
Windows 10 has alerts to encourage Firefox users to use IE - endgame
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/5our4n/windows_10_now_has_builtin_adds_targeting_firefox/
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shakna
Edge demands attention till you disable it's popups.

Telemetry reactivates itself every time Windows updates. Also Edge forgets
your ignore preference, and repins itself to the taskbar.

Ads can appear on the start menu, and lock screen.

Office asks to be activated every time you open it if you don't link an email.
(Though it is activated).

You no longer have search without Cortana.

These are not small annoyances that happen sometimes. They happen frequently.
Microsoft is dictating how you must use a computer.

It results in a lot of calls from less tech savvy friends wanting me to 'fix'
their computers.

This seems to me, to be an unsustainable bad business practice. It could work
if there was no competition in the market, but Apple certainly competes, and
for many, Android is also an option.

That's ignoring the crapshow that tried to force everyone to adopt W10.

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WayneBro
Turn it all off then. It took me about 20 minutes of configuring Windows to
turn off every single thing you mentioned.

You do have search without Cortana. You are incorrect. I use it every day.
Stop spreading false information.

Honestly, I would hate my Mac and Linux boxes too if I had no clue how to
configure them the way that I want. Perhaps you should learn how to configure
things properly. Then you can stop complaining.

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shakna
It takes me less. But after every update, it's back.

How would you feel if every security update wiped your crontab?

To revert to legacy search functionality, you need to disable search indexing
as well as Cortana's services and regkeys. So, possible, if difficult. Sorry I
got it wrong.

Neither OSX nor any Linux distro I've used intentially bypasses my config by
reactivating disabled services, or modifying my rc files any time I update.

~~~
WayneBro
Sounds like you did something wrong. All the things I configured did not come
back.

Maybe you should just learn how to do it properly.

~~~
shakna
First, stating that others are doing wrong, is kinda a dick move. You're
screwing over a large proportion of users who can't configure, even if it's in
control panel. Ignoring them, is just bad practice.

Secondly, if there is such a great way of configuring things, where is it
documented?

SysV, systemd, cron, and every other utility that arrives with a Linux distro
has some decent documentation.

Apple hosts their own as well.

Where is Microsoft's guide to permanently disabling Cortana?

~~~
ac29
I've never seen anything I disabled turn itself back on after updates (major
or minor) either, but in addition to turning things off during the initial
Win10 install/upgrade, I also used ShutUp10 [0].

[0] [https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10](https://www.oo-
software.com/en/shutup10)

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beezischillin
Time and time again, Microsoft promises to change, to reinvent itself -- all
they've been doing is taking existing issues customers had with them and
making them worse.

Shame, such a shame. I've stopped believing in Nadella's aura of the saviour
who reinvents the company when Windows 10 was released.

I've switched to Apple since and even with all of their mess-ups, it's a whole
world of difference. I really hope that they're gonna turn it around soon, to.

Kind of a shame that Linux does not have the same application support macOS
and Windows does, I'd switch to that, if it had.

~~~
ieatkittens
"the next version will be better, promise"

I've heard that with Windows, Office, IE, and Sharepoint. I'd happily give up
the esc key to avoid that hell.

~~~
beezischillin
I don't mind the touch bar, I find it pretty interesting, although I only own
two 2015 models (I should've waited a bit, I admit). I mostly mind the battery
life they're giving up for thinness and various design mess ups that are so
un-Apple. (like newer features in iOS, such as Apple Music, etc.)

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NetStrikeForce
The current title (Windows 10 has alerts to encourage Firefox users to use IE)
is not the one from the link and it is actually a lie. I'm not sure if the
Reddit title has been changed after or if Op here thought it was clever, witty
or funny to write "IE" for drama purposes.

You just have to click the link to see it encourages to use Edge, not IE.

Still something we might (should, really) frown upon, but there's no need to
lie about it.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
Funny, I didn't even notice this and I imagine many others didn't either. If
anything this shows how poorly MS markets Edge. Technically, its a fork of IE,
but even then, MS still seems unable to separate its products. This must
greatly be hurting adoption, thus the heavy handed tactics here.

Nadella needs to be dragged over the coals for this. The OS has now become
hostile. The number of steps to change your default browser is inexcusable and
the constant whining to switch back should be actionable. Sadly, with a GOP
administration at the helm, I think further anti-trust efforts on MS, or any
big company, are probably not politically practical.

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Arizhel
The only way the situation is going to change is if people start voting with
their feet. There's no indication they're going to do that, because it's not
_convenient_ , so since they insist on continuing to use this product they
complain about incessantly, they're going to continue to suffer with it. I for
one have no sympathy for them at all.

Nadella doesn't need to be "dragged over the coals". He should be given a huge
bonus if this is increasing MS's profits. And MS should jack up their prices
even more so they can give him even bigger bonuses. If society is stupid
enough to enable this, then society deserves to pay the price.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
MS has been steadily losing desktop and server marketshare and is a complete
non-player in mobile. Its xbox divsion is a money loser too. Its income is
mostly enterprise licensing and even that is being eaten by the cloud.

Win10 was an opportunity to win back the OSX switchers and people who are
happy with just Win7 and not looking to upgrade. If it wasn't free the
marketshare for Win10 would be in the pits. MS is literally giving away its
OS. Nadella doesn't know what he's doing.

>He should be given a huge bonus if this is increasing MS's profits.

In any sane company he would have been fired by now.

