1y ago

Microsoft is not done yet: more ads spotted in latest Windows 11 build - gHacks Tech News

www.ghacks.net

When is an ad an advertisement and not a recommendation? Microsoft clearly likes to use the term recommendation for what others may see as an advertisement.

There are recommendations in the Start menu, Settings app, Lock screen, File Explorer, Get Help app, and other areas of the operating system already. These are often not that useful. App recommendations in the Start menu are limited to Microsoft Store apps.

Now, Microsoft is testing recommendations in the Microsoft Store app. If you never use the app, you won't be exposed to these. If you do, you may notice recommendations popping up when you try to use the built-in search.

First spotted by phantomofearth on X, two or three recommendations are shown whenever search is activated in the official Microsoft Store app.

145 comments

People need to stop complaining about the ads and they need to start complaining about the existence of a Windows monetization team.
Kill that team now while the revenue is small and the shareholders won’t throw a giant hissy fit.
As long as that team exists, they’re going to be putting ads in shit. Cut the head off the snake.
- Are we speaking metaphorically or literally? sharpens blades
  
  Yes
- Microsoft put themselves in this position when they started giving out Windows 10 for free. It was effective in bringing most of the market onto the new version, but it set an expectation which it now feels like they can't break, so they're also giving Windows 11 away. Now to offset that missing revenue, they have to do something to extract value from users.
  I don't see how they could stop this without replacing it with something more exploitive.
  
  I’d be happy to buy the OS too, but I want it to be a one-time payment and to quit with ads and all telemetry.
  
  Microsoft is the only company that charges for an operating system so frankly I don’t understand why they feel entitled to that income anyway
  
  Microsoft put themselves in this position when they went against the open source movement.
  It moves slowly but inexorably, and sooner or later Linux or another open source OS will take their spot on the desktop.
  
  There is nothing free in this life..
I've recently made the switch over to LinuxMint and I was shocked. Installing a popular Linux Distro is EASIER than installing Windows 10/11 at this point. Seriously. The Linux installer is super noob friendly, very quick and straight to the point, it doesn't need you to create an online account and you don't need be wary of accidentally giving any corporation the rights to steal your data.
And all the software I use (Steam, Discord, Spotify, Firefox, Thunderbird, ...) were all downloadable from the GUI Installer and worked right away OUT OF THE BOX. No fiddling in any Terminal was required.
Seriously, it's easier than installing Windows at this point.
- Installing Linux has never been particularly difficult, not in the last 15 or even 20 years anyway. I've always found it easier and more straightforward than the contemporary Windows installation process.
  The challenging part is wrapping your head around the Linux/Unix way of doing things when things can't be done through the GUI with just a few clicks.
  
  I think about this sometimes. What stuff can't you do in a Linux GUI that an average person would be able to do in Windows? For the sake the simplicity, lets limit the GUI to Cinnamon, Plasma, or Gnome.
  Obviously, there are obscure GUIs out there, but in the main ones, I think just about everything can be done without CLI.
  
  I know the filesystem is simple to Linux users, but the semantic form of physical drives getting a letter always made more sense to me.
  I have three drives in my computer. So they're labeled C:, D:, and E:. You can't place a file on "The Computer" - it's stored on some particular drive. If I install a game on the E drive, and then later somehow remove that drive and bring it somewhere else, that game remains on that drive, even if it's no longer E.
  On Linux, as best I understand it, if I have three drives, two of them are at /dev/hdd0 and hdd1. But they're not actually there, they're accessed at /media/hdd0 after mounting them (or at least, that's the convention, and if it's someone else's computer, good luck). Then you either begin every game installation path with that annoying prefix, or you start configuring a dozen symlinks. If you place an item in /home/documents/notporn, then who knows which drive it's on because you don't know what symlinks someone set up to make that folder.
  Windows does have symlinks too now, which has been nice for hacking a few installation directories, but I appreciate that it's an exception, and everything else follows relatively logical division of space, rather than this hybrid system where the filesystem isn't just stored files but also devices, programming concepts, and more.
- The issue is that you have to install it. Most users don’t have a clue how to install windows either, but it came with their PC.
  
