Microsoft caught trying to shove ADs into Windows 10's Mail App

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, KuJoe said:

The problem is that people hate ads as much as they hate paying money

I paid for my Windows 10 license and I’m paying for Office 365 Home annually. Just saying. 

[John Ellmaker]

I don’t see this as a big deal, you’re probably getting a bunch of advertisement emails that you won’t take the time to unsubscribe to and mad about ads on a free email client on what is likely a free email account?

[Maticks]

If your running a business you’re probably on Outlook.

If your using a personal email account.

ummm gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com they all have a web mail system.

 

I haven’t used a mail client for personal email for 7 years, why download mail to your local machine and have a single point of failure.

 

Does this even impact more than 10,000 people globally ?

[williamcll]

I deleted most of the windows apps already since I already have outlook.

 

 

Heck, what's the point of free email clients these days. Webmail can do everything already.

[KuJoe]

4 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

I paid for my Windows 10 license and I’m paying for Office 365 Home annually. Just saying. 

And you have nothing to worry about. You're welcome.

[strajk-]

As long it's only for installations that aren't genuine, then I'm ok with it.

In the case of a licensed installation, then a checkbox to simply deactivate ads/suggestions, would be ok for me too.

[mr moose]

I use Em client, no ads, it has it's issues but it works better than thunberbird or any of MS's latest offerings.  

 

It's kind of hard for MS when it comes to making apps for windows.  Because they make the OS they have a whole other array of ethical rules and laws they have to abide by, but those rules don't apply to everyone else.  It essentially means they either have to offer the program for free or charge for it individually (like office).  The ability for MS to offer an ad supported service is severely limited in this regard. 

[RasmusDC]

That is the problem for me, that it is slowly implemented on a system that i have BOUGHT..

 

i get it, if windows 11 has add added to it. so when i purchase it, then i know it..

 

here i have used money on a license, and i have games being auto installed, i have ad´s being added.. the same with my XBOX and PS4, i PAY for subscriptions to play online, but still have to see ads, on the frontpage of my dashboard.

[yian88]

9 hours ago, Syntaxvgm said:

Next step- BSOD ads. 

Well you cant click the ad if you have BSOD so they wont make money $$$ of it

[Mihle]

7 hours ago, LAwLz said:

 

1. File Explorer - Microsoft started showing ads in Explorer for OneDrive.

 

2. Notification area - Unless you disable it (Settings -> System -> Notification -> Show me [...] and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what's new and suggested). Suggestions that appear here are things like, "try out Cortana!". I believe the ad for superbowl was a notification ad, but it's hard to tell because it might have been a Cortana ad (Cortana pushing out an ad as a notification, rather than the ad being generated by the notification center).

 

3. The music player - In Groove Music, you get a brightly colored box in the left corner telling you to install Spotify, and I do believe it used to recommend you buy a Groove Music subscription back when that was a thing.

 

4. The video player - When you start the video player app, it will show you a bunch of movies you can buy. In fact, the first, and default tab in the program is a store. The second tab is where everything you've bought appears, and the third tab is for the stuff stored locally on your computer.

 

5. Start menu - By default, Microsoft will show "suggestions" in the start menu for apps from the store. For example one day Candy Crush might show up in your start menu despite not having it downloaded. Clicking on it will however automatically install it on your computer. It can also show up as a pinned program in the start menu area.

 

6. Task bar (even injecting into other programs) - Last year Microsoft were showing ads for their Chrome extensions, from Chrome in the task bar. A popup message would appear from the Chrome icon, suggesting users to download the Microsoft shopping assistant extension. They have also done it for Edge users.

 

7. Lock screen - If you use Windows spotlight (turned on by default) then your lock screen will show ads.

 

8. Share dialog window - In the share window, Microsoft will "suggest" which apps you can download and use for sharing things.

 

Please note that these are not all the ads in Windows 10. There are more places, but I forgot to mention or didn't feel like it (the inking panel is another one where ads show up).

 

Please also bear in mind that ads will not appear in all of these places in all countries. Some of them only appear in certain countries (mostly the US).

If you haven't seen these ads then:

1) You might live in a country where the ads were never implemented (but all of these exist in some country out there, just maybe not the one you live in).

2) You might have disabled the ads before you could see any of them.

3) You might have seen them but not realized they were ads (for example the programs appearing in your program list as you scroll by).

1. I haven't seen that, that's so stupid to have in a OS.

2. Never ever seen that, but I do have cortana off as I don't see the point of it.

3. I have actually never used Windows music player. I use Spotify.

4. I haven't used the video player, I use potplayer. But if it's basically like a store built in, it's more acceptable to me than the others. Depens if it happens when you open a file or just when opening it with its shortcut.

5. I haven't personally seen that, that is just not acceptable.

6. Haven't seen that, but I don't use Chrome and I don't use Edge. Not acceptable tho.

7. Haven't seen that, only seen it take different photos from different photographers randomly. I have not turned it off unless it's one of the settings you get when you installed Windows or after one of the big updates as I just turn all of them of without really see what it is. Not acceptable but you can at least turn it off.

8. Have never used the share menu, why should I?

 

I live in Norway so I don't know if that's why. I have W10 Pro if that makes a difference.

