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Wow really? Ads in Win8...

Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Bought, downloaded and installed 8 Pro last night on our "lab" machine at home. I can eventually get used to all the UI changes, but one thing really irked me. There are promoted ads within the metro applications (from MS, not 3rd party apps). I noticed when you scroll all the way to the right you would see an ad. WTF?
 
The OS itself does not have ads. The MS apps are not a part of the OS, despite being provided by default.

And yes, it's incredibly stupid.
 
I guess that "makes sense" but yeah it's really dumb. I didn't see any ads in the release preview and now they sneak them into the official release, not a good move.
 
WTF!? Can they be disabled?

Metro, No Start button, etc.....I can handle that. But, I won't be upgrading to Win8 if there are ads.
 
Are they ad tiles? Just click, and remove, right? A minor irritation, but I wouldn't have a big problem with that.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
Yeah, something like:

Code: 
sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping

Right? 😉
Click to expand...

I have more of a problem with it on Ubuntu due to privacy concerns. I don't use Ubuntu anymore, so I haven't studied it, but I'd need to see exactly what data is being transmitted. I'm not opposed to ads per se, and don't mind giving Canonical a few cents when I make a search, but the details matter. On Windows, you have no expectation of privacy, so that doesn't concern me as much. You can always assume you're being spied on because they tell you they do in the EULA. Not much question about that.
 
lxskllr said:
I have more of a problem with it on Ubuntu due to privacy concerns. I don't use Ubuntu anymore, so I haven't studied it, but I'd need to see exactly what data is being transmitted. I'm not opposed to ads per se, and don't mind giving Canonical a few cents when I make a search, but the details matter. On Windows, you have no expectation of privacy, so that doesn't concern me as much. You can always assume you're being spied on because they tell you they do in the EULA. Not much question about that.
Click to expand...

Since we know Windows doesn't respect our privacy, it's OK, but we have higher standards for their free competition? Not really what I was going for, but whatever.

What I was pointing out is that it's easy to remove the ads under Ubuntu, but we all know it will likely be impossible under Windows 8.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
What I was pointing out is that it's easy to remove the ads under Ubuntu, but we all know it will likely be impossible under Windows 8.
Click to expand...

When I first read your post I wondered if removing the ad bits would violate Windows' TOS. Probably doesn't matter on individual basis, but even if you got the guts yanked out, you couldn't be sure you got them all, or that they wouldn't get put back in the future. Ubuntu's method is certainly the easier way of dealing with it :^)
 
What a horrible title for a thread. This is no different than if you posted "Wow really? Ads in iOS".

Windows 8 doesn't have ads, apps do. Even then, only some of the built-in apps from Microsoft have ads, these are the ones like sports and news, which are easily replaced with other apps in the app store, all of which are also likely to have ads.
 
blurredvision said:
What a horrible title for a thread. This is no different than if you posted "Wow really? Ads in iOS".

Windows 8 doesn't have ads, apps do. Even then, only some of the built-in apps from Microsoft have ads, these are the ones like sports and news, which are easily replaced with other apps in the app store, all of which are also likely to have ads.
Click to expand...

The pre-installed apps from MS in Windows 8 do have ads, that's an issue. If I downloaded something from the store to later discover ads that's one thing, but these are the apps that came with the OS, so it is more than fair to say Windows 8 has ads. It's in the News, Sports, and Weather apps. It is extremely jarring because this is supposed to be a desktop OS, I'm not running RT here.

It's not something that will hinder my day to day use of the OS (much like Amazon's special offers on the Kindle), but considering the higher standards we hold for a full on computer OS, it just looks bad and lowers my opinion of Microsoft.
 
Doesn't the YouTube app, which comes preinstalled on android phones, have ads?

Windows 8 doesn't have ads, the apps do. And they are no where near the level of the Kindle. Windows 8 is also just as much of a tablet OS as Windows RT.
 
Red Storm said:
The pre-installed apps from MS in Windows 8 do have ads, that's an issue. If I downloaded something from the store to later discover ads that's one thing, but these are the apps that came with the OS, so it is more than fair to say Windows 8 has ads.
Click to expand...

I agree.

Well, it's sort of common with prebuilt PCs, when OEMs preinstall trial software and other crap on them. It's supposed to reduce the price of the PCs, so people kinda accept it.

But when you pay for a clean Windows OS directly from Microsoft, it's a bit disappointing to see adware preinstalled.
Not the end of the world and if it makes Windows cheaper I'm sure many of us might even like it better this way. But it looks kinda bad.
 