  You can buy linux desktops these days too.
- As someone that has tried nearly every Linux desktop flavor\distro, Mint is GREAT for the novice. Or a pro even.
  
  I’m not a Linux wizard but I’m pretty skilled and I love mint. Although, my preference recently changed to Fedora plasma.
- And it doesn't work with half the programs I use on a daily basis.
  
  There's ways to make A LOT of things compatible these days, or you could run a VM for your Windows apps.
- Waaay easier. I tried to fix a work computer that someone but bitlocker on. I couldn't do shit with windows so I threw Mint on it to format it. Loaded right up, worked great. I go to put windows 11 on it and the HD doesn't show up... It needs drivers that I'm struggling to find. I have to run the driver setup on a different windows machine, find the driver and put it on a usb. Problem is, there's no model number on the computer and I can narrow it down to the series that has 20 different ones. It's unreal the pain the ass to just get it to install, meanwhile, linux has been working great on it while I mess with it here and there to try to get windows back on it. (work computer that needs windows for our software support)
- I use Linux at home and am disappointed with this news. I can’t help having to use Windows at work.
  
  Most workplaces have those disabled through the group policy editor and the likes. I’ve never seen a single ad on my work laptop. Cortana, copilot and all that crap are also disabled by default.
I'd be curious at the percentage of windows users actually using the store app.
As for the context of these ads, the store would kind of make more sense than within your settings landing page, start menu, search dialog, browser nagware, solitaire app etc.
- If I remember correctly some (mainly Microsoft made apps) are store only and some system apps are updated through it so probably a large part of users use it
  
  Anecdotally, I don't know anyone that uses it. In the years working IT since the Store came out, not a single coworker has asked me about it.
  Logging into my customer's computers and I don't see any evidence that they use it either.
  
  This is a fair point, an I had considered this to be a case but the store is capable of automatically updating apps in the background. I believe this is the default behaviour but I could be mistaken.
  There is also a chance a user may be directed to the store if they're required to buy the HEVC or install the AV1 system plugins.
  
  The more relevant question IMO is what proportion of software (or by revenue) is installed through the Windows store.
  Because compared to android (even counting Amazon fire and whatever other third party devices), I'm guessing that's pretty low.
Any recommendation I didn't ask for is an ad, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.
- I recommend you to try turning it off and on again.
I'm so done with companies claiming my house for their ads.
It's my house i decide what makes it in as i pay the rent and i bought these devices, so fuck off.
The last Windows 10 update automatically installed copilot without asking. Immediately deleted that shit
- Thank you for letting me know. I will too.
  
  A friend said it didn't for him, but for me it was in slot 1 of the taskbar
- I'm playing with Linux now and swapping when support for 10 is done
Install any popular Linux distro. They are all so much better than any proprietary OS. And if you are running relatively common hardware, everything will just work.
- I use Ubuntu daily and didn’t seen any add, only during the install they ask once if I want Ubuntu Pro
  
  If that is based on the Amazon suggestions then that joke is about 10 years out of date at this stage. I am using fedora so I am not an Ubuntu fanboy
Windows really is the worst OS. You pay 150$ for the license when you buy a laptop with it pre-installed and then on top of that, they spy on you and also show you ads.
Linux is free, does not spy on you and does not show any ads.
When is ad an advertisement and not a recommendation?
Always? That's why it's called ad instead of recommendation
- Then the question is: "When is a recommendation an ad?"
  For which I'd say: When the person recommending it is gaining something from it
  
  That’s not really a good description either. Advertisements are pretty clear: the deliberate promotion of a product or service to an audience. Saying “I like this app” in natural conversation doesn’t mean I don’t stand to benefit.
  