[mr moose]

11 minutes ago, yian88 said:

Well you cant click the ad if you have BSOD so they wont make money $$$ of it

It'll be the only thing that does work during a BSOD. 

 

 

[captain_to_fire]

34 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It's kind of hard for MS when it comes to making apps for windows.

I’m probably alone with this but I think Microsoft makes better apps for other platforms 

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

I’m probably alone with this but I think Microsoft makes better apps for other platforms 

There would be logic to that, E.G if they make a product for IOS, it has to perform better than the IOS counterpart if they want anyone to use it.

[AlTech]

11 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Does being a Pro user mean that I don't see these ads? 

No. 

 

The only way to remove the Windows 10 Mail app ADs is by having Office 365.

 

If you're not seeing the ADs now it's cos Microsoft tried to put this under the rug and cover it up. They didn't show it for everybody.

[mr moose]

11 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

If you're not seeing the ADs now it's cos Microsoft tried to put this under the rug and cover it up. They didn't show it for everybody.

This is the haters way of saying "they tested it on a small part of their market to gauge customer reaction".

 

You know companies do this all the time?  They didn't try to cover anything up or hide anything, they said out loud and to the point they did this and explained why.  Is it a shit thing? maybe, is it evil? depends on who you are. Is it conniving and stealthy and something they are trying to pretend didn't happen? nope. 

[asus killer]

 

 

anyway, ads and computers people just see them if they can't be bothered to either get a adblock or search for an alternative. This is really a non issue. My windows doesn't have ads, i browse the net i see no ads, youtubes i see no ads. If you're just to f'ing lazy to do anything about it then just deal with it.

[Doobeedoo]

If they made free Windows version I guess I could see adds for their ow products. But for payed Windowa that would suck. 

[Doobeedoo]

16 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Not surprised considering they already have ads in places like:

File Explorer

Notification area.

The music player.

The video player.

Start menu.

Task bar (even injecting into other programs)

 

 

I recommend Thunderbird for an email client.

Although if your work uses Outlook then it's best to stick with that. It's pretty damn great.

That, that would be very annoying. But I never saw any adds anywhere. I did set up my OS after installation, through regular settings and other external tools. 

It seems I'm one of those that never saw adds or had update issues. I guess my aggressive OS config helps. 

Also using Outlook too. I like it as well. 

[Master Delta Chief]

Haven't seen any sort of ads on the app as far as I'm aware of. Most likely due to the reasons that were already mentioned before that the ads are most likely region-based. Either way, this is a stupid move. I already got plenty of 'ads' showing up in the e-mails so I don't need some extra pop-up for something else. If this advertisement system in the mail app actually gets implemented, I will most likely use something else.

[XenosTech]

2 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

That, that would be very annoying. But I never saw any adds anywhere. I did set up my OS after installation, through regular settings and other external tools. 

It seems I'm one of those that never saw adds or had update issues. I guess my aggressive OS config helps. 

Also using Outlook too. I like it as well. 

I keep seeing people say they see Ads in windows but I have yet to see any. Maybe it has something to do with where I live?

[Doobeedoo]

2 minutes ago, XenosTech said:

I keep seeing people say they see Ads in windows but I have yet to see any. Maybe it has something to do with where I live?

Possible. Like Cortan not supported and shit. Seems americans have most problems

[XenosTech]

Just now, Doobeedoo said:

Possible. Like Cortan not supported and shit. Seems americans have most problems

It seems so, at first I had my windows with every thing disabled but a few months back I did a clean install and never bothered with disabling anything and I haven't noticed anything different between the mods I had on and the vanilla version I'm running now.

[LAwLz]

5 hours ago, asus killer said:

 

 

anyway, ads and computers people just see them if they can't be bothered to either get a adblock or search for an alternative. This is really a non issue. My windows doesn't have ads, i browse the net i see no ads, youtubes i see no ads. If you're just to f'ing lazy to do anything about it then just deal with it.

That response from Frank Shaw sounds like bullshit if you ask me. I think A/B testing to see peoples' reactions is a far more logical explanation that someone accidentally pushing out a beta version to everyone.

 

Also, I strongly disagree with your mentality that we should all be silent and just let programs push out updates which makes them worse, just because "you can download an alternative". If we don't criticize changes then the companies behind the software won't know why people are abandoning their software. They might also get the idea that people are OK with these changes.

 

If you have complaints, voice them. Not complaining is the same as saying you agree with the change.

[XenosTech]

24 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

That response from Frank Shaw sounds like bullshit if you ask me. I think A/B testing to see peoples' reactions is a far more logical explanation that someone accidentally pushing out a beta version to everyone.

Well not everyone got it. Might have been region specific test or it could have been a case like what Epic games did and "accidentally" enabled cross platform play.

[asus killer]

39 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Also, I strongly disagree with your mentality that we should all be silent and just let programs push out updates which makes them worse, just because "you can download an alternative". If we don't criticize changes then the companies behind the software won't know why people are abandoning their software. They might also get the idea that people are OK with these changes.

 

If you have complaints, voice them. Not complaining is the same as saying you agree with the change.

complain all you want, i don't think i said not to complain to them, what i said is that it is a non issue, you only see ads if you care to. I see no ads and i'm on the web everyday. I only see ads if i want to specifically see them, to help some site or whatever.