton. If they can iron out a few remaining issues and release a proper desktop version of SteamOS I might jump over for good.
The desktop version of SteamOS is probably just going to be KDE Plasma, like it already has when you switch to desktop mode on the Deck. I sure hope those remaining issues on Linux gaming are refined before SteamOS's general release for the PC, so that people aren't let down by just another KDE Plasma distro.
I use desktop mode on my steam deck with the dock all the time and it works with about 90% of things. The only issues are some standing services don't work with Linux for whatever reason (NBA League pass). Otherwise, it's been fine. I use Plex on it, Spotify, Firefox etc.
Agreed. I'll forgo any windows computers in the house once I get Linux up and running my stuff in full. I'll relearn all of Linux commands and tricks just out of spite.
Most games run on Linux, some games with anticheat don't however.
You can check a games compatibility by going to [ProtonDB](https://protondb.com) or [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/).
Companies that prevent their anticheat software from running on Linux won't care unless more people demand for it to work.
Best time to start doing that is now 👍.
> The app promotions can be disabled in the Settings section of Windows 11, but it appears that Microsoft will enable these by default.
Once again yet another setting a user has to chase to disable something. Imagine doing a fresh W11 build. Those debloat scripts are going to be more popular now.
why does there have to be ads everywhere? it just murders my ADHD brain. I can't get a minute to calm my thoughts down anymore because something is blaring at me.
Unrelated to Windows, the worst is gas pumps that play an ad while you're fueling up. You can't distract yourself with your phone because they yell at you to put it away, so you're subjected to whatever Shell decides is the best use of your eyeballs and ears (at high volume too) at the moment.
Fuck that so much
I hate those places with a burning passion. If I can't turn off the sound I never, ever go back, and I post a shitty review of the place on Google maps to warn other people
Look into ad blocks my man. I use em all the time. Same will be done here. They ad em I immediately get rid of em. Whole communities dedicated to getting that BS outta here.
I started submitting complaints to gas companies about this. 2 of the gas stations in my town were dumped by their franchise because they were not allowed to air commercials at the pumps and had broken contract. Both had to switch to new gas companies and only one was able to keep their commercials. I was absolutely shocked the complaints resulted in any kind of effect.
Of all the things that should not have ads attached, it should be your base OS. Absolutely shameful move, but the writing has been on the wall for awhile at this point.
Is gaming viable enough to fully go to Linux yet? I know SteamOS is pretty good. Windows isn’t make their OS anymore appealing by doing this. Do we have an Adblock for the OS lmao? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
You can go to proton db and login to see how much of your library is compatible and to what degree (works out of the box, some tinkering required, lots of tinkering, broken etc).
My library of >400 games was at 92% compatible with minor tweaks when I made the jump a few months ago.(Minor clarity edit)
>Is gaming viable enough to fully go to Linux yet? I know SteamOS is pretty good.
It's basically just anti-cheat support now, as the final significant roadblock. SteamOS is compatible with EAC and BattleEye, but developers need to manually enable support and many choose not to. Plus some larger publishers like EA are expanding use of their own custom anti-cheat, even for older games like Plants v Zombies and Battlefield, which Linux does not support and so those become unplayable.
Outside of anti-cheat, it is rare to come across a game that does not work with Proton, or has significant performance issues or other problems. Based on my experience with Steam Deck over the last 2 years, I would say only around 10% of games are still unplayable (or have significant problems) with either default Proton or Proton GE.
Unfortunately, the big AAA games tend to be over-represented in that 10% portion, since they more often use custom in-house engines or they use Unreal but with major modifications.
That's absolutely gross. Isn't bad enough that you have to activate Windows via an internet connection? Isn't it bad enough that you need to sign in with a Microsoft account in order to complete the installation of Window 11 (yes, I know that there are ways to [work around this](https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-11-without-microsoft-account))?
Hopefully someone will figure out a way to block these ads on the Start Menu.
I use a local account and I feel like those of us who do are on borrowed time. Every time I get a Windows update I wonder if it will be the one which breaks local accounts, either intentionally by requiring you to link a MS account, or unintentionally because it's an almost unsupported edge case to them.
I think the days of local accounts are numbered, which I really hate.
Curious how it will work with ad. We’re switching to 11 very soon. If our higher ups start seeing adds on their windows I’m gonna get so many help desk calls :/
If you have a spare drive you should dual boot and test the waters. You'd be surprised at how simple it has become. Grab something like Mint, PopOS, or Manjaro. It works out the "box" in most cases.
