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patrikc: Odd. I'm on mobile right now and haven't noticed anything fishy. How about this one?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/microsoft-beats-earnings-estimates-with-dollar417b-in-revenue-up-19percent-and-dollar155b-in-profit-up-44percent/ar-BB1g7iv1
I'll have a better look at the previous link.
An AOL domain apparently, the one you mentioned.
This is what I see in uBlock Origin.
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toxicTom: Ta for the new link.

Microsoft’s More Personal Computing segment, including Windows and Xbox, posted $13 billion in revenue, up 19%, driven in part by strong demand for consumer PCs. Microsoft’s gaming revenue was up 34%. Surface revenue grew 12%. Search advertising revenue increased 17% with improved customer ad spend.
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toxicTom: That doesn't bode well. They'll contaminate Home systems with intrusive ads even more, powered by Cortana. They can smell the money there. And they'll probably up the ante with spying on users - for more "targeted" ads.
whats wrong with that?
targeted ads are better than lame spam ads
Post edited May 01, 2021 by Orkhepaj
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Orkhepaj: whats wrong with that?
targeted ads are better than lame spam ads
no option for no adds whatsoever? it's a shame to have paid product and pay with your privacy as well.
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ReynardFox: I used to be such a strong supporter/defender of Microsoft, now I'm just sad their monopoly is so total that nothing poses a real threat to the live service trash their products have mutated into.
no one replied to your comment. the idea of something else is not even in their headspace.
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djoxyk: no option for no adds whatsoever? it's a shame to have paid product and pay with your privacy as well.
Here here! I don't allow ads on any of my devices ever. It's just not happening.
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toxicTom: For lack of options...

Windows 7 is unsupported, Windows 8/1 is heading there (and the UI sucks) and Win 10 is bundled with every consumer PC.

The problem with Win10 is not only the spying and the lack of user control, but also the terrifying absence of QA at MS nowadays.

Buggy updates deleted all user data for some not only once but twice, and the problems had been reported by the beta users before. That is something that must never happen.
Also a printer driver shouldn't be able to crash the system - the recent BSOD on printing only shows how rotten the core system is. A shitty driver may crash, but it has to do safely. Seems like quality standards at MS are back at Win95-level.

And then the audacity to force updates on the users. If you do that, you should make it damn sure they work rock solid on every machine.
KeBugCheck is callable by all drivers, last time i looked.
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patrikc: I feel 8 (or better said 8.1) was but a bridge towards 10, think of something like an interim release. Sure, it is still supported (albeit not for long) and some people still use it, but on the whole 10 is at the forefront. It feels like 8.1 served more as a nudge into "the right direction", if you will.
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timppu: I have a different view on that.

Windows 8/8.1 was Microsoft trying to push a "touch-friendly" tablet user interface to PC users in one big swoop, kind of trying to accommodate desktop PC users what e.g. Windows RT feels like. It was clear in many Microsoft's pitch talks back then that they felt that is where the PC users should be heading over time, to Windows RT.

Maybe I still have bookmarked that article by one MS boss who said back then that the future is touch-devices, and in the near-ish future mouse+keyboard will be used only by programmers and maybe novel writers, while common home users etc. would use Surface Windows RT devices and such, without a physical keyboard and a mouse.

After Microsoft saw that desktop PC users were not that happy with Windows 8/8.1 and were not adopting Windows RT devices en masse, they introduced Windows 10 which went halfway back towards the mouse/keyboard-centric user interface, that people were happy in Windows 7, Vista and XP. One of the bigger visual backpedalings being introducing back the Start menu that doesn't take your whole screen, like it did in Windows 8.

I say "halfway" because you can clearly see that Windows 10 is split between the "legacy" and "new" interfaces, and the division between them isn't as clear as in Windows 8/8.1. That also makes the user interface somewhat confusing as sometimes you end up to the "legacy" interface and sometimes to the newer one. Quite often the "advanced" options are hidden into the different-looking legacy interface.

