The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by ChuckNorris89 on Saturday March 18, 2023 @07:52AM (#35208279)

>and you can’t turn it off!

Except you can. Taskbar setting -> toggle Widgets to OFF

>I don’t understand why MS doesn’t get some sort of internal revolt.

Windows sales aren't core moneymakers anymore when they're basically giving them away for free (I have mine registered with a MSDNAA key I found online and it worked).

Money is in Azure, O365 subscriptions and ads shown to their Windows userbase. Nadella even said that Google makes more money from Windows users than Microsoft does, so shoving ads in your faces was them taking a slice of that sweet ad revenue.

It's unfortunate, but this silent acceptance is our society having been numbed to being bombarded with ads on every computing devie it just became the new norm sadly and it doesn't seem like there's any hope for the trend to be reversing. People just got used to SW & online content being free and ad supported rather than paying upfront for it.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by skrebbel on Saturday March 18, 2023 @07:56AM (#35208315)

Except I can’t (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35208271).

Also I don’t understand why “not a core moneymaker” implies “this must be crap-maximized”.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by ChuckNorris89 on Saturday March 18, 2023 @07:57AM (#35208324)

>Except I can’t

Maybe it's a Win Pro edition thing and not on HOme.

>Also I don’t understand why “not a core moneymaker” implies “this must be crap-maximized”.

What you don't understand is irelevant to the Microsoft board meetings where they show ad-revenue go up, because money is the only thing they understand, user experience be dammed.

What are those users gonna do, install Ubuntu? /s

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by Kye on Saturday March 18, 2023 @08:09AM (#35208400)

I'm on Home. I don't remember what I clicked to make it go away, but it's gone. Turning off Search highlights also got rid of the news garbage in the start menu. Now it's more like KDE's launcher.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by masfuerte on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:48AM (#35210054)

Microsoft often do this. They introduce an unwanted feature but they include a checkbox to turn it off. After a year or two they remove the checkbox. My Windows profile doesn't have any ads or Bing integrated search or other nonsense but the options I used to achieve this live on only in the registry. When I get a new computer I'm not using Windows.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by skrebbel on Saturday March 18, 2023 @08:04AM (#35208374)

Buy chromebooks most likely

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by ChuckNorris89 on Saturday March 18, 2023 @08:06AM (#35208385)

I've never seen chromebooks in continental Europe though. Maybe it's an AMerican & UK thing.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by skrebbel on Saturday March 18, 2023 @08:10AM (#35208409)

Fwiw I’m in continental Europe too and the local Media Markt has about 30% Chromebooks in the laptop department. The sales guy actively tried to push them last time I talked to one.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by Symbiote on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:21AM (#35209790)

Only part of Denmark is on the continent, but anyway.

The categories are "Laptop computer", "Macbook" and "Chromebook" on Denmark's largest electronics retailer: https://www.elgiganten.dk/computer-kontor/computere

12 of the cheapest 15 laptops are Chromebooks, although that could also mean they aren't selling well and have been discounted.

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by dazc on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:55AM (#35210109)

I don't know what the situation is now but I do recall, circa 6 year's ago, a Dutch colleague being very impressed with my cheap laptop and asking where she would get one.

I remember searching various Dutch retailers to show her how readily available these things were and not being able to find one.

Also, at the same time, Dutch amazon only sold books?

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Re:The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge by mschuster91 on Saturday March 18, 2023 @10:54AM (#35209569)

> It's unfortunate, but this silent acceptance is our society having been numbed to being bombarded with ads on every computing devie it just became the new norm sadly and it doesn't seem like there's any hope for the trend to be reversing.

Oh there is. Governments. The GDPR was a massive hit against the advertising industry, and there is more in the pipeline (DMA/DSA). Additionally, the EU is beginning to act against crap like lootboxes, and other annoyances like NFTs collapsed on their own.

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