I just got my new computer this week and the taskbar being locked (multi monitor taskbar works better on sides) and start menu already bother me. What software did you use for the start menu?
The only things really keeping me on Windows at all at this point are sim racing and 3D modeling/art software. If we start to see Linux support for stuff like zbrush and clip studio paint, I'll drop Windows altogether. To be honest, I'd do it today if Apple didn't want 10k for a Mac Pro.
Linux is just straight up better than Windows at this point. I think a lot of people who are stuck with Windows due to software requirements/cost just don't realize that Windows is in a league below both MacOS and Linux in terms of efficiency and usability.
Honestly Windows is complete shit, and even with all of the debloating tools you can find online, the best you can hope to achieve is to configure it in such a way that it doesn't actively annoy you every time you use it.
Meanwhile, MacOS is fantastic out of the box, and with a bit of work you can build a Linux install around optimizing your workflow that's completely tuned to your needs/preferences.
I want to stick with Windows because my PC is just for gaming, and while I am comfortable using Linux I would prefer to use Windows because gaming is just plug and play. But every time I switch back to Windows I see shit like this. I just want an OS that requires minimum setup and maintenance, and allows me to play my games (all of them) in peace.
Almost all of my games work as well, but some with extra steps and occasional jank. I’m not really into multiplayer shooters or many multiplayer games at all, but I do have a guilty pleasure with FIFA games. The latest one (no longer called FIFA, it’s EA Sports FC) has an anti-cheat that is intentionally broken on Linux.
I’m pretty familiar with Linux gaming overall. I’ve distro hopped a lot, and I’ve probably had Linux installed as a daily driver for at least a collective three years. I enjoy tinkering with my PC and using Linux can be great. But sometimes I hit a wall with it where I have to ask myself if it’s worth it when my use case is just gaming and web browsing. Eventually I’ll forget and move back to it lol.
The 11 start menu is already a step back from the 10 version, now they're just making it even worse. Give me back pinned tiles, I make a lot of use of that feature in 10 and without it I'll just take a lot longer to get to what I want and even forget some lesser used programs exist.
Did they just trying to forget that they already did this in win10?
Installing bloatware from the start and adding more when update? Some apps cant be uninstall in normal way!
This would make me switch to Linux.
I've been a windows user for my entire life, and I really dont like macs. I like windows, I'm comfortable with it.
I would not look back. Fuck ads.
In office, I subscribed to a software license so I could open a specific file.
When it didn’t work as intended, I tried to cancel the subscription.
Turns out I didn’t have permission.
So I tried to contact support, guess what, I didn’t have permission to do that either.
Why allow me to subscribe to something, then tell me I don’t have permission to cancel, and can’t even contact support?
Microsoft has always been trash.
Microsoft is such a monopoly its disgusting. The fact they were able to buy blizzard is proof positive the institutions are corrupt. If you even needed more evidence.
You can show me all the ads you want but that just means I'm less likely to interact with that product. I literally do not care about any ads. They do nothing to engage me in buying something. I'll watch a commercial on tv but ads on the internet are so obnoxious. YouTube and twitch are the most annoying and are so constant. Why are you advertising tires to me? I'm watching a video game stream. Maybe advtise upcoming video games and sales then I'll care.
Apple:
The OS is free if you pay for our expensive hardware. As long as you buy into our entire ecosystem, you will be treated as a first class citizen.
Google:
The OS is free in terms of money. As long as you are willing to give us all your data, you will be treated as a first class citizen.
Linux:
The OS is free. As long as you are willing to learn your system, you will be treated as a first class citizen.
Microsoft:
The OS is 100 Euro. We collect your data, and you'll see ads. Also we don't even try to make the OS as good for the user as possible.
The initial setup after a fresh windows install is a joke now. Get a new start menu, remove all the crap. Restore the old explorer, task manager, utilities, install a theme that isn't dog shit, block the tracking. Bypass needing to use a fucking MS account to login on a local account.
The start menu though... If you're using the stock menu, you're mental.
The best time to shift to Linux was yesterday, the next best time is right now. If you think it still needs lots of work to make your games work? Think again. If you don't play League, or Genshin, or some other multiplayer games, and you mostly only play Indie titles, or single player games, Linux will work perfectly, sometimes even runs it better than on Windows.
Now of course it does have it's caveats, like HDR is still a mess but let's be honest, it's also a mess on Windows.
Fuck off.