So if anything, it it Windows 10 that is currently the interim stop-gap OS, kind of halfway between Windows 7 and Windows 10 X, Windows Cloud etc. How long it will stay like that, who knows. MS plans seem to change all the time and they are closely following how well people are adopting moving to Windows 10 X devices, Azure cloud etc., and make decisions based on that.

MS has already changed their focus related to e.g. UWP so many times. At some point they were pushing it very hard, at some point it was touted on many articles MS is killing off UWP, etc. etc. They keep trying different ideas (Windows RT, Windows 10 S, next Windows 10 X) to see if people start adopting them, and I see all those as signs of MS trying to nudge Windows PC users away from generic PCs, and away from Win32 (= "Windows API", not meaning only "32-bit") applications to which MS constantly refers as "legacy applications". "Legacy", something of which users should grow out over time.
And the thing is, i remember leaving ubuntu because they did the same thing. Touch is fine for things that your finger getting in the way of isn't a problem. It's great for main OS navigation, that is to say, and not overall UI. A hybrid system would be far, far more efficient and useful. I've heard enough people complaing about touch controls on phone games and such, to the degree that there's a small industry on making controllers for the devices. Also, trying to type on mobile is still horrid compared to a keyboard. My gf prefers to do things on her phone, but when it comes to acutally having text based conversations (as opposed to calling) or really anything other than her "tap tap games" she's even preferring of the desktop.
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StingingVelvet: liNUx WilL taKE oVEr aNY daY nOw!!!
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Crosmando: There's a theory that Microsoft secretly supports Linux and keeps them alive to serve as their "competitor", because they know that Linux will never threaten Windows and if MS were to become a literal monopoly that the US government would come down hard on them (as they did in the 90's).
Microsoft at one point officially supported Ubuntu, and it's no secret microsoft often uses linux servers for some things. Notoriously MS' skype servers ran on linux, i think even after they abandoned support for the linux client.
Post edited May 01, 2021 by kohlrak
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patrikc: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
It worked up until now, they will keep at it, perhaps in an even more aggressive manner. Heck, even the Pro version comes bundled with all sorts of nonsense.
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toxicTom: I really think any big Linux distro nowadays is way more user-friendly and easier to manage for private environments than W10. What do people want? Write some letters and emails, manage their photos and videos, browse the web. Linux does all these things better than Win nowadays. Actually less hassle and tinkering.

The big issues are:
- Business applications. Most are for Windows, traditionally.
- Games.
And drivers. Let's be clear, this is the thing that keeps the catch-22 going, since they could offer cheaper linux computers which would very quickly result in more linux support.
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Orkhepaj: whats wrong with that?
targeted ads are better than lame spam ads
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djoxyk: no option for no adds whatsoever? it's a shame to have paid product and pay with your privacy as well.
most sites need adds to survive
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kohlrak: And drivers. Let's be clear, this is the thing that keeps the catch-22 going, since they could offer cheaper linux computers which would very quickly result in more linux support.
The common drivers (video, sound, input devices, storage, printers) aren't a big issue any more.
Drivers for specialised business hardware/equipment can be a problem though.
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kohlrak: And the thing is, i remember leaving ubuntu because they did the same thing.
Yeah same here, I started looking for Ubuntu alternatives at that point when they went "touch-friendly", and found Linux Mint as the good "desktop alternative".

I recall there were some other questionable things with Ubuntu around the same time, like Canonical adding some Amazon telemetry or something to Ubuntu...? Either way, at least in Linux you can choose to hop to some other distribution which better serves your wishes.
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GalvanicQuas: I still say though that they should not of released 10 when they did. It was no where near ready for major release. And even now several years on its still not.

It's all over the place, some settings open new graphics some older, we still have a mis-mash of the Settings App and Control Panel. Half the icons are the current Windows 10, half older Windows (and when the new update arrives it will add a third icon style.) And each new update seems to bring even more bugs, rather than fix things.
I am kinda glad they brought Windows 10 because I found Windows 8/8.1 much worse, its awful tablet user interface.