Last edited:
Dominato3r said:
Doesn't the YouTube app, which comes preinstalled on android phones, have ads?

Windows 8 doesn't have ads, the apps do. And they are no where near the level of the Kindle. Windows 8 is also just as much of a tablet OS as Windows RT.
Click to expand...

If the advertising apps are default, then it's accurate to say Win8 comes with ads. Saying otherwise is playing disingenuous word games.
 
lxskllr said:
If the advertising apps are default, then it's accurate to say Win8 comes with ads. Saying otherwise is playing disingenuous word games.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more. Just straight out saying Windows "has" ads or "comes with" ads sounds to me like a politician who uses words to paint a bad picture but the details show something completely different.

I'd be fine with saying "Windows 8 comes with apps that have ads", but saying "Windows 8 has ads" has a COMPLETELY different meaning. Even you would have to admit that. You're the one who is playing disingenuous word games.
 
blurredvision said:
I couldn't disagree more. Just straight out saying Windows "has" ads or "comes with" ads sounds to me like a politician who uses words to paint a bad picture but the details show something completely different.

I'd be fine with saying "Windows 8 comes with apps that have ads", but saying "Windows 8 has ads" has a COMPLETELY different meaning. Even you would have to admit that. You're the one who is playing disingenuous word games.
Click to expand...

Bullshit. Windows is a collection of "apps" that perform various jobs. Everything from kernel, up to IE10 is an "app". There's no one thing that makes Windows Windows. If it installs something by default, that's Windows. If the ads came from something installed after the fact from a store, or somewhere online, then it wouldn't be accurate to say Windows came with ads.

I don't especially care either way, but trying to whitewash the inclusion of ads is dishonest.

Edit:
I suppose including the kernel as an app was pushing the point a bit too far, but the greater point stands. Any task that does a job is an app, even if it does fairly low level tasks.
 
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Isn't the point of ads to offset the cost of cheaper or free apps? So if Win8 comes with ads (and yes, the included Metro apps count) then why isn't the OS cheaper or free?
 
blurredvision said:
I couldn't disagree more. Just straight out saying Windows "has" ads or "comes with" ads sounds to me like a politician who uses words to paint a bad picture but the details show something completely different.

I'd be fine with saying "Windows 8 comes with apps that have ads", but saying "Windows 8 has ads" has a COMPLETELY different meaning. Even you would have to admit that. You're the one who is playing disingenuous word games.
Click to expand...

I mean, it's like complaining about ads in Maps on Android. Does anyone really care?

My opinion is to just ignore them or don't use the app. Simple as that.
 
Nothinman said:
Isn't the point of ads to offset the cost of cheaper or free apps? So if Win8 comes with ads (and yes, the included Metro apps count) then why isn't the OS cheaper or free?
Click to expand...

No, the included apps don't count, but W8 is cheaper. Compare to the price of W7 or Vista at launch, but I'm going to guess that won't be enough for you.
 
blurredvision said:
No, the included apps don't count, but W8 is cheaper. Compare to the price of W7 or Vista at launch, but I'm going to guess that won't be enough for you.
Click to expand...

So you don't consider notepad a part of Windows? Or explorer? They're included apps from MS, regardless of their utility they count just as much as the rest.

I guess you're technically right since Win8 Pro is $70 and Win7 Pro is around $100, although with the SKU changes it's not really a direct comparison. But Home Premium is what most people would need and that's only like $80 so that $10 difference doesn't really justify ads as part of the OS to me.
 
blurredvision said:
I couldn't disagree more. Just straight out saying Windows "has" ads or "comes with" ads sounds to me like a politician who uses words to paint a bad picture but the details show something completely different.

I'd be fine with saying "Windows 8 comes with apps that have ads", but saying "Windows 8 has ads" has a COMPLETELY different meaning. Even you would have to admit that. You're the one who is playing disingenuous word games.
Click to expand...

Always the MS apologist, I see.

To most normal people, when you install Windows, whatever "comes with Windows" (during an install), IS Windows.

So yes, it would be entirely correct to say, "Windows 8 has ads".
 
blurredvision said:
No, the included apps don't count, but W8 is cheaper. Compare to the price of W7 or Vista at launch, but I'm going to guess that won't be enough for you.
Click to expand...

So you don't think WordPad, or FreeCell, are "part of Windows"? Strange world you live in, might want to try experiencing the real world once in a while.
 
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