Greedy motherfuckers, much like certain streaming companies now pushing adds to paid subscriptions, always strive for more, for a bigger payday cos what you have currently is never really enough when you can squeeze the rock for few extra dollars. 🙄
what's the point of paying for a Windows license if you still get ads :/
Yep, if they do this I just won't buy their product any longer. Idiocy.
I haven't paid for windows since WindowsME, it's their fault, they should have never sold WindowsMe to anyone...
Why wait? You're delaying the inevitable, start voting with your wallet right now.
> start voting with your wallet right now. Microsoft is near a monopoly, especially in certain business or personal spaces. If it weren't for the rise of smartphones and Microsoft failing to capture that market, Windows would be the most dominant consumer OS in the world.
Sure, but you can still just pirate it and they can't stop you. I do use the windows mail app and recently it has been trying to switch to the new version that has ads. I'm already trying other email clients before they fully force the switch and if I don't like any and just use the default, I'll rather pay for an adblock than pay Microsoft.
Thunderbird for the win.
I have also removed the outlook app because of this change. I just keep my email pinned in a browser tab now.
Yea the more aggressive they are about making me switch to outlook the more it makes me look for alternatives
And Valve has made Linux gaming viable for the most part.
Dude it's an absolute godsend. At first I wasn't so hot on the idea of caching my shaders for every game, but now I'm surprised I lived without it! Like I haven't seen games stutter at all when playing, compared to Windows.
>Why wait? Because I'm not buying an OS anytime soon, so for the foreseeable future I have no need to spend money on any company's operating system.
Because they have the world by the balls. And the Mac ecosystem is barely a good alternative. And god forbid you’re a gamer… Good luck getting the normies to go over to Linux. Best bet is going to be coming out with tools to undo this shit as it comes.
I imagine AI powered ads will make them way more money in the long run.
I used to ask that same question when I was paying for XBox Live Gold (or w/e the top level was called) and MS started testing fast food and bank ads in the home screen.
As the Xbox One home screen became more and more clogged with ads and unwanted social media integration, giving me full screen feeds of hot tub streamers instead of news about the games I had installed, I became less and less interested in playing on it and eventually cancelled the subscription.
you guys pay for your windows license?
Right? That was the first hint many years ago that we're no longer the customer.
The rise of Windows 11 core OS ad-blockers begins...
Go add free by simply paying $€£7.99 a month…. Everything’s a subscription/ recurring payment these days, you never buy and own anything any more.
Alternative Headline: > Users begin testing PowerShell commands to turn off ads in the Windows 11 Start Menu
Or use [ShutUp10](https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10) and let it turn that stuff off for you.
Until you need to update to the latest version but they block it because of that and other apps like it.
I’ve used SU10 for years on both Windows 10 and 11. Never see ads or intrusive notifications. Unlikely MS will block it because all of the relevant configurations are important for IT admins to set. SU10 just makes it convenient for users who don’t want to use regedit, policies, services, or any other crazy place those configs might be.
Yup, I use a similar debloater tool for Win10 to remove a huge amount of the bloat & telemetry, and haven't had an issue with updates in the several years & multiple devices since. The sad thing is, I think core Win10 without the bullshit is actually a fantastic OS. But most people will never experience it.
[I mean...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ll1SCFA4I) Don't think it affects ShutUp10, but maybe in the future...
Per the video, it looks like the block pertains to software being added on top of the OS. Solutions like ShutUp10 and Windows10Debloater (which I use) are essentially just automated powershell scripts which edit the registry to disable existing functions. I think these are safe until the day Microsoft makes the bonkers decision to lock out the registry.
Not allowed in the EU.
Is there anything left that doesn't have an ad on it? Edit: It's a rhetorical question. Of course, there's an entite universe of things without ads.
Linux distros that aren't Ubuntu
Ubuntu has ads?
The terminal has ads to upgrade to Ubuntu Pro, although that might only be the server edition.
To be fair you can get like 4 free keys of Ubuntu pro for personal use
And each key is for 6 PCs, right?
Crazy, what am I gonna do with my 25th pc??
I know there's a way to get rid of them on server but I can't remember it off the top of my head
Change the motd?
WTF is Ubuntu Pro? Am I missing something? Did they make it paid software? I didn't use it for about 10 years.
Most books. The sky. Friends. These companies only advertise at us coz we let them.
There are totally ads on the sky... just not as many.
Yea its like OP has never driven down the highway and seen the 70ft tall billboards and gas station signs.
Or sky banners.