So Windows 10 was more like an admission from MS "Ok we screwed up with Windows 8, it wasn't that good for desktop/keyboard/mouse users, so here is its fixed version, Windows 10", which it kinda was, moving back towards desktop UI.

But as you said, that also meant Windows 10 has a messy UI which is divided between the "legacy" and "modern" UI. That just makes it feel like an interim OS, towards the modern UI (which is what Windows 10 X might be about, but for now it is meant only for dedicated Windows 10 X devices, not x86 PCs...).
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HappyPunkPotato: I still have a couple of old laptops with W7 installed. I've ended up on Debian with XFCE desktop and I really like it. The first one I tried was Ubuntu Unity (I think) years ago because I wanted to use some program that wasn't on Windows but I hated it. Then I tried Mint because everyone recommends it, not sure why I couldn't get into that one. Debian XFCE feels similar to W7 for me and once I got my head round the package manager I started to enjoy it.
There is even a Debian-version of Linux Mint. :)
Post edited May 06, 2021 by timppu

Microsoft’s More Personal Computing segment, including Windows and Xbox, posted $13 billion in revenue, up 19%, driven in part by strong demand for consumer PCs. Microsoft’s gaming revenue was up 34%. Surface revenue grew 12%. Search advertising revenue increased 17% with improved customer ad spend.
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toxicTom: That doesn't bode well. They'll contaminate Home systems with intrusive ads even more, powered by Cortana. They can smell the money there. And they'll probably up the ante with spying on users - for more "targeted" ads.
Yesterday I finally installed the latest Windows 10 (Pro) updates (mainly postponing for awhile the infamous recent update that has caused problems to many people; it didn't for me, well I haven't really checked if it would have caused poorer framerate in some games but at least my Windows still works), and what do you know, now I have some kind of new news popup window/link on the right side of the taskbar. I guess it came with the latest "feature update".

I would have preferred Microsoft doesn't install and enable such additional services without asking me first. Yeah sure it might be handy to see the weather report etc. in your task bar all the time, but still, stop pushing stuff to me. I guess it can possible be disabled somehow, but I shouldn't have to do even that.

I really like how MS has added e.g. NHL ice hockey news to that news pop up... yeah, like the phuck I care about NHL. I wouldn't want even national ice hockey tournament news there.
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toxicTom: That doesn't bode well. They'll contaminate Home systems with intrusive ads even more, powered by Cortana. They can smell the money there. And they'll probably up the ante with spying on users - for more "targeted" ads.
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timppu: Yesterday I finally installed the latest Windows 10 (Pro) updates (mainly postponing for awhile the infamous recent update that has caused problems to many people; it didn't for me, well I haven't really checked if it would have caused poorer framerate in some games but at least my Windows still works), and what do you know, now I have some kind of new news popup window/link on the right side of the taskbar. I guess it came with the latest "feature update".

I would have preferred Microsoft doesn't install and enable such additional services without asking me first. Yeah sure it might be handy to see the weather report etc. in your task bar all the time, but still, stop pushing stuff to me. I guess it can possible be disabled somehow, but I shouldn't have to do even that.

I really like how MS has added e.g. NHL ice hockey news to that news pop up... yeah, like the phuck I care about NHL. I wouldn't want even national ice hockey tournament news there.
Really, I have installed all the updates on multiple machines and never seen a bar anywhere with advertising. Likely you have some setting enabled, like that nuisance cortana. That is one of the first things that gets removed. Just go through all the privacy settings and turn it all off, then uninstall all windows apps, then use geek uninstall to remove all the rest. You can also use things like win10 shut up to remove telemetry and such like.

In an ideal world M$ would offer a Win10 lite or something, a Pro version but with just the operating system, minimal components. That would really give the other operating systems something to think about, lightweight, fast, but basic and additive rather than the usual subtractive.
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timppu: Yesterday I finally installed the latest Windows 10 (Pro) updates (mainly postponing for awhile the infamous recent update that has caused problems to many people; it didn't for me, well I haven't really checked if it would have caused poorer framerate in some games but at least my Windows still works), and what do you know, now I have some kind of new news popup window/link on the right side of the taskbar. I guess it came with the latest "feature update".

