Microsoft wants to add ads to their Windows operating system. The greed just never ends.

This is the worst idea since Samsung forced ads upon users who had the misfortune of buying their TVs.

This is wrong mainly because we consumers payed for the product, we own it, it is NOT their ad space.

If politicians do not regulate this, we will end up in world where our homes are full of devices shouting at us, "Buy, buy, buy!"

May the wrath of the EU strike them down.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/12/24128640/microsoft-windows-11-start-menu-ads-app-recommendations

@randahl A possible solution is to switch to Linux. An operating system that is not owned by any large corporation and instead created and maintained by the community of independent developers.

@randahl Thank goodness I dumped windows as my os about 27 years ago.

@randahl the thing is, you don't own it.

@randahl

Yet another reason to never use Windows 11. I'll go to Linux if they force this crap on me.

@randahl I love how criticism of Windows and Microsoft always brings out the “yeah but Apple” crowd.

@randahl
I'm wondering how my university would react. At present we have to use Windoze within the uni IT ecosystem because of a licensing agreement. I'd guess that for the time being Windoze wouldn't market into a license ecosystem, but what of the future?

@randahl "you will own nothing and be happy". All this licensing and subscribing is really getting out of hand.

@randahl I also highly recommend Linux (as several others do). I'm always shocked how unprofessional it looks when colleagues open the default browser on Microsoft full with advertisements and irrelevant news. That looks so unprofessional and is so distracting.
And it makes so clear that you are the product they are mining.

I personally use #Fedora Linux (with the #GNOME desktop), extremely easy to use and very clean.

https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/

@randahl I paid for w10, but they try to nag me into installing w11 without paying

@randahl And it’s getting ever greedier.

Car companies locking features behind pay walls, company’s inserting ads (was it Roku who recently wanted to display ads if you weren’t looking at the screen?).

Makes me glad to have a battered old car and a dumb TV.

@randahl

I recall some Philip K Dick books, where products would shout at you from the supermarket shelves, and cybernetic ads the size of insects would fly into your car and tell you to use a new brand of deodorant...

Why the **** did we end up in his world, instead of Star trek?!?!

@peterg75 I am on Mac OS, and so far it is ad free.

@Brit_In_Moldova I previously shared a news story about soda pop machines face tracking you to be able to tempt each customer individually. I find it truly sickening.

@Brit_In_Moldova @randahl Can't remember seeing many Billionaires in Star Trek. This probably explains where we are and are going.

@peterg75 Linux on laptop, Linux on desktop. Linux on kid's gaming rig. Linux on my raspberry pi 400, Linux on my mobile phone. No ads ^^

Now if could just get a smart TV I could flash Linux on...

@randahl

@randahl @peterg75 that will last exactly as long as apples big investors put up with it not having ads.

Also consider it's an ad space for all of apples ecosystem. It's not yelling buy, it's silently manuvering you into a walled garden you're unlikely to ever escape.

@randahl

Tracking FACES?!?!

Those are the lucky ones...
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jge377/stanford-smart-toilet-uses-butthole-for-identification

@jago @peterg75 @randahl
>"linux on mobile phone".
yeah, i don't have fake linux like android eiher, i have an actual linux, like mobian, postmarketos or archlinux.

>"smarttv".
i don't have a smarttv currently.

@zetabeta I used to have a Dreambox DM600 with a custom Linux build (and mpd and a custom C++ gui I wrote for music playback) with a dumb TV way before this smart TV landscape turned into this proprietary hellscape.

@peterg75 @randahl

@zetabeta yeah. Been trying to get manjaro phosh (or just something) usable on a PPP. Finally decided I want a working phone, so Ubports on Fairphone 4. Works \o/

@peterg75 @randahl

@randahl Unfortunately paying some price does not mean that you owning your copy of Windows anymore. They would like to switch to OS as Service model.

Fortunately, there are another options.

@mkyral @randahl There should really be "doctrine of first sale" for software.