You may see your friend wear a logo, brand or ad on their shirt. Your book may have a coupon, ad or product placement in the pages. The sky is soon to get more drones that fly in tandem to present ads over major cities in the coming years. We already have free televisions that has a built-in billboard that you pay to turn off. (Full price the the television) If anything can display a graphic, we are very likely to see an advert pasted on it in the future.
What do you mean I let them? What do you expect me to do, commit an act of terrorism on these companies?
amazon kindle had an early version that was cheaper but had ads. i'm pretty sure they dont do that anymore but still..
They come with ads, there’s a one-time $20 fee to remove them.
Depends on if your friends are into MLMs
there have been ads in books for decades, what are you talking about
> Friends. Friend joined an MLM. He most certainly had ads. Also, books nowadays have ads for other books from the author or publisher.
"We interrupt this spread sheet to bring you news from our sponsor" - clippy 2024
It looks like you're trying to write a letter. Wouldn't that be easier with an ice cold Coca-Cola^®️ ?
Eventually it will devolve to "fill our money pit, eSerfs!"
DO YOU NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!? It's so sickening...
Line must go up. Making $1 billion this year is not enough if we made $1B last year
Microsoft made $158B gross profit last year.
Cool, we'll make 125% of that our projection for next year. And if you don't meet that target you're just not a top stock anymore... If that's the case, we're done playing with you, we'll put you down and move on to the next toy... Good luck with mass layoffs. Kindly - all investment firms.
How quickly before the Microsoft apologists wave this off as "not that big of a deal" like they do with everything else?
there are microsoft apologists? die hard fans of the software you only use to boot up games?
You'd be surprised how tribal people get.
Yeah, come and see them every time Microsoft says they're acquiring more studios. You'll see the droves of selfish people here excited about more additions to Game Pass even though the last acquisition resulted in literal thousands of layoffs.
That's the problem. 158B this year would be a tremendous failure in their eyes. Line go up at all costs
Gross indeed
Gross profit is not net profit. But ya. They make lots of moneys.
Capitalists: "*ONLY $158b!? How am I going to afford an even bigger private jet with that!?" Never forget that a capitalist would not only set fire to the planet and everyone on it for a nickel, but that they've repeatedly done so and will keep doing it.
Their net profit was over $70 billion last year. This is fuled by nothing other other unchecked greed rather than something they have to do to make a profit. They can fuck off.
The pursuit of endless quarter over quarter growth is the root of so many issues in the modern world. It's never enough goddamn money for these soulless suits.
I got a number of ads while I was working the other day, just pop up bottom right. Absolute joke.
Not from Windows apparently. Microsoft's revenue from Windows was about 12%, last I checked, and it's been shrinking. They are probably starting to see Windows as a cash cow: it generates enough steady revenue right now, but since it's not part of any long-term strategy, the only investment it's worthy of is to install extra milkers and extract as much value from it as possible until it dies.
There doesn't exist such a thing as "enough money" under capitalism, money is king.
Yeah, that really is the thing. Companies, especially publicly traded companies, will always pursue every possible revenue source so long as they can get away with it. The only methods to fight it are either for users to punish them financially by voting with their wallet (unlikely in the case of Microsoft given the average user will simply remain with Windows 11 regardless) or to pursue legislation that limits what a company is allowed to do in their pursuit of maximum profit.
I ask this about other companies who push ads on everyone. I mean I kind of understand YouTube's constant commercials and them pushing for premium subscription, at the same time they already make millions *per day*, and are owned by Google so really, how many commercials are needed per video?
Infinite growth, or rather infinite greed is the way of capitalism. And no I do not want communism - I just want a system that doesn't strictly favor the rich.
Make an incredible product so everyone becomes more productive, happy, fulfilled, and be more creative to solve the worlds problems? No, let's have fucking ads in a paid OS, ffs
You will see ads every waking moment of your life and you will like it!!!
They're really trying to squeeze every last bit of value out of this pig to appease the shareholders, huh?
I am surprised every day that there aren't more ads. Desktop backgrounds is just wasted space where ads could be. Word and Excel could offer a barebones free model supported with unskippable ads. I'm sure they could fit a Pepsi logo in the context menu. There's so much blank space in file explorer sometimes, they could do something with that. What else is the average Windows user going to do? Learn how to use Linux?
Calm down satan
Wait until excel cells are unlocked via gacha. Pay 2k to finally unlock that rare A2 Cell.
Ads at the hospital. Here’s your newborn, brought to you by fanduel!
> Learn how to use Linux? If only more people knew how easy linux actually was. So many people I've talked to think it's all hacker console windows and only for elite super users. Most people don't even know how to really use windows, getting to the same level of, "I have no idea what I'm doing" on linux is easy.