I would have preferred Microsoft doesn't install and enable such additional services without asking me first. Yeah sure it might be handy to see the weather report etc. in your task bar all the time, but still, stop pushing stuff to me. I guess it can possible be disabled somehow, but I shouldn't have to do even that.

I really like how MS has added e.g. NHL ice hockey news to that news pop up... yeah, like the phuck I care about NHL. I wouldn't want even national ice hockey tournament news there.
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nightcraw1er.488: Really, I have installed all the updates on multiple machines and never seen a bar anywhere with advertising. Likely you have some setting enabled, like that nuisance cortana. That is one of the first things that gets removed. Just go through all the privacy settings and turn it all off, then uninstall all windows apps, then use geek uninstall to remove all the rest. You can also use things like win10 shut up to remove telemetry and such like.

In an ideal world M$ would offer a Win10 lite or something, a Pro version but with just the operating system, minimal components. That would really give the other operating systems something to think about, lightweight, fast, but basic and additive rather than the usual subtractive.
same
dunno where those ads should be as i havent seen any
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timppu: Maybe one day you will be glad they did... unless you don't care about the survival of your Steam game library, and desktop PC gaming overall, of course.
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StingingVelvet: I'm honestly not THAT worried. If there's anything the PC gaming community has shown it's that smart people will do what it takes to keep games running on modern hardware. Emulation, fan patches, PCGamingWiki tweaks, repacks, new installers for 16bit programs, whatever. Obviously some niche stuff falls through the cracks and I am not saying everything is smooth sailing, but does it keep me up at night? Not really.

Denuvo actually working on some games for a long while is a lot more scary to me than anything else.
I wasn't really referring whether fans can make older PC games to run in modern and future PCs. I was more referring to things like Windows 10 X (and before that S etc.), where MS is pushing bit by bit people to the idea of walled gardens. At that point is might be that only Linux (and maybe FreeBSD and such) would be the only feasible option to run in generic PC platforms; that is probably the reason why Valve has invested so much on Linux gaming as well because Valve/Steam has no future in the walled-garden Microsoft devices.

Claiming that MS would never do it (trying to abandon an open computing system where people can even install non-MS operating systems and install software from non-MS sources too).... well the proof is in the pudding, that is exactly what they are doing by constantly introducing different approaches to that same goal (Windows RT, S, X, UWP), and it is not that many years ago when MS itself boasted that the PC's future is in walled-garden Surface-type Windows RT devices for home users, and only some professional programmers and such would need to use what we currently think of as desktop PCs. (From those times, MS seems to have shifted somewhat to the idea that the future is in Azure "virtual computers", not so much home users using local computing power).
Post edited May 05, 2021 by timppu
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nightcraw1er.488: Really, I have installed all the updates on multiple machines and never seen a bar anywhere with advertising. Likely you have some setting enabled, like that nuisance cortana. That is one of the first things that gets removed. Just go through all the privacy settings and turn it all off, then uninstall all windows apps, then use geek uninstall to remove all the rest. You can also use things like win10 shut up to remove telemetry and such like.
Not sure if Cortana is enabled, but if it could be switched off during the Windows 10 installation, then I have it switched off because I did select the "strictest" privacy settings that one could select there, like "send only the 'important' telemetry and your secrets to MS, not the whole memory dump of your PC"..

At least I am not talking to my Windows and it is not talking back to me, so if that means Cortana is switched off, then it is.

The attached picture shows what I am talking about, that weather thing in the task bar (and the news popup) just appeared there after the latest (feature?) update.

If you are not seeing it, are you using e.g. local account? I am using the Microsoft account because Windows kept insisting using it, I don't recall if I had to use it for Office720 or something similar... Either way Windows kept insisting using an online MS account, I don't recall the exact details.

So I am unsure if that new thingie appears only if you use the MS account in Windows. Either way, it was not opt-in as I would have preferred.
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