Since this thread is mostly people complaining about Windows, here are two more fun anecdotes
1. I installed a new Windows-only gaming setup. Out of the box it was able to figure out how IPv6 networking works here but didn't get IPv4. So for the 10-20 minutes it took to fix that I was able to see what's a priority for Microsoft (so it works even with just IPv6) and what's non-critical so you can demand IPv4
Adverts everywhere: Critical, Ipv4 not needed
Turning *off* the adverts: Non-essential, need Ipv4 or you can't change this
2. In my day job we look after the software which runs exams. For obvious reasons this software cannot do anything except present your exam and accept whatever your answers are. The University doesn't have buckets of money and almost all its machines run Windows, so exams happen on Windows. With a locked down environment you can still write the formulae you were supposed to memorize on your tits and then wear a top you can pull down to look at them "discretely" the same as in a paper exam, but you can't ask ChatGPT to write your essay about Singapore's housing policy for your politics exam or have it tell you whether the X-ray in figure 1 shows evidence for options A, B, C or D in your 3rd year medicine exam.
Despite the fact that this software is as locked down as we could possibly make it, and so the machine definitely cannot "install OneDrive" even if the student really wanted to instead of taking their exam, Windows will still sometimes interrupt their exam to ask them if they want to install OneDrive.
Recently had to install some stuff on a Windows laptop, test it, then ship it out to a customer, and my god the culture shock coming from Mac (and previously Linux and before that Windows)! Randomly selected (and not particularly good at that) rotating wallpapers, random unrelated facts on the log in page. Had to nuke as many of them as possible, but they don't make it easy.
heaven forbid you leave the "stories" toggled on, it will just blast you in the face with the most garbage political stories ever written every single day. Edge is the worst offender, should be illegal and everyone involved with implementing and approving it should be in prison.
Was fixing something on my dad’s computer and the start menu was featuring some story like “10 children swept away by floodwaters to their deaths” in some faraway country. What a terrible vibe to start the day with. Sensational news has no place in an operating system.
I was setting up my kid’s laptop last year. Parental controls enabled, with the kid’s age entered. Start menu was showing stories about beheadings and murders.
Windows is rotten to the core.
The scariest part is just how many people stick with the default settings, and get this stuff pumped into their brains 24/7.
I hope some day we’ll take this as seriously as environmental protection. Which granted isn’t perfect either, but a lot more than we do about all the mental toxicity being spewed at scale by large tech firms.
A glacial collapse did indeed cause wild flash flooding in Tibet and Nepal and many people were killed including people from around the world and many locals, it reaches back home in USAID cuts eliminated a program to detect and warn about this very thing.
It's not particularly "sensational" news but a tragedy with many global connections.
Even after disabling the crap wallpapers and setting my own, by default windows heavily compresses wallpapers to the point where the artefacts are very noticeable on a 4K display, requiring a registry edit to fix.
I had these features off on Windows where possible. However I can’t imagine using Windows these days. The only time I switch to Windows is to play Marathon/Destiny these days. Other than that, I have no reason to use it. I imagine so many others would have a similar experience.
I recently wiped Windows off my wife's machine after the last straw broke with Windows - it gave her a full screen prompt after a reboot that forced her back to Edge and copied all of her local documents to OneDrive.
She only plays a handful of games and browses the web, Bazzite was a no-brainer replacement.
> Why this level of nickel and diming. This is atrocious UX, its ad over entire screen, For a moment I thought I installed some adware malware.
Our definition of 'malware' has really drifted, then. This is absolutely, positively, 100% malware. Just because it comes with your OS doesn't mean it's not.
Microsoft has zero pride in their operating system and no respect for their users.
Ads on install, ads in the start menu, ads in the toolbar, ads in wallpaper, ads in notifications, ads on the lockscreen, ads in widgets, ads in file explorer...
I wonder what Windows would be like if it was split off Microsoft. Technically it has far sufficient revenue to keep being maintained and updated well, but I guess the quest for ever more revenue would still lead to it becoming more and more enshittified.