~~~
Arizhel
Marketshare is really irrelevant. The _only_ important measure of a company's
performance is profit. If a company is making more profit now than last year,
that's a success, regardless of everything else. The marketshare thing is
really silly: if the market expands in size 10-fold, but your sales increase
2-fold (assuming pricing stays the same), meaning you're doubly profitable,
and somehow that's a "loss" because marketshare is lower? That's just plain
idiotic. Yes, MS is a loser in mobile devices; it doesn't matter because they
were never very profitable there anyway. Desktop and server marketshare losses
can be mitigated with higher pricing and other revenue opportunities (such as
advertising).

I don't have the actual numbers handy, so I can't say whether MS is actually
more or less profitable than before, but I suspect it's more. The point is,
what are their actual profits? If they're making more money, then this focus
on marketshare is pointless. Money is money.

>MS is literally giving away its OS. Nadella doesn't know what he's doing.

Giving away Win10 is the correct choice _IF_ it makes them more money (through
advertising, selling collected data, etc.).

Furthermore, the competition is giving away their OSes. Perhaps MS sees that
it can make more money by getting consumers to switch to Win10 with data
collection and advertising than by trying to charge them for it and getting
less uptake.

>In any sane company he would have been fired by now.

Why? Do you have any proof that his actions have actually decreased profits?
If not, then your assertions are meaningless.

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throwaway6845
I don't see this as substantially different from the ads that appear on
google.com telling me to switch to Chrome when I have the temerity to access
it from Safari.

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SixSigma
Do you pay to use google.com ?

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WayneBro
Yes. I had to pay my ISP. We all also paid Google with tax subsidies. Also we
all pay with our private information that Google collects and sells.

Did I directly pay Google do use google.com? No. I never paid the full price
for Windows either.

~~~
shakna
... You mean apart from the private information they collect and the tax
subsidies.

~~~
WayneBro
I already mentioned that about Google. Thank you.

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Kipters
The title is wrong. The popup is about Edge, not IE.

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bostand
Can you really call these "ads"??

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Neliquat
A message begging the use of a product? An unsolicited one at that? Yes, yes
you can. Pretty sure that neatly fits the definition both in fact and in
spirit.

~~~
WayneBro
The "ad" can easily be removed unlike on OS X.

Go ahead try to never open the App Store on OS X. You can't do it because you
need it for updates. When you open it you will see _actual_ ads.

At least I can get rid of the tiny little "ad" on Windows. And I never use the
Microsoft store. Ever. I have never been forced to use it and I've been using
Windows 10 since release.

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synackrst
You can install OS X / "Core" updates (but not updates for apps that you've
installed via the App Store) via the `softwareupdate` command line utility
[0]. It's not at all ideal for an everyday user, but would work if you wanted
to avoid the App Store entirely.

[0] [http://gotofritz.net/blog/geekery/os-x-software-update-
from-...](http://gotofritz.net/blog/geekery/os-x-software-update-from-command-
line/)

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Omnius
Every time i am on battery i get an Edge popup telling me how much battery i
could save by using edge instead of chrome.

