The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store.
Well, of course. I mean it’s not like you paid for a Microsoft Windows license when you bought your computer, so obviously they have to advertise to financially support it. If you’re getting something for free, you’re the product.
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Wait, I’m being told that when people buy computers with Windows installed, they are, in fact, paying for a Windows license, too.
So this is actually Microsoft trying to turn products they’ve already sold into continuous revenue streams at the cost of usability and customer happiness.
In other news, apropos of nothing in particular, Steam on Linux is working really well these days, with lots of AAA titles running just fine via Proton. Make of that what you will…
I play VR on Linux, it works surprisingly well, especially via Wayland. There’s an app called Envision that sets up basically everything you need for you. Unlike a few years ago, I had to do no fiddling, it just works.
I bought what was affordable on the used market. And VR stuff is almost entirely Windows exclusive, with only the Index having a native Linux compatibility via the recent SteamVR Linux port. While the Quest series (and a Pico, its Chinese competitor) run a special version of Android, they don’t have the performance in standalone mode that a PC has. Besides, my library of VR games are all on the PC.
And before you say “you shold have Index”, I will point out the very, very high cost and requirement for external tracking hardware, aka “the lighthouse”, something I lack the space for.
Maybe vr just isnt affordable yet? If its proprietary garbage, it’s just not yours. Lock-in is bullshit, and freedom sometimes requires sacrifice-even of toys and treats.
Generally People don’t give a shit. Ive learned you gotta use the same tactics as windows and shove it in their face. My parents think they have been using windows for over a year now but I secretly installed Linux mint on their systems made it look like windows. They haven’t even fucking noticed they only use a browser for emails and Facebook. When my friends ask me to help build their PC and bring a windows os I bring a Linux os and say its all I will install and troubleshoot
I had thoughts along these same lines the first time I fired up a Linux Mint VM last year. The most basic computer users would have their experience enhanced by being stuck with a system they “don’t know.” They can do all the same browser based activities on a system that’s probably more responsive and more stable.
Yeah I don’t see it being any different then them using windows they were already stuck with a system they didn’t know. And now their computer will last much longer as well
The point about longevity is a great one too. I mean what’s the best thing to do with a crappy old laptop? Install Linux and make it useful for something!
We’re not paying for the updates, though. I don’t recall paying Microsoft for anything in ages, and I have a legit copy of windows 10 installed.
To most people, now that windows is mostly stable, there’s no draw to upgrade when a new major version comes out. Why volunteer for new os growing pains when the last Gen works great? Even more so if you have to buy another license.
Kernel level anticheat for a few games is the only real speedbump I’m aware of, and it’s only on a couple of game franchises like CoD I think. I would love it a ton of people made the switch and it hurt those games’ companies revenue noticeably enough that they look for a way to moderate cheating without just lazily requiring Windows in order to play online.
Linux is finally convenient enough to realistically steal swaths of customers from Microsoft, and it’s at the same time that Windows 11 is pissing a ton of people off. We’re in for some strange times.
I posted this in another thread but it doesn’t, DMA boards are capable of spoofing other PCIE device IDs which was one of the few ways vanguard used to detect DMA boards. Realistically the only anti cheat that actually works are replay based community voted convictions such as counter strike’s overwatch.
There are way too many games out there for me to care anymore. Once i build my new PC, its Linux only. If it doesn’t run on Linux, I don’t need to play it.
that they look for a way to moderate cheating without just lazily requiring Windows in order to play online.
I would avoid those kernel level malwares anticheat anyways, whether they’re for Windows or if they port them to Linux (“to run this game, please load this kernel module”… no thanks).
With Windows 10, you had much more control over the start menu. Windows 11 is further eroding control. That’s why they absolutely refuse to allow you to disable the Recommended section.
The ability to disable it is present in the OS, but it’s restricted to Enterprise versions. Disabling an unneeded and annoying UI element is a Premium feature now. And as everyone said when they made that clear a few months ago, “that’s where the ads will go”.
They’ll probably let you disable them, at least for now. But the fact you can’t disable the place for the ads is telling. We’ll see how they feel about letting you disable those ads in a few years.
How was it not real? Why are you blaming a tiny fraction of desktop users for the actions of an incredibly greedy corporation known to pull this shit? So strange
It was real the first time it just didn’t get past the test audience. Now MS is fine tuning the ads and trying to find a balance subtle enough to avoid a full on riot. They’ll get it worked out don’t worry just consume
I have never, not once in my life, clicked on an internet or electronic ad. Even for things I’m ostensibly interested in. Jury’s out on just how much manically SEO optimized retail web sites on Google count as “ads,” I guess. But other than that: Zilch.
