this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 133 points 10 months ago

3rd party ads lead to the roulette wheel of malware injection. M$ can't even keep the malware links off of their garbage MSN homepage on Edge. This would be an extremely dumb move, and they will do it anyway because it trades off security for money.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

To the surprise of absolutely nobody. There's no way it was going to be free and have no ads.

Edit: By the way, I don't see many people talking about it but DALL-E 3 was stealthily launched in the new Bing chat update and it's incredibly impressive. By far the best image generation AI in the market right now, and it probably won't be free for long.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you think that the next step is product placement?

"Draw a rabbit wearing a top hat."

Produces picture of rabbit, wearing a top hat, sipping a coke.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That would be hilariously evil, but I doubt they'd go that far. They'll likely just put an ad in-between every prompt if they decide to go full greed.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Why not both? Why would their greed have a limit like that?

I could see this being a very interesting watermark - the free demo is sponsored by Coke, and all images will prominently feature the product. Upgrade to a paid/business/Enterprise account to get images without the product.

Given how many God-awful advertising patents have already been filed, I really can't see anyone turning down this opportunity. The only reason against it would be a technological limitation- making sure the product isn't featured alongside negative/toxic content. For instance, Hitler yelling at a bunch of homeless orphans (while holding a Coke)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It won't be free for long. MS already announced that it will be moving to a paid service shortly.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_ 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Wonder if they'll use the Hulu model of "pay us money and still see ads"...

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Geez, ads baked into an OS. What a time to be alive.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The ads have been baked in for a while. Every time I turn on my PC, the first thing I see is it trying to get me to buy Game Pass, and when Starfield came out, it was putting pictures from the game on that startup screen. Even after I tried to turn that off, it still showed them.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah windows has been an ad delivery platform since windows 11 came out. It’s why it was a “free” upgrade for so many people

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Did you mean to say Windows 10?

Ads have been served in Home edition since 10 was dropped with 1507. And they strip group policy from it to make it harder to change that. Windows Vista to Windows 8.1 were offered free upgrades to Windows 10, based on the version those keys belonged to.

I'm right now testing Windows 11 deployment for work and I hate it. I'll move to Linux before I move to Windows 11 on my personal devices.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

Right? You bought the OS but you still get ads. Even worse, it sends your data to MS servers

[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 50 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Microsoft has outright lost the plot with Windows. Spyware Operating System.

Linux has come a long way people, far more than you might realise and very suitable for the enterprise. Do yourself a favour, find a distribution that appeals to you and try it out.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

I'm tech-comfortable but can't see myself using Linux (on my PC) until it is near-seamless. Windows is a pain in the ass in so many ways but when I want to play a game or install a program I can. I can disable all of the annoying/invasive features one time and never have to deal with them again.

I'm definitely rooting for Linux though and appreciate the users supporting the ecosystem.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (3 children)

near-seamless

As near-seamless as Windows? I'd argue it's already there!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yeah no, I made my home teather/Plex server computer use Linux and I'm constantly having issues with it. Getting the 5.1 audio to work properly through HDMI was impossible and everytime I try to use it I have to un plug and re plug the HDMI cable or it won't recognize the tv.

Not to mention the 6 different Nvidia driver versions I had to go trough before it would actually output image after not being recognized. With most of them I had to reboot the machine

And I also use Ubuntu on my work laptop and I'm constantly fighting it whenever I dare use my Bluetooth headphones (Why does the entire system hang when the audio drivers hang??????) and having no middle ground for windows stealing focus is annoying as fuck.

Don't get me wrong I'd like to take Ubuntu over windows any day of the week but don't tell me it's seamless because it isn't. It has a lot of unresolved issues and requires a shit ton of tinkering to do things that are done with a couple of clicks on windows

Plus good luck having legacy support for ancient financial software using wine

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

I'd agree now. I've been 100% Linux since February and I love it. I've tried for 20 years to go to Linux and there was always something that made me go back to Windows. Now, no problems at all.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Other than VR sadly, but it's really damn good for everything else I do. If only I didn't have an Nvidia card though it's given me so many headaches. >:(

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I looked at my Windows install one day and realized over half the programs I use are open source anyway. With Proton taking care of the few games I actually give a shit about, I don't miss Windows at all in the last four years.

I actually got into Linux like 23 years ago but never fully made the jump myself and delete my Windows partition until 2019. Always dual-booted until then.

I personally think KDE is the best Windows-lookalike desktop environment on Linux if you want something that looks familiar.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm not trying to twist your arm or change your mind, and certainly not trying to convince you to go install linux right now, Just giving you some first hand experience in response to your statements.

But honestly, it is near seamless as is. Especially if you mostly play steam games. The only games that don't work are ones that use grossly invasive anticheats, like Asian MMOs.

Check out protondb.com if you havent yet and look up the type of games you generally play.

and if you play games from other sources, theres usually a lutris script to install it with 1 click.

Just to give a recent example, I was playing Starfield the second it unlocked via proton with zero technical issues.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you have an old computer you don't use much, you should consider giving linux a try. My Windows 10 installation on my desktop is far less stable than the arch instance on my laptop, and I am very much in the "still learning" phase of using it.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Sigh, one more thing for the list ...

"Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"

"Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts and written on the sky. Oh, and in our operating systems. But not in dreams. No siree!"

[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Microsoft: the beatings will continue until morale improves

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago

Microsoft: We now inject the malware attack vector directly into your OS because it makes us slightly more money.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago

Like it wouldn't.

Please, it's 2023. Corporarions have totally embraced the "you are the product" model. They offer you a service on their infrastructure ("the cloud") on their terms, which they can modify and terminate on will. Then they make money by selling your data, showing you ads and using your data to personalize those ads so that you are more likely to click on them.

Shame or ethics? Please, it's money that makes the world go round. Ads in every app! Ads on the web! Ads in every corner of the city! Ads on public transport! More ads! Even more ads! No square centimeter of physical and virtual space left unused!

It's really pathetic.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago

Microsoft will keep doing this shit until their monopoly is broken.

I don't know why people are continuously surprised at MS doing scummy things when they pretty much control the market, have little to no competition, and regulators have proven they don't care.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Truly amazing. Usually you roll out these features, get the userbase involved and intrigued at these new features, get used to them and THEN try and monetize it to capitalize on the sunk cost feeling

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Come on over to Linux yall, the ~~water's~~ open-source vibes are fine

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I was finally able to get rid of the ads in Windows. I'm sure that it doesn't block everything, but editing the 'hosts' file helps. At least I don't see any ads in Windows anymore. Here is an simple tutorial that I found on how to do so:

youtu.be/IJr2DcffquI

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I removed copilot the instant I saw it. I don't need any more Microsoft online shit built into my OS, thanks. (I also use Arch, but Windows kernel anti-cheat)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I keep telling myself im going to give linux a try at some point, and I should probably get familiar with it as soon as possible

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Here's the knife they slip in with a new "free" feature in Windows...

At least with co-pilot for O365, they are charging (a lot of) money for the feature, presumably without ads.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure it'll still spy though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

acts surprised

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Ok, I won't update anymore my Windows..

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