I wonder what it would become if it was split off Microsoft and given to two competing companies.
I’ve used this for many years on a random windows box, and it’s usually very nice. This is the first time I’ve seen this. And man, give me a fucking break. What’s the argument, Microsoft needs the money? Get a grip guys, it’s ok to do things for goodwill or because it’s cool. Not every last dollar is worth chasing. This is like watching Elon Musk rooting around in a summer festival port a potty for loose change.
Maybe surgeons and dentists should tattoo ads onto bigcorp execs faces unless they spot and correctly fill out the quintuple negated opt out hidden on page 97 of their medical care clickwrap agreements.
Edit: And of course now the playbook: if the backlash is strong enough the mea culpa, then 6 months later kill it out of spite.
It's been years since Microsoft has went from OS to advert ridden surveillance OS.
If you have been abused by Microsoft for years, recognize the abusive actions against you, know you have Linux alternatives, and you still choose abuse... Well, this is a YOU problem.
You can choose Linux. Works super well these days. But this is a YOU problem if you keep choosing MS Windows and their ongoing abuse and enshittification.
Since this thread is mostly people complaining about Windows, here are two more fun anecdotes
1. I installed a new Windows-only gaming setup. Out of the box it was able to figure out how IPv6 networking works here but didn't get IPv4. So for the 10-20 minutes it took to fix that I was able to see what's a priority for Microsoft (so it works even with just IPv6) and what's non-critical so you can demand IPv4
2. In my day job we look after the software which runs exams. For obvious reasons this software cannot do anything except present your exam and accept whatever your answers are. The University doesn't have buckets of money and almost all its machines run Windows, so exams happen on Windows. With a locked down environment you can still write the formulae you were supposed to memorize on your tits and then wear a top you can pull down to look at them "discretely" the same as in a paper exam, but you can't ask ChatGPT to write your essay about Singapore's housing policy for your politics exam or have it tell you whether the X-ray in figure 1 shows evidence for options A, B, C or D in your 3rd year medicine exam.Despite the fact that this software is as locked down as we could possibly make it, and so the machine definitely cannot "install OneDrive" even if the student really wanted to instead of taking their exam, Windows will still sometimes interrupt their exam to ask them if they want to install OneDrive.
I wish we could stay on topic. Every time a submission is about Windows, 90% of comments are either:
- "Windows is bad, mkay, because [unrelated story]"
- "Linux Linux Linux, switch to Linux"
Recently had to install some stuff on a Windows laptop, test it, then ship it out to a customer, and my god the culture shock coming from Mac (and previously Linux and before that Windows)! Randomly selected (and not particularly good at that) rotating wallpapers, random unrelated facts on the log in page. Had to nuke as many of them as possible, but they don't make it easy.
heaven forbid you leave the "stories" toggled on, it will just blast you in the face with the most garbage political stories ever written every single day. Edge is the worst offender, should be illegal and everyone involved with implementing and approving it should be in prison.
Was fixing something on my dad’s computer and the start menu was featuring some story like “10 children swept away by floodwaters to their deaths” in some faraway country. What a terrible vibe to start the day with. Sensational news has no place in an operating system.
I was setting up my kid’s laptop last year. Parental controls enabled, with the kid’s age entered. Start menu was showing stories about beheadings and murders.
Windows is rotten to the core.
The scariest part is just how many people stick with the default settings, and get this stuff pumped into their brains 24/7.
I hope some day we’ll take this as seriously as environmental protection. Which granted isn’t perfect either, but a lot more than we do about all the mental toxicity being spewed at scale by large tech firms.
A glacial collapse did indeed cause wild flash flooding in Tibet and Nepal and many people were killed including people from around the world and many locals, it reaches back home in USAID cuts eliminated a program to detect and warn about this very thing.
It's not particularly "sensational" news but a tragedy with many global connections.
I just wanted to launch Notepad, dog.
I guess the silver lining is that China will most certainly implement a similar program now.
Even after disabling the crap wallpapers and setting my own, by default windows heavily compresses wallpapers to the point where the artefacts are very noticeable on a 4K display, requiring a registry edit to fix.