  Or at least when they recommend it with the intent of gaining something from it
Is Microsoft so in debt that they need to sell ad space in every pixal of their products? What is going on.
- Debt? This is capitalism, baby. Where every year's profits have to be bigger than last year's or else it counts as you failing, no matter how enormous the profits were last year.
  
  The hell? This leads only to inflation.
- Dumb businesses majors who only know "growth"
- It's not enough for a company to have a lot of money, they have to have all the money.
  Remember: under capitalism companies are legally obligated to pursue every last dollar they can possibly get, regardless of the damage it will do to the product, company, customer, or bystanders.
  
  Remember: under capitalism companies are legally obligated to pursue every last dollar they can possibly get, regardless of the damage it will do to the product, company, customer, or bystanders
  This is not true. Please stop repeating this lie which has become the excuse for companies to be even more evil
  https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/16/what-are-corporations-obligations-to-shareholders/corporations-dont-have-to-maximize-profits
- the 2nd most valuable company in the world? Hardly.
  No they're just switching business models, from paying for an OS outright to OS as a service
Recommendations is just an euphemism marketing joke. Every serious journalist would call them what they are, ads.
I'm so happy that I will never have to deal with this on my home computers. At work we can at least disable it all via policies. But my god has Microsoft lost its way. What happened to making professional business products?
This is not gonna stop until the consumer puts their money where there mouths are and stops using Windows until Microsoft back peddles. Money is all a company understands so that is where you need to hit them if you want them to listen. But as a group the consumer has a very weak constitution when it comes to having to do something that is good for them in the long term but causes them short term inconvenience. A lot of parallels to the modern corporate world in that.
- Could it be that consumers are putting money where there mouths are and this is just Microsoft desperately trying to increase their margins since their business isn't growing anymore?
  I mean the more people move away, the more likely it is Microsoft would milk the ones who can't.
  
  Especially considering the news on poor adoption rates for windows 11, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case. It could also be an explanation as to why we are only seeing these ads added to w11 right now.
- Isn't something like half of Windows purchases from businesses though?
  And I feel like the younger crowd isn't even buying PCs. Just tablets and phones.
  So, nothing will change, because businesses don't care if Jerry from accounting has to look at a bud light advertisement as a recovering alcoholic.
  And PCs might fade away like typewritters did.
  But don't worry. Printers will still exist wirelessly. They'll still have a finicky driver that breaks if you even look at the printer, and it'll still use ink that costs as much as a mortgage on a subscription model.
  Because fuck trees!
So anyway, welcome to computing 101, first you're going to create a new folder for your stuff. So let's do this, grab the mouse, and;
Right click->watch ad->New Folder
Mr Bob! The mouse bit me and now I can't stop the commercials!
As soon as they announced ads were gonna be in the start menu, i noped out of windows. I only use it for work which doesn't bother me because im not doing anything private on my work pc.
I switched to Fedora 40 with KDE and never looked back. My only real gripe is with making music. Getting the VSTs to work and setting up yabridge is kind of a headache that i still need to do 😮‍💨 aside from that, Linux has been my daily driver for quite a while now and im happy i switched even though im still learning.
- I have not dove into yabridge yet. What DAW did you go with?
  After poking around I decided to go with Bitwig and skip trying to go with getting Ableton working with Proton or Wine. I've actually been enjoying some of their default VSTs as I practice my piano again, but I do miss my paid VSTs a lot.
  Have been really looking around at the vsts that have native Linux support though. Was really glad to see of u-he's VSTs worked natively.
  
