this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu.

Luckily you can disable these ads, or “recommendations” as Microsoft calls them. If you’ve installed the latest KB5036980 update then head into Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the toggle for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.” While KB5036980 is optional right now, Microsoft will push this to all Windows 11 machines in the coming weeks.

Microsoft’s move to enable ads in the Windows 11 Start menu follows similar promotional spots in the Windows 10 lock screen and Start menu. Microsoft also started testing ads inside the File Explorer of Windows 11 last year before disabling the experiment and saying the test was “not intended to be published externally.” Hopefully that experiment remains very much an experiment.

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[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 206 points 8 months ago (7 children)

How did the default attitude toward the user get so hostile? The amount of toggles you need to set just to have a smooth experience with minimal tracking is insane. The people in here defending it by the fact it can be disabled are missing the point: we shouldn't have to deal with it in the first place.

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 32 points 8 months ago (3 children)

You shouldn't. I haven't. Microsoft is a plague and a choice.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 60 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You're not wrong, but there's a larger issue here: the fact that there's an alternative does not make what Microsoft is doing okay. This shit ought to be prohibited by consumer protection law.

[–] krimson@feddit.nl 34 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Yeah it’s not just Microsoft. Fucking ads in my doorbell app, Google TV, etc.

Putting ads in a product you paid for should be illegal.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

TBH I am fully expecting a world where, in the next 10-15 years, some company will make a car that plays unskippable audio ads every X number of miles/km which can be disabled for $9.99/month.

Your company can't afford the ad-free version of Zoom, so this meeting is sponsored by Papa Johns®. Try the new Cheesy Papadia virtual background.

Before you can place this emergency call, here's a word from our sponsors at Nord VPN.

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The choice is hard to make when Microsoft's garbage has been shoved down your throat for decades, it's the default pretty much everywhere and the only viable alternative, for 99% of the population, is Apple.

Governments have been way too lenient and passive towards Microsoft for far too long

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

the only viable alternative, for 99% of the population, is Apple

This is largely because Windows and MacOS come preinstalled and that's how the vast majority of people interact with operating systems. If you had to choose your OS, I'm sure there'd be more choice in the market. Not necessarily Linux, but just more choice in general.

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 4 points 8 months ago

That's pretty much my point, 99% of computers sold are sold with Windows on it and the leftover percent is 99% Apple and maybe 1% Linux.
And that's mostly because no one did anything when Microsoft licensed their crap to big OEM.

If any given computer sold was Linux (or any other free OS to be fair) by default and Windows as a paid option, it would change the market massively I believe. It would take time obviously but I'm convinced it would work in the long run.

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You don't choose your childhood education. Microsoft and Apple offer schools deals to create adults dependent on it - after all they'll be using it in work too.

[–] sudo42@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago

This is a direct result of our Wall Street economy. Wall Street demands that each corporation's stock price shall increase every quarter. No matter what. If that means the customer is unhappy or that a corporation must consume itself from within. Doesn't matter.

[–] kevincox@lemmy.ml 17 points 8 months ago

Pretty simple. Stock go brrrr.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Fewer people are buying PCs now that Smartphones have replaced the need to have one for most uses, but Microsoft still has to make more money every quarter than the quarter before because the stock market doesn't value stable profits.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It got here because it’s super profitable, and that’s all the C-suite cares about, and they’re the ones calling the shots at the end of the day.

I also think that engineering ethics has, in general, been strongly de-emphasized, and true holistic ownership of technical products is now usually held by business and finance types instead of engineers, with all the negative consequences that that entails.

Edit: also, don’t forget the Peter principle

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Having control over other people's computing gives you power over them: you can gain from their detriment. It's not like everyone is uncaring or greedy but even people with good intentions do not have infinite willpower to resist temptation. When the user doesn't like a change from an update their choice is usually to put up with it. Defending ads in a menu or opt-outs that should be opt-ins in hidden menus is less mental work than learning what an operating system is and that you can use a different one.

By sharing the source code instead you give up that power - if you fail to be good to the users then other devs can work on it without you.

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

You don't give up anything by sharing source code. If anything, you share your power with the world. All other perceived outcomes are attributes of capitalism baked into your thought pattern.

[–] kalpol@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

MS doesn't care about the desktop operating system except how can they control it like Apple and iphones. All the money is in O365 and Azure these days.