Microsoft is Testing Ads in Mail App For Windows 10 in Select Markets (betanews.com) 150
Mark Wilson writes: Ads in your inbox. Sounds like something you'd expect from the likes of Google or Yahoo, but Microsoft appears to be about to get in on the act as well. And we're not talking about online ads in your Outlook.com account -- we're talking about ads in the Mail app that's included with Windows 10. A new report says that Microsoft is currently testing ads with Windows Insiders, so it could be just a matter of time before they spread wider. In a support page, spotted first by news outlet Thurrott, Microsoft says, "Consistent with consumer email apps and services like Outlook.com, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail, advertising allows us to provide, support, and improve some of our products. We're always experimenting with new features and experiences. Currently, we have a pilot running in Brazil, Canada, Australia, and India to get user feedback on ads in Mail."
Update: ZDNet reports that Calendar app for Windows 10 is getting the same treatment.
Update: ZDNet reports that Calendar app for Windows 10 is getting the same treatment.
Hey Microsoft - I have some user feedback: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
You know, they simply don't care about your impotent rage. If you want change, you have to get rid of them. Help people around you dump them.
Unless you're capable of bringing sufficiently big legal guns to bear ofc. But I wouldn't count on that.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly. There are two types of users I help; those that embrace change and those that are terrified of it. For the first user I install Linux Mint on their machine and help them through the learning curve. The second I upgrade their systems to Windows 7 (and yes, you can easily get Windows 7 working on the latest generation CPUs). The best thing you can do to help rid the world of Microsoft is help people away from Windows 10 in any way possible, even if that means upgrading to an earlier version of Window
Re: (Score:2)
Where do you get Win 7 licenses anymore?
Re: (Score:1)
This is another step along the march toward a subscription-based Microsoft OS for the masses.
Either you pay or you see ads. *That* is the future of Windows 10, so I hope all of the people who blindly and mindlessly adopted it are happy with what they have done.
Re: (Score:1)
First, unless you pirated Windows 10, then you have already paid an up-front price either by buying your previous Windows OS or by buying a computer that came with Windows (the cost was already factored into your purchase price).
Second, in the future, Microsoft will likely offer to make your Windows 10 ad-free (and at a stretch, maybe allow users to have back some control that they stole away with Windows 10) if you pay a recurring subscription fee. But the instant you lapse on payment, back go the ads (and
Boo (Score:1)
Well, that's one way to get people to stop using the Mail app.
Microsoft management is FAR worse now. (Score:2)
Microsoft has always been badly managed in some ways, in my opinion. But now the management is FAR worse.
People Use The Microsoft Mail App? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I tried using it and it didn't even work. I keep my local e-mail in a Linux VM and serve it with dovecot to the e-mail apps on the host Windows system. MS Mail didn't show my mail, or even a list of folders for it. No error messages, I had the correct login details. Fuck that. MS' included apps are getting worse all the time. Ads in Solitaire, Minesweeper performs like shit, Paint is now useless, and Mail doesn't even work. It does third-party application developers a favour, but it sucks that as a u
One more reason... (Score:3)
Not to use Microsoft Mail. Thanks for that! I was really worried about having to find a bad reason to not use it, but you gave me a good one.
Re: (Score:3)
Have you ever tried it? Ads are *way* down the list of reasons not to use MS Mail. I think I'd prefer Outlook Express to that steaming pile of "user experience".
Outlook 2010 OTOH, has been pretty stable for me.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
The Windows mail app consistently complains it can't access my contacts list, and directs me to my Windows privacy settings to fix it. Thing is, I *want* access to my contacts disabled, that's why it's set that way. It's called, uh, privacy.
Yeah, this ads idea is just one more reason not to use the Windows mail app. Thunderbird works fine for my purposes, thank you very much.
Re: (Score:2)
The search functionality of Outlook is shit. In fact I have yet to find a dekstop mail client with descent search.
I'm past the point of manually sorting my mail now.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to use Microsoft Mail. Thanks for that! I was really worried about having to find a bad reason to not use it, but you gave me a good one.
So I guess you're going to go back to using it now right? https://twitter.com/fxshaw/sta... [twitter.com]
Microsoft == Assholes (Score:3, Informative)
Currently running Ubuntu 18.04LTS and no regrets!
Screw you, Microsoft.
Re: (Score:1)
I don't wonder. I moved to macOS when Microsoft tried to shove Win10 down everyone's throat.
Every time I start to wonder if I should move back to Windows, Microsoft does something like this again. You'd really think that having an Indian CEO would mean the company wouldn't treat its customers like cattle to the slaughter.
Money grubbing whores. (Score:1)
Big ol pack o' cunts.
Where shall we run to? (Score:2)
Ads in your inbox. Sounds like something you'd expect from the likes of Google or Yahoo, but Microsoft appears to be about to get in on the act as well. And we're not talking about online ads in your Outlook.com account -- we're talking about ads in the Mail app that's included with Windows 10. A new report says that Microsoft is currently testing ads with Windows Insiders, so it could be just a matter of time before they spread wider.
