Would You Use Ad-Supported Windows? 643
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet reported earlier this week that Microsoft was thinking of offering an Ad-Supported version of Windows. A blog post by John Carroll offers some reasons why Ad-Supported Windows makes sense. From the article: '4. More revenue through targeted marketing: The holy grail of marketing is to target an audience with the sort of ads that most appeal to them. Sending a bunch of male programmers advertisements for breast enlargement isn't terribly useful. Sending a bunch of male programmers advertisements for a four hour extended version of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is useful.' Is there any situation where you can see yourself open to the possibility of using an Ad-Supported operating system?"
Two good uses (Score:5, Interesting)
I've done this with Windows, although not with an ad-supported version, for my church. I wrote a simple VBA program to show announcements by displaying PowerPoint slides (using the free viewer). It also ring bells on a schedule to signal the beginning and end of classes. It is still running on a 166 MHz clunker.
Not so much (Score:3, Interesting)
No Thanks (Score:5, Interesting)
My philosophy about an OS is that it's merely a functional component of my computer, like the processor, or the RAM, or the hard drive, or the keyboard, etc. Would you be open to using ad-supported RAM?
Anyhow. . . I'm sick of ads. Even my tolerance for ad-supported TV has almost run out. The only thing that keeps me watching TV is the ability to record shows on my DVR and skip over commercials when I watch later.
Re:Free Windows? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Free Windows? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Two good uses (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Free Windows? (Score:5, Interesting)
The thing worked this way, they gave you a PC with a 17 inches monitor with a resolution of 1024x768 pixels, but you only used 800x600 pixels , the rest was used for advertisment.
Back then, I remember wanting one of those (unfortunately, the offer was just for USA, and I am from outside) as I didnt had money for a new computer and I was frustrated with the my 200mhz compile times (djgpp). At that time I thought I didnt care for the ads, anyway, I was used to see ads in TV, and the computer they were offering was the the best technology available back then.
I do not know what happened with the experiment, did it worked? I think the problem back then was how to update the ads.
Now that I think, it may be a nice way for renting computers here at my undeveloped country (may be a nice buisness).
1. Offer ad space for computers
2. Rent (or even just offer for free) computers at a low cost to people.
3. Cash in ad money
4. Profit!
sounds good (I guess)
"Free or Low Cost..." I'm suspicious... (Score:5, Interesting)
Right now, I can buy a Dell Dimension with XP home preinstalled, spend a half-hour uninstalling all the useless crap they load on there, and get the machine into a relatively professional state. If I want a machine that comes in a professional state, I have to pay a significant premium for an OptiPlex or something.
How much you want to bet that as soon as this gets implemented the next "home" version of Windows will have ads all over the place with no option to turn them off?
"My Documents...sponsored by Coca-Cola!"
It depends. (Score:3, Interesting)
I am not opposed to Add Delivered comerical OS's to offer the OS at no charge to help the company profit. But if it drasticly hurts my experience or makes me afraid to use it then it won't be useful.
Uh, no (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No Thanks (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, but with all the product placement in TV shows, the ads are now embedded and you can't get away from them. Don't even get me started on the fake entertainment news where the evening news just advertises their own shows (or parent company's movies).
Re:Two good uses (Score:3, Interesting)
Insightful on the Piss Ads (Score:5, Interesting)
(Score:5, Insightful)
I would pay NOT to see ads.I can't leak into the urinal, without looking down and seeing someone selling me something, printed on the drain-cover.
Exactly! you're right. I find that with each waking moment advertising is getting more invasive and more offensive. It needs to stop. But I don't think I should have to pay to make it stop.
Re:"Free or Low Cost..." I'm suspicious... (Score:3, Interesting)
It wasn't "silly". It was a great idea as it forced developers to deal with paths with spaces in them. Otherwise half of the Windows freeware wouldn't work in a non-standard configuration as free stuff is rarely tested well. Commercial stuff is only marginally better. By forcing the space in the most common places ("Program Files", "My Documents") you couldn't just ignore it.
Re:Two good uses (Score:3, Interesting)
No on every single level. Even contextual ads are terrible. This is an unbelievably bad idea [yafla.com], and it really does sadden me that Microsoft is seriously considering this.
Re:OMG!!! (Score:2, Interesting)