  I'm a huge fan of reaper. Nice clean daw for a good price imo. It being cross platform was a bonus. I started making music on Windows and the best part of switching to Linux was that reaper just works after figuring out how the hell to install it lol. Some Linux stuff im ok at but im still figuring things out.
  And same here. I'm a self pianist like my grandfather was. I really like addictive keys for playing piano and was happy to see the standalone version works with bottles. But without yabridge setup, i haven't been able to make much recently.
  Ive been looking to find a replacement for addictive keys thats native to Linux or works well at least.
I kind of expect ads in an app store, but I also don't use the ms app store.
i can't believe they wrote an entire article to whine about ads IN A STORE APP
- Gotta keep that rage up.
I would say a “recommendation” is an ad when an accountant is involved instead of (or in addition to) a curator. Even if it’s Microsoft recommending Microsoft’s products, department budgets probably track that internally (though I’m sure the official accounting is done in a way that shifts profits to a tax haven).
- Yeah, basically as soon as money changes hands, a recommendation becomes an ad.
How many more of these will it take, until people start looking for alternatives
- I think it is already happening gradually. SteamDeck has single handedly opened the eyes of so many already. M1 Macs did that for macOS as well.
  
  I think it's grossly undersold personally. What valve has managed is getting the single target platform open source could never agree on.
  It's a small miracle, and it bleeds over into stuff like device driver support in a way I don't think most people who didn't deal with Linux in the 2.x era immediately appreciate.
  If Linux on the desktop has a surge, they did a lot of the legwork.
- Until it affects businesses it won’t change. Once they start to add them to Office, it’s all over.
The ads are in the app store. I don't really understand why that's a problem. Although I'm probably the only tool out there that actually likes Windows 11.
- lol yep you probably are
  
  Self aware idiot.
I have used Windows 10 for years and recently switched to Windows 11 and I don't think I've ever seen an ad in my day to day OS use. I don't do the registry edits or turn off the telemetry stuff, either. I don't know what I'm doing differently but I'm not seeing these ads that apparently infected Windows.
- The home edition of windows has these ads baked in, but the pro/enterprise editions seem to be able to avoid this for now.
  
  I have home.
- Most of these reports are about preview builds of Windows.
  That said, surely you have seen recommendations from Microsoft to try their Office package and such oil up. It's like that, but more intrusive.
  I can't believe Microsoft is making me switch from Windows to Mac and Linux, but here we are.
  
  Actually, no I've never seen an ad for office but that might be because I'm already a customer.
I'm surprised they didn't put ads in the blank area of the taskbar.
- Or on the entire desktop. Ad wallpapers when?
<Linux User>
That's unfortunate.
I already run Linux on my laptop. The one thing keeping me from getting rid of Windows on my big machine is Forza games. Motorsport does not seem to work at all with proton/wine (yet)
- Didn't try it with Horizon, i want to play Forza Motorsport (2023) which is completely borked because of the shitty microsoft DRM
Microsoft:
While I hate ads as much as the next person, I'm having trouble getting outraged by ads in an app store. "Recommendations" are kinda par for that course. Sure, it would be nice if those "recommendations" actually reflected stuff I was interested in and not just who paid Microsoft the most for ad placement. But, I also aggressively turn off telemetry (and actually don't use Windows at home). So, it's not like I expect useful recommendations anyway.
I’m just riding win10 until I finally nab a new gpu and 5700x3d. Htpc and media server are running mint, I think I’ll change the server distro next time I upgrade the hardware though
Listen, bill gates just needs to buy more arable land. This, of course, is your capital to earn by being good and not using linux or Firefox to banish these innocent little ads.
- Gates could never make another cent and it wouldn't matter to him in regards to purchasing power.
MS 2 decades late to Google's ad game.
Microsoft seem determined to make us hate using Windows 11, which was all that hard to begin with. If Macs weren't so expensive, and Linux such a pain in the ass, I'd happily switch.
- I don't know about Linux being a pain in the ass. My kid was using first Linux on a laptop and then mac, and he wanted to go back to Linux where things make sense. He felt the mac was really confusing in where the files were. He also loved the integrated Software app where he can point and click install everything.
  Now he is learning the terminal... :)
  I think there is plenty of people who think macs are a pain in the ass too. Depends on what you are used to.
Sounds like they’re reaching feature parity with Apple and Google. Both already do that so I’m not surprised. I never use Microsoft’s App Store so I’ll never see them.
- Apple?
  
  What about Apple? Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re asking.

145 comments