But someone somewhere must be clicking on them because billions of dollars are spent every year pushing the fucking things.
Some marketers believe it doesn’t matter if someone clicks as brand recognition has its own value. On the other hand, who hasn’t heard of Tiktok by now?
I’ve only ever clicked on one ad and that was for a cloud host I thought would be cheaper than Vultr. If anyone knows a managed k8s cluster cheaper than Vultr let me know plz.
I’m so skewed this direction that I’ll scroll past the sponsored version of the link in a Google search to click on the exact, unsponsored version. I don’t know why.
There’s been malware pretending to be legit links that get pushed to the top by being sponsored links. It’s a great idea to never click on sponsored links.
noone ever does – Microsoft, Google and Facebook must be faking their reports on how effective their advertisement platforms are in order to boost their sales. the sales of ads, not the advertised products
I intentionally skip these and click the normal link right below it lol. I also realized that I have clicked these in the past by accident because they don’t load… Since I block ads
That’s what they are testing. Hopefully you are just being silly. People click ads a lot, that’s why there are so many and it’s a multi billion dollar industry. They work.
Go into app or play store and sort by most downloaded. They’re pretty exclusively a list of games and apps that you find advertised.
I’m my circle, people are seeming to become more willing to admit they got something from an ad. I feel like there used to be shame behind it
The most frequent lately has been women buying their clothes from Instagram ads. The argument they have made is that they see SO MANY ads, the one they choose to spend money on was because they wanted it and that apparently is a solid vetting process. But this is people in my sphere, I dunno if it’s a thing.
I used a Google TV stick and for sick of the bullshit ads and switched to a simple launcher. In reddit and lemmy threads, there are always highly up voted people who are happy to get “popular recommendations”.
The generality, I feel like, is people are busy living their lives, don’t want to research and learn about everything in their life, and just go with what they see.
It’s gotten really difficult to research products, speaking as someone who does a lot of it, so I don’t think it’s about not wanting to do it.
Go look for something like a good dehumidifier and it’s all seo-optimized bullshit barely hiding that it’s advertisements for cheap Chinese junk on Amazon. And nearly every link is like that. For pages upon pages worth of results.
It’s so so difficult to judge what’s actually legit info and what isn’t. So I don’t blame people for asking other humans for what worked for them. You almost kinda have to unless you know of good legit review sites for every product you might want or need.
I’ve never clicked an ad on purpose. I use DNS to block all the common click thru domains for ads.
This move by Microsoft will undoubtedly result in more Windows PCs infected by malware as people find tools to remove the ads and some of those tools will turn out to be malware.
This actually touches on a major issue with digital content and software as a service compared to the old models, that people don’t seem to quite grasp.
It used to be you’d walk into a store, buy a thing, and leave. Businesses could only sell to you while you’re in the store. There was a clear delineation.
What we’ve seen over the last couple decades is the increasing invasion of the store into your home. These businesses don’t want you to ever leave the store. You are meant to be living in it, at all times. There can never be any true escape unless you disconnect from the internet and disengage with modern technology.
I agree in general, but would like to point out that it is possible to escape. Not completely, but I have managed to set up an environment where it’s mostly fine. And by mostly fine I mean not perferct, but using somebody else’s device makes my eye twitch.
Microsoft has literally never been anything close to a good company for their entire existence. This doesn’t even make the top 10 for anti-consumer MS bullshit.
Those ads have to come from somewhere, so a pi-hole ought to take care of them.
Actually, does Windows still have a functional /etc/hosts somewhere in its filesystem? If the ads are pulled from a small number of hostnames, entries in the hosts file routing them to 127.0.0.1 might be enough.
...and it's just technical enough that Microsoft probably wouldn't put effort into to circumventing it for the handful of users who did that.
That’s why I disabled updates in the registry after they updated me to windows 11. They can take my windows 10 when the sun dies and I will switch back to Linux, again.
That’s the magic of setting up a local account instead of a Microsoft account and actually turning shit off during the install sequence instead of just mindlessly clicking next. That said, I’m not sure you can do first time setup on Win11 with a local account. I know Win10 made it harder later on than on release. You can still set one up after the fact, but I’m not sure how useful it is on 11 since I refuse to install it.
You can, it’s just got a lot of hoops to jump through. Easier in the pro version for work, but I just set the email to a@a.a and then it errors out before letting you make a local account.
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