I think Microsoft may be wildly underestimating the amount of goodwill this sort of thing costs them. Windows has been steadily losing ground to OS X, Linux, iOS and Android, and a big part of that is its reputation for being the platform stuffed with ads in places they don't belong. (Because of malware and OEM crapware, mostly). What happens if you're an OS X user considering switching back, and you look over someone's shoulder and see these ads? You conclude that Windows hasn't escaped its terrible past.
The thing that amazes me about decisions like this is how, well, <i>chintzy</i> they are. It's brand sabotage on a really deeply profound level.<p>I mean, on one hand you have Microsoft pushing really, really hard to be taken seriously as a vendor of premium, Apple-level products. Their Surface machines are slick and innovative. Windows 10 is more attractive to developers than any Windows in maybe 20 years. Azure has gone from a punchline to a solid, well-regarded competitor to AWS.<p>And then they sabotage all that with cheap, cheap, <i>cheap</i> decisions like forcing ads into the file browser. <i>Ads!</i> Right in the middle of a product they've been strenuously trying to position as high-end and premium and luxurious, they slap something straight out of the playbook of NetZero, the 1990s free ISP that was pitched at people too broke to afford AOL.<p>There was nothing <i>premium</i> about the NetZero experience, nothing <i>high-end</i>. It felt cheap because it <i>was</i> cheap. It was cheap crap aimed at people who couldn't afford anything better. And that's fine! But it's a long way from what Microsoft desperately wants people to think Windows 10 is. They're willing to pull the rug out from under all those years of engineering effort and marketing wizardry, just to squeeze a few more pennies into another product's quarterly revenue numbers. Talk about penny wise and pound foolish.<p>I guess there's still some truth in Steve Jobs' famous 1995 statement that "the only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste." (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJWWtV1w5fw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJWWtV1w5fw</a>)
I saw this exact ad for the first time this morning. I'm not one to be offended by ads but this one did irk me a little - I'm running 10 Pro which I paid $100 for, I shouldn't see ads in a paid product.
>It’s odd that Microsoft has suddenly become so enamored with ads in Windows 10.<p>I told a colleague 18 months ago that I didn't want to move to Windows 10 because I didn't want advertising in my operating system. He insisted Microsoft would never do that, and I snorted at him.<p>Microsoft has been very clear and transparent about their goals with windows 10. It exists to push their other products. The app store is one of them, but of course onedrive and office365 are others. This isn't microsoft being suddenly enamored with ads, it's them closing the jaws of the trap.
This is not new, search /r/windows10 for "ads".<p><a href="https://imgur.com/a/gNiqC" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/gNiqC</a>
Great. So now to join the Diagnostic Service in waste of precious battery life and memory, as well as polluting the view.<p>For crying out loud, make an ad-free, spy-free expensive edition if you're that strapped for money! Just do not make it $1000 Enterprise version.
Even more reason to use an Explorer replacement like Directory Opus. I stopped using Explorer when they ruined it beyond all hope in Windows Vista.<p>Not affiliated with GPSoftware at all, just a happy long-time user.<p>The irony of me advertising it isn't lost on me, however.