I thought of Thunderbird, but the last time I checked, that thing sucked big time. There was talk of it dying too! Sad.
Re:Where shall we run to? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Just use the webmail version and don't touch outlook express or the windows 10 mail tool. I agree they both stink to high heaven. I supported the enterprise exchange email system for a couple of years and even with enterprise level ability to modify the end user client exchange was a stinky pile of feces as well.
Comment removed (Score:4)
Re:Where shall we run to? (Score:4, Informative)
I have been using it since I can't remember how long and I think it's still the best email client for me out there. It has some very nifty features like "Throw all sent mail in the inbox" and "Put replies in the mailbox you sent them from" that you don't find in other email clients. Yes, it looks a bit strange and it doesn't get a lot of love at the moment, but it never crashes and does its job very well.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There used to be a plugin you could install that enables Google search. Unfortunately, the cunts changed TBird so that plugin no longer works, and I see Google is gone from the search options now. Fuck I hate them. They keep adding worthless shit like Pocket, etc. and take away good stuff.
And the UI is HORRIBLE. Some awful mix of Win98 menus, yicky Win10 toolbars, and mobile hamburger menus, and they keep moving shit around from release to release, just like later Windows versions love to do. The latest
Of course (Score:2)
They already have adds on the start menu and Solitaire.
Re: (Score:2)
And, ,the start menu is slow as crap. After a reboot, it can take almost twenty minutes to show the first time. I wish I could disable them, but I use a lot of different servers we use for QA so we have to keep them as close as we can to the customer setup.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Informative)
You got me curious, so I tapped the Windows key, typed in "Solitaire", and clicked on the first selection, thinking it would be, you know, Soltaire...
What I got was signed into Xbox Live (I had an Xbox 360 years ago) -- mind you, a sign-in that took something like 30 seconds -- after which it popped open an ugly ad-laden window which told me I was automatically getting a free week of something-or-another premium (what?), and Edge (choke) popped up... with an auto-play video advertisement.
Microsoft has never been worse than they are now.
I am shocked! (Score:5, Insightful)
Enough people use it to make it a viable advertisement platform?
Come on, is it April 1?
Re: (Score:2)
Newsflash: People often put up with defaults.
WTF (Score:5, Insightful)
Look Microsoft you have been shipping a mail client (of a kind) with Windows since at least 3.11. Now maybe that was just a ploy to sell some NT Server and later Exchange licenses. All fine; whatever. Here is the thing though you are charging me for the OS. The license fee should pay for you to improve my experience.
The addition of advertising will certainly NOT improve my experience. Now I would argue that a mail client really is out side the scope of an OS anyway. If you don't want to support it or develop it; than just drop it entirely. Plenty of freeware mail clients out there you crappy one will be missed by exactly nobody.
Keep in mind though you are continuing to destroy the general value proposition of Windows. Apple seems to be able to deliver OSX with a suite of software that would be pretty adequate for most home users needs and give it away for free with (or pay for it by bundling it with) the hardware.
If you expect anyone past the current generation of midlevel IT managers who have just always bought MS; to pay premium prices for your Surface hardware well you better deliver a premium OS. The rest of us are NOT going to pay for your adware.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You don't get it. You're no longer the customer. The advertisers they're selling your usage info to is now the customer. Microsoft is just seeing how much they can get away with doing to you (in favor of their real customers) before you give up and ditch Windows. They laugh that you're so set on running Windows-only apps that you're still willing to pay them for letting them exploit you.
Outside of gamers (who will also willingly lim
Re: (Score:2)
That's the problem though, is the Windows only app. I have LOB stuff that I need to be able to run and even today WINE does not always cut it. So I have Windows VMs. Usually with the shell changed to the APP and basically no services running. Its the only way Windows is tolerable.
this is why (Score:3)
VIVA GNU/Linux
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, but if you're a gamer you're shit outta luck until more companies invest in vulkan as their development API. Upside, it's becoming more of a reality since it's got the backing of a console(switch), android and linux, that's besides windows for native support. And with Sony deciding to pull a Microsoft and starting to censor the piss out of games, and Nintendo refusing to? Gonna be a very interesting time in the next few years for video game development.
Thats the only benefit of the mail app (Score:2)
That was the only benefit of the mail app over using webmail. The UI isnt any better, the features arent any better, its not any more powerful, the ONLY reason to use the email app over webmail was because you didnt get ads.
The perfect storm (Score:2)
Windows 10, Edge Browser, built-in mail app, spectre, meltdown, more hilarity to ensue shortly, or:
What could possibly go wrong?
Re: (Score:1)
Windows 10, Edge Browser, built-in mail app, spectre, meltdown, more hilarity to ensue shortly, or:
What could possibly go wrong?
The ads will help pay for the twice yearly updates. How else can you get such quality?
Re: (Score:2)
I know the point you're trying to make, but you're exaggerating. Win95 was far less stable than WinNT at the time, and you wouldn't dream of trying to keep it up for days or weeks.
Windows 1-0 (Score:2)
Windows 1-0:
1 symbolizes a lingam.
0 symbolizes Microsoft users' raw orifices.
