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.
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.
Microsoft:
MS 2 decades late to Google’s ad game.
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
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.
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.
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.
It’s a PC. Why would anyone use “the store” to install anything?
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.
If you also live in Europe or set up your computer in the US with European English then you can also skirt some of the ads as well
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.
Are you running Home or a Pro-like version?
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.
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
How many more of these will it take, until people start looking for alternatives
Until it affects businesses it won’t change. Once they start to add them to Office, it’s all over.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Not any. Better avoid Ubuntu. They have advertisements too.
I use Ubuntu daily and didn’t seen any add, only during the install they ask once if I want Ubuntu Pro
When I was installing Ubuntu for my father a week ago, they showed me ads offering to install Microsoft apps.
Never happened to me, I hope they get their shit together and stop that. Ubuntu is the first distro for lots of people who want to leave windows and that does not looks good
I hope for that, too.
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
i can’t believe they wrote an entire article to whine about ads IN A STORE APP
Gotta keep that rage up.
I kind of expect ads in an app store, but I also don’t use the ms app store.
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!
