I'd mentioned MS's new bit of advertising bullshit in passing yesterday, but its badness really deserves a closer look. Fortunately, PC Mag have us covered:
Microsoft really wants you to use its software products as well as running Windows 10, and that includes the Edge browser. But it can't stop you choosing to use an alternative web browser. However, if you opt to use Chrome, then expect to start seeing adverts right on your Windows desktop.
As Myce reports, if you have Chrome installed and the icon present on the Windows Taskbar, chances are you're going to start seeing a pop-up advert appear [...] suggesting you install Microsoft's Personal Shopping Assistant Chrome extension. Microsoft touts it as "Your smart shopping cart across the web."
Opting to install the extension results in Microsoft monitoring which products you've searched for and viewed while using Chrome, and then offering to compare those products to find the best price. There's also alerts when prices change, and the ability to track products across all your devices. Of course, Microsoft will make money if you opt to purchase any products using the Assistant.
[...]
Reviews of the extension, as you've probably guessed, are not great. Users refer to it as "spam" and "adware," and there's multiple calls for Microsoft to stop advertising it on Windows 10. "The assistant is poorly designed and implemented" and "Spammed by Microsoft to install. Doesn't really do much to assist in my shopping" sum up the kind of feedback Microsoft is generating.
This is a move that I've come to regard as classic Microsoft: rather than making something actually good, that people would actually want to use, MS have banged out a piece of crap that even they have no confidence in, and are now abusing their control over the OS to push it on users in the most aggressive and intrusive way possible. It's bullshit, of exactly the kind that inspired nearly half of all PC users to stay with Windows 7 rather than be subjected to this sort of nonsense.
Worse yet, it's coming at exactly the time when MS are also fucking up their sales pitch to desperately-needed Enterprise customers. From Digital Journal:
This week, Microsoft publicly claimed its own Windows 7 operating system is "long-outdated" and based on insecure security models. The statement has been criticised by security experts as the OS is still three years away from the end of support.
Microsoft posted a lengthy piece to its German newsroom in which it said an "early goodbye" to Windows 7. It suggested the aging platform cannot support the "increased security requirements" of modern devices and internet users, advising customers upgrade to Windows 10 for increased protection.
[...]
Its post has been criticised by security experts though. According to people in the industry, there is no reason to migrate away from Windows 7 today, interpreting the company's claims as an effort to increase Windows 10's adoption. Some experts suggested Windows 10 is actually less secure than Windows 7.
German Windows expert Günter Born published a response to Microsoft's article on his blog that explains the company's flawed logic. Born cited a recent study from Carnegie Mellon's CERT division that presents in great detail evidence showing Windows 10 is less secure than Windows 7 in some situations.
Windows 7 with Microsoft's EMET security software offers better protection than Windows 10 without, according to the study. In its enterprise marketing materials, Microsoft implies Windows 10 does not need EMET. Last year, it announced EMET will be discontinued on July 31, 2018, to the protest of many users.
[...]
Born also noted that Windows 10 isn't what many business customers want. Microsoft's focus on attracting new users and appealing to consumers has led to feature bloat that isn't desirable on enterprise systems.
"Machines with Windows XP and then Windows 7 have been a solid foundation for my SoHo business," said Born. "Windows 10 isn’t what I need as a SoHo business user. It’s focused on things Microsoft’s marketing identified as 'good for the company’s revenue.'"Again, a now-classic Microsoft move, obviously prioritizing their own interests over their users' to the point of actually making Windows 10 less attractive as a platform, all at exactly the same moment when their own interests rely heavily on Windows users migrating to the Win10 en masse. GG, Microsoft. GG.
Maybe that's why I'm starting to see articles like this one from Paul Thurrott:
With Microsoft looking at new ways