this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
996 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

60055 readers
3235 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It really goes like this:

I buy product. Product has no ads, and works really well.

After updates, my device starts showing ads and works worse than it had before.

I bought the device. It is my device. I should be able to do what I want with my device, that I spent my money on, the way I like it. If that means I don't want your shitty ads, then I should be able to avoid or opt out of those by default.

From your thought:

You buy cookbook. Cookbook has what you need already, which is why you purchased it.

The one you purchased it from comes and "updates" your book by scribbling in ads for it's other recipe books, and they did it really sloppily to boot.

Now, when you are looking for a specific recipe that you knew was in the book before, instead it is an ad for their other recipe book in place of where the recipe you were looking for was.

Sure, you can still find your recipe somewhere in the book, but as you flip through the books pages you see more and more and more ads for their other recipe books, and oh, now they are also showing you ads from some of their sponsors.

You paid for the book. It is rightfully yours to do with it as you please.

The recipe book company already got your money, yet they are insistent you buy more from them, and have even gone as far as defacing your book.

You should be upset.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

Yeah I think we're in violent agreement to an extent


as I said in my last graf, if it's effectively changing the user agreement, absolutely not ok. But if it's a shitty product to begin with, then I'm just not going to buy it in the first place.

So yeah, Windows doing shitty things for users who have already paid for the product is definitely not cool. But for all users going forward to have a shitty experience? That's... shitty, yeah, but I personally don't think it should be illegal?