It's shorthand for "Windows crams crap down their users' raw holes."
Another reason ... (Score:1)
... to fully migrate to Linux by the time Windows 7 passes EOL.
I've never been a fan of M$'s tactics over the years but this Windows 10 fiasco is just insane.
Fuck you M$, fuck you.
Ads, ads, everywhere ads... (Score:2)
I get it, this is an article about MS's mail app, and how they just took a shit in it. But my point is that they're doing so based on factual evidence that advertising is a source of revenue, and nothing more. Just sell your mail app to
Does this mean Windows will be ad supported? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple did the calculation with boot times back in the Mac days.
Average human lifespan is 80 years, or 2.5 billion seconds.
If you waste 10 seconds of everyone's time on looking at/downloading/processing ads every day, that's 3652 seconds. Do that to about 700,000 users, and that's one lifetime wasted.
Shit should be a hangin' offense.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Garbage app (Score:1)
Microsoft do not respect their customers (Score:3)
A little PowerShell action will fix that right up (Score:3)
PS C:\Windows\System32> Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.windowscommunicationapps | Remove-AppxPackage
Mail and Calendar both gone. Enjoy.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Since when don't you have to use the command-line to do anything in Linux? The promise that GUI package managers can do everything is one of the most persistent lies in the open-source community.
Re: (Score:2)
get-appxpackage | remove-appxpackage
get-appxprovisionedpackage -online | remove-appxprovisionedpackage -online
That will nuke all but Defender, Edge, and Cortana now
And you will need to do that every 6 months. Also, delete the contents of C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
Why bother with the pageantry? (Score:1)
I can't image in any test scenario that a significant portion of any testers have ever said.. "Yeah, I really like getting ads in XYZ."
I'd much rather they just skip the obvious pageantry and simply say "We're sticking ads in XYZ, deal with it." At least that'd be honest.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
[Microsoft has] in my opinion, over the last couple of years, made strides in the right direction of friendship with the broader community of open source development ecosystem.
You have been successfully hoodwinked. Microsoft has no friends. Never has. Never will. If Microsoft does anything that benefits someone else, it's just to set a trap that will be sprung at the appropriate time.
Re: (Score:2)
Given all of the problems with their own updates being very unreliable, now users have to worry that a rogue advert as part of the OS may infect the computer? I'll bet the ransomware writers are quite happy. Wonderful...
seems like a tough choice to me (Score:1)
Pay for an operating system with advertisements in the baked in apps that are hard to remove for the average user or switch to a free opensource operating system with open source applications that do the same thing.
Its clear that Microsoft is trying to maximize revenues, the truth is that the majority of computer users have Stockholm syndrome, whether it be from apple, microsoft, google or facebook, they have been beaten into submission and refuse to switch because new is scary and might be tough. this is w
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
What did you do that your parents never trust you?
You don't have parents do you :)
This is just what I needed! (Score:2)
Yet another reason to keep Win10 off every machine I own or otherwise control.
Hey, there, Microsoft: Fuck you hard, fuck you deep...fuck you with something that has jagged, rusty serrations on it.
Re: (Score:2)
That, and the idea of using something called Microsoft Mail takes me back to the dial-up days and using Outlook. Why would anyone do this to themselves in 2018? If they don't know any better, sure, but you can't be knowledgeable about computers and use this shit unless you're forced to.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You said it better than I would have! It's like they've got somebody working there whose sole job is to find ways to make sensible people hate them even more.
Improve (Score:3)
"advertising allows us to provide, support, and improve some of our products"
He seems extremely confused about the definition of the word "improve."
Haha, here it comes (Score:2)
OK if it's Google or Yahoo (Score:2)
Like the guy says, "Ads in your inbox. Sounds like something you'd expect from the likes of Google or Yahoo"
Somehow, if the ads are not showing on the browser and instead they are on a desktop application, then it's a big deal. What is wrong with you people?
When I open my Gmail box, there are advertisements showing at the top of the message list, with a subject and sender, to make them look like a normal email. I've been using Gmail for 10+ years, free of charge, so it's kind of shitty to complain.
Plenty of
Thick castle walls and economic moats for empires (Score:1)
Non-news, Slashdot late to the party (Score:2)
This has already been confirmed as not going forward by the Communications VP at Microsoft:
https://twitter.com/fxshaw/sta... [twitter.com]
We can all collectively stop freaking out about an App absolutely no-one here uses.
is windows free? (Score:2)
haven't used windows in a long time, but is it free these days (or is there a free edition)?
if not, they still show ads in bundled applications? wow...
you know just complaining won't help, just abandon the platform.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Next, ads on the BSOD.
Re: (Score:2)
Next, ads on the BSOD.
Can you imagine?
"Your graphics driver crashed. This is because your graphics card is too old. Click here to purchase the latest nVidia graphics card"
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking more along the lines of:
"Your graphics driver crashed. You won't be up all night playing games. Here's some ads for liquor and condoms."
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Throwing flaming condoms of liquor at people pretending they are NPCs is generally frowned upon.
You sure? That sounds like the start of a pretty good party, or street riot.