Not true for me. Not sure where author is and why (s)he is seeing this (wallpapers seem to be country based.)
https://bingwalls.com/
or
https://bing.com/ and use the < > to move through history.
Not sure either but I got the ad today. Previous wallpapers match what I see on bingwalls, but not the today's.
Satya Nadella said he was going to make Windows less cr*p. Having a wallpaper advert is clownish and grotesque, so did he lie?
I'd be more surprised if this was the first time Microsoft did this.
I checked the download page[0] and next to the download button they say they will do this
>You will also receive in-app notifications with promotional offers from Microsoft
[0] https://www.bing.com/apps/wallpaper?pc=w011&brand=bing
> in-app notifications
I would not describe a full-screen wallpaper, that is, the entire functionality of the software, to be a "notification".
Microsoft seems determined to destroy every bit of remaining customer goodwill. Who approved this ad?
I had these features off on Windows where possible. However I can’t imagine using Windows these days. The only time I switch to Windows is to play Marathon/Destiny these days. Other than that, I have no reason to use it. I imagine so many others would have a similar experience.
I recently wiped Windows off my wife's machine after the last straw broke with Windows - it gave her a full screen prompt after a reboot that forced her back to Edge and copied all of her local documents to OneDrive.
She only plays a handful of games and browses the web, Bazzite was a no-brainer replacement.
Is it clickable? As in do they get Click-through rate (CTR)? Otherwise it is really hard to calculate any value for these.
I have never seen a person walk up to a billboard and click it.
I've never seen a person click on an ad.
No, no, no. Guise. You’ve got it all wrong. Microsoft cares about Windows and its customers again. Don’t trust your lying eyes.
It’s a big initiative and you know Microsoft is always serious about those.
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/what-is-...
Meanwhile, this site is covered with ads that are impossible to close
I turned off my ad blocker to check (Firefox mobile) and got zero ads. Hm
> Why this level of nickel and diming. This is atrocious UX, its ad over entire screen, For a moment I thought I installed some adware malware.
Our definition of 'malware' has really drifted, then. This is absolutely, positively, 100% malware. Just because it comes with your OS doesn't mean it's not.
Business as usual. Just wait until the start-menu icon is a Coca-Cola logo :D
Bro, look at the immersion! My keycaps and fans change color with the commercials! That's attention to detail!
Microsoft has zero pride in their operating system and no respect for their users.
Ads on install, ads in the start menu, ads in the toolbar, ads in wallpaper, ads in notifications, ads on the lockscreen, ads in widgets, ads in file explorer...
I wonder what Windows would be like if it was split off Microsoft. Technically it has far sufficient revenue to keep being maintained and updated well, but I guess the quest for ever more revenue would still lead to it becoming more and more enshittified.
I wonder what it would become if it was split off Microsoft and given to two competing companies.
I’ve used this for many years on a random windows box, and it’s usually very nice. This is the first time I’ve seen this. And man, give me a fucking break. What’s the argument, Microsoft needs the money? Get a grip guys, it’s ok to do things for goodwill or because it’s cool. Not every last dollar is worth chasing. This is like watching Elon Musk rooting around in a summer festival port a potty for loose change.
Maybe surgeons and dentists should tattoo ads onto bigcorp execs faces unless they spot and correctly fill out the quintuple negated opt out hidden on page 97 of their medical care clickwrap agreements.
Edit: And of course now the playbook: if the backlash is strong enough the mea culpa, then 6 months later kill it out of spite.
There's 11 Fantastic Beasts films?
I think it's 8 Harry Potter and 3 Fantastic Beasts films.
Cry me alligator tears.
It's been years since Microsoft has went from OS to advert ridden surveillance OS.
If you have been abused by Microsoft for years, recognize the abusive actions against you, know you have Linux alternatives, and you still choose abuse... Well, this is a YOU problem.
You can choose Linux. Works super well these days. But this is a YOU problem if you keep choosing MS Windows and their ongoing abuse and enshittification.