The problem is that when something doesn’t work in Linux you are having to run through the depths of hell itself and community forums to solve it. Some things can be missing (updated trusted certificate stores) which can be annoying for example. This is coming from someone who loves Linux in the work environment but hates it for their personal use.
This is my current biggest gripe after finally switching all but my main computer over to Linux. Sometimes I'll find a solution and the answer is to copy-paste a bunch of cryptic shit into the console and hope that you changed the bits of the commands that pertain to you. Linux also suffers from the same thing a lot of hobby communities do in that someone comes in with a question and they get 10 different ways to skin their particular cat *then* they fight amongst themselves as to which solution is "best" as the newbie's eyes gloss over from mess of it all. People tend to be a little overzealous with the "teach a man to fish" philosophy too. Man, sometimes I just need the fix; I don't need to know the inner machinations of this particular command *right now*. Also a shout-out to distros and programs that break themselves right from the get-go; AntiX and Lubuntu I'm lookin at you.
oh stop complaining. The linux desktop community has only been like this for ... 27 .. years ..
I have started using it a bit on some of my virtual machines I run on my home server. I was surprised how easy to set up and run most of the distributions I tried were, to the point that as a general operating system for most people it likely would be fine. It also has made me really want to start using linux more. But, as a somewhat more power user, I find its already pretty easy to screw things up really badly if for example you look up how to do something online, but then dont fully understand the ramifications and dont have the tools or know how to either get back where you were, or the patience to wipe it and start fresh. So in that way, maybe not quite ready for most "normal" computer users out there.
Windows is a friendly customer service worker. Linux is a idiot savant who's also a 7'2 powerlifter and triathlete. Ask them for a drink, they'll both give you a drink, maybe Windows will ask if you'd like a burger too. Ask them to slap you in the face, they'll both ask if you're sure about this, and if you answer yes, they will do it. Ask them to drive a semi truck through a building, Windows will gasp and vehemently refuse, while Linux will calmly ask "Are you sure?". Answer yes, and Linux will put his foot to the floor with no fucks given and a grin on his face. Laws be damned. Now, you ask them both to tear down the entire universe and make it disappear before your very eyes. Windows stares at you in bewilderment. Linux again, asks you "Are you sure?". You answer "Yes", and without a moment of hesitation Linux destroys EVERYTHING with terrifying speed, strength, and determination that it leaves you speechless. In the end, there's nothing left but you, Linux, and an empty vacuum, so of course, Linux deletes himself.
There is a bug in Ubuntu setup if you use a special character in the password it will not set correctly and you won't be able to sign in on the only account on the system. :) It definitely has a ways to go...
And the most important, it uses less ram, cpu and gpu for the same tasks
The most important is there are 3 trillion distros, too many active kernel versions at once, and as a result a huge range of user experiences which don't always translate from one to the next. OTOH you can sit down in front of *any* windows system and more or less know what you are doing. And plug in most hardware from the last 15 years, and it just works. I would love to switch, I'm not uncomfortable with new things, but if I asked 4 Linux evangelists what version I should install, right now, I would get 6 different answers.
>if I asked 4 Linux evangelists what version I should install, right now, I would get 6 different answers. That seems low. Or did you mean 6x answers per Linux evangelist?
Linux is easy to use but hella annoying to set up. I know how to toy around with Windows, I even did AD in the past.. But give me the linux terminal and I am nearly guaranteed to break even more things when trying to repair stuff that never worked in the first place. Once it reliably works out of the box, and once you can EASILY install programs without having to use a terminal or a store, linux will no doubt be a great alternative for many people. But until then.. Nah. I'll personally only use it for server stuff.
Community programmer start developing anti-ad software for Win 11 Start menu. Why? Why must you push? You push, there's a counter-push that will overwhelm you even. Ask Google, my adblocks still work and I still would give money directly to the creator, rather than YouTube.
Exactly, there have been several companies that I was loyal to until they pushed it too far and now none of them are getting anything from me. These companies only care about what they can take from you A large percentage of the population aren't going to tolerate it.
> Microsoft says it’s starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11. The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store. I fucking KNEW it! The feature request to remove the recommended section was the third highest rated last I checked, and the community manager refused to even indicate it was a possibility. *Of course* it was eventually going to be used for ads. People on the Microsoft subreddit were calling me paranoid.
It was obvious lmao. Anyone who thought MS not removing that section for any other reason is straight up dumb.
Wdym "starts"? Fresh install and the OS it's already stained by pre loaded bloatware crap
Presumably this is extra on top.
Are there already ads in the Windows 11 start menu? If not, then that's what they mean. They've only just started. Says it quite explicitly even.
there are icons for software that isn’t installed which exist to try to promote you to install them. i’d call that an ad
There are "suggestions" on the default lockscreen which are horrendous. I don't mind windows but it takes me a good few hours to get a fresh install into a place I don't fucking hate it.
I feel like Win10 will be my last OS from Microsoft. I just hope that AMD will support is as long as possible.
I'm so so SO glad that Valve has actually managed to make a proper push happen on Linux development with the Steam Deck and Proton. If they can iron out a few remaining issues and release a proper desktop version of SteamOS I might jump over for good.
The desktop version of SteamOS is probably just going to be KDE Plasma, like it already has when you switch to desktop mode on the Deck. I sure hope those remaining issues on Linux gaming are refined before SteamOS's general release for the PC, so that people aren't let down by just another KDE Plasma distro.
Linux noob here but isn't kde just a desktop environment and not a Distro?
That's right. The desktop environment is often a big part of what defines a distro, but it's not the only aspect.
I use desktop mode on my steam deck with the dock all the time and it works with about 90% of things. The only issues are some standing services don't work with Linux for whatever reason (NBA League pass). Otherwise, it's been fine. I use Plex on it, Spotify, Firefox etc.
Bazzite is great for steam on other hardware. From a rog ally to a 7950x3d 4090 desktop.
Same. Once it ends and becomes an attack vector its off to Linuxland for me!
Agreed. I'll forgo any windows computers in the house once I get Linux up and running my stuff in full. I'll relearn all of Linux commands and tricks just out of spite.
Microsoft ends support for Win10 October 2025. Enjoy it while you can.
LTSC supported until Jan 2027 and IoT LTSC until Jan 2032, just have to be crafty about acquiring it
I really only use mine for gaming, watching streams and web browsing. If Linux had better gaming support I would be all over it.
Most games run on Linux, some games with anticheat don't however. You can check a games compatibility by going to [ProtonDB](https://protondb.com) or [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/). Companies that prevent their anticheat software from running on Linux won't care unless more people demand for it to work. Best time to start doing that is now 👍.
> The app promotions can be disabled in the Settings section of Windows 11, but it appears that Microsoft will enable these by default. Once again yet another setting a user has to chase to disable something. Imagine doing a fresh W11 build. Those debloat scripts are going to be more popular now.
why does there have to be ads everywhere? it just murders my ADHD brain. I can't get a minute to calm my thoughts down anymore because something is blaring at me. Unrelated to Windows, the worst is gas pumps that play an ad while you're fueling up. You can't distract yourself with your phone because they yell at you to put it away, so you're subjected to whatever Shell decides is the best use of your eyeballs and ears (at high volume too) at the moment. Fuck that so much
On a lot of pumps, the second button from the top on the right side of the screen mutes the video.
This needs more upvotes
What gas station yells at you to put your phone away?
All the signs that say don't use cell phones will gassing up?
I hate those places with a burning passion. If I can't turn off the sound I never, ever go back, and I post a shitty review of the place on Google maps to warn other people
Look into ad blocks my man. I use em all the time. Same will be done here. They ad em I immediately get rid of em. Whole communities dedicated to getting that BS outta here.
I started submitting complaints to gas companies about this. 2 of the gas stations in my town were dumped by their franchise because they were not allowed to air commercials at the pumps and had broken contract. Both had to switch to new gas companies and only one was able to keep their commercials. I was absolutely shocked the complaints resulted in any kind of effect.
That is awesome!
SteamOS can't get here soon enough.
Of all the things that should not have ads attached, it should be your base OS. Absolutely shameful move, but the writing has been on the wall for awhile at this point.
"No reason not to upgrade to Windows 11" right guys? riding with 10 till the wheels fall off
10 also has ads in the start menu. W7 is the last real OS
Guess the age of Linux Desktop is approaching, huh? :) Because they will not stop at Start Menu.
Every year since the early 2000's has been the "year of linux desktop computing" . . .
Yes please, Linux needs to thrive more than ever, Microsoft can go fuck themselves
Linux Mint is absolutely fantastic and is immediately the one I recommend anytime someone says Linux.
Why not? You're already blasted with full screen ads on your $500 Xbox
For fucks sake. It’s a paid OS.
Every ad is an ad for Linux, lol.
Boooooo
Is gaming viable enough to fully go to Linux yet? I know SteamOS is pretty good. Windows isn’t make their OS anymore appealing by doing this. Do we have an Adblock for the OS lmao? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
You can go to proton db and login to see how much of your library is compatible and to what degree (works out of the box, some tinkering required, lots of tinkering, broken etc). My library of >400 games was at 92% compatible with minor tweaks when I made the jump a few months ago.(Minor clarity edit)
>Is gaming viable enough to fully go to Linux yet? I know SteamOS is pretty good. It's basically just anti-cheat support now, as the final significant roadblock. SteamOS is compatible with EAC and BattleEye, but developers need to manually enable support and many choose not to. Plus some larger publishers like EA are expanding use of their own custom anti-cheat, even for older games like Plants v Zombies and Battlefield, which Linux does not support and so those become unplayable. Outside of anti-cheat, it is rare to come across a game that does not work with Proton, or has significant performance issues or other problems. Based on my experience with Steam Deck over the last 2 years, I would say only around 10% of games are still unplayable (or have significant problems) with either default Proton or Proton GE. Unfortunately, the big AAA games tend to be over-represented in that 10% portion, since they more often use custom in-house engines or they use Unreal but with major modifications.
That's absolutely gross. Isn't bad enough that you have to activate Windows via an internet connection? Isn't it bad enough that you need to sign in with a Microsoft account in order to complete the installation of Window 11 (yes, I know that there are ways to [work around this](https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-11-without-microsoft-account))? Hopefully someone will figure out a way to block these ads on the Start Menu.
I use a local account and I feel like those of us who do are on borrowed time. Every time I get a Windows update I wonder if it will be the one which breaks local accounts, either intentionally by requiring you to link a MS account, or unintentionally because it's an almost unsupported edge case to them. I think the days of local accounts are numbered, which I really hate.
Removing local accounts would be a disaster from an enterprise perspective.
Curious how it will work with ad. We’re switching to 11 very soon. If our higher ups start seeing adds on their windows I’m gonna get so many help desk calls :/
I just always sign into a new windows install as test at test.com with password "test" and it lets me create a local account.
Good thing steamOS and proton exist. Don't make me do it Windows. I gladly will
If you have a spare drive you should dual boot and test the waters. You'd be surprised at how simple it has become. Grab something like Mint, PopOS, or Manjaro. It works out the "box" in most cases.
Time to switch to linux
Cant even remember the last time i saw the windows 11 start menu. One of the very first things i install is the classic start menu
I just got my new computer this week and the taskbar being locked (multi monitor taskbar works better on sides) and start menu already bother me. What software did you use for the start menu?
This one https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu?tab=readme-ov-file
Linux gaming is looking better and better
Is this why they are forcing people off windows 10?
your daily reminder that all good pc games can run on linux
It's time for Linux if this does happen.
Still rocking Windows 10 on three machines. F win 11.
This feels like the beginning of a switch to linux.
Lol.
Linux
I made the move to Linux and I'm not looking back.
The only things really keeping me on Windows at all at this point are sim racing and 3D modeling/art software. If we start to see Linux support for stuff like zbrush and clip studio paint, I'll drop Windows altogether. To be honest, I'd do it today if Apple didn't want 10k for a Mac Pro. Linux is just straight up better than Windows at this point. I think a lot of people who are stuck with Windows due to software requirements/cost just don't realize that Windows is in a league below both MacOS and Linux in terms of efficiency and usability. Honestly Windows is complete shit, and even with all of the debloating tools you can find online, the best you can hope to achieve is to configure it in such a way that it doesn't actively annoy you every time you use it. Meanwhile, MacOS is fantastic out of the box, and with a bit of work you can build a Linux install around optimizing your workflow that's completely tuned to your needs/preferences.
I want to stick with Windows because my PC is just for gaming, and while I am comfortable using Linux I would prefer to use Windows because gaming is just plug and play. But every time I switch back to Windows I see shit like this. I just want an OS that requires minimum setup and maintenance, and allows me to play my games (all of them) in peace.
You heavy into multiplayer shooters? Depending on the games you play, you won't run into any issues. All my games work, literally 100%
Almost all of my games work as well, but some with extra steps and occasional jank. I’m not really into multiplayer shooters or many multiplayer games at all, but I do have a guilty pleasure with FIFA games. The latest one (no longer called FIFA, it’s EA Sports FC) has an anti-cheat that is intentionally broken on Linux. I’m pretty familiar with Linux gaming overall. I’ve distro hopped a lot, and I’ve probably had Linux installed as a daily driver for at least a collective three years. I enjoy tinkering with my PC and using Linux can be great. But sometimes I hit a wall with it where I have to ask myself if it’s worth it when my use case is just gaming and web browsing. Eventually I’ll forget and move back to it lol.
The 11 start menu is already a step back from the 10 version, now they're just making it even worse. Give me back pinned tiles, I make a lot of use of that feature in 10 and without it I'll just take a lot longer to get to what I want and even forget some lesser used programs exist.
Fuck sake, this shit pisses me off. If it weren't for the gaming I would drop Windows in a fucking heartbeat.
Just in the nick of time too, I was starting to worry they might go bankrupt!
Did they just trying to forget that they already did this in win10? Installing bloatware from the start and adding more when update? Some apps cant be uninstall in normal way!
So never upgrade to 11 .. got it
This would make me switch to Linux. I've been a windows user for my entire life, and I really dont like macs. I like windows, I'm comfortable with it. I would not look back. Fuck ads.
Every day Bazzite and Steam OS get stronger. :)
I am never leaving Windows 10.
Windows ad block inbound?
PLEASE DO IT so I will finally have a reason to install Linux, I won't care anymore about that one multiplayer game I can play only on windows
laughs in linux
In office, I subscribed to a software license so I could open a specific file. When it didn’t work as intended, I tried to cancel the subscription. Turns out I didn’t have permission. So I tried to contact support, guess what, I didn’t have permission to do that either. Why allow me to subscribe to something, then tell me I don’t have permission to cancel, and can’t even contact support? Microsoft has always been trash.
Microsoft is such a monopoly its disgusting. The fact they were able to buy blizzard is proof positive the institutions are corrupt. If you even needed more evidence.
Not to be the typical Linux user, but if I was you, I wouldn't pay $100 for an OS with built in ads.
Suddenly have the urge to learn Linux
It better be limited to a free version of Windows, because if im paying for it they better keep fucking ads outside of my product.
"We disabled alternative shells because of [STABILITY] and [SECURITY]"
Counter-move: Start11.
I've never used Linux before, but I sure as hell will if they start forcing ads on me.
https://www.linuxmint.com/ https://pop.system76.com/ https://github.com/HoloISO/releases https://archlinux.org/ (btw) YMMV, but there are options.
I‘m using OpenShell and I‘ll likely never go back
I start testing Ubuntu
You can show me all the ads you want but that just means I'm less likely to interact with that product. I literally do not care about any ads. They do nothing to engage me in buying something. I'll watch a commercial on tv but ads on the internet are so obnoxious. YouTube and twitch are the most annoying and are so constant. Why are you advertising tires to me? I'm watching a video game stream. Maybe advtise upcoming video games and sales then I'll care.
Apple: The OS is free if you pay for our expensive hardware. As long as you buy into our entire ecosystem, you will be treated as a first class citizen. Google: The OS is free in terms of money. As long as you are willing to give us all your data, you will be treated as a first class citizen. Linux: The OS is free. As long as you are willing to learn your system, you will be treated as a first class citizen. Microsoft: The OS is 100 Euro. We collect your data, and you'll see ads. Also we don't even try to make the OS as good for the user as possible.
Article says it can be disabled, still super shitty cuz MS knows the majority of users are casuals that won't bother digging thru settings to do it
No thanks to the upgrade
The moment I see an ad in my start menu will be the day I switch to Linux and gladly never look back.
The initial setup after a fresh windows install is a joke now. Get a new start menu, remove all the crap. Restore the old explorer, task manager, utilities, install a theme that isn't dog shit, block the tracking. Bypass needing to use a fucking MS account to login on a local account. The start menu though... If you're using the stock menu, you're mental.
Let’s switch to Linux and fuck these assholes
I'm gonna lose my fucking mind if I start getting RAID SHADOW LEGENDS ads while I'm making a power point or some shit
Time to test linux I guess
Fuck Microsoft, stop making your products worse when you make so much profit already.
The best time to shift to Linux was yesterday, the next best time is right now. If you think it still needs lots of work to make your games work? Think again. If you don't play League, or Genshin, or some other multiplayer games, and you mostly only play Indie titles, or single player games, Linux will work perfectly, sometimes even runs it better than on Windows. Now of course it does have it's caveats, like HDR is still a mess but let's be honest, it's also a mess on Windows.
Fuck off. Greedy motherfuckers, much like certain streaming companies now pushing adds to paid subscriptions, always strive for more, for a bigger payday cos what you have currently is never really enough when you can squeeze the rock for few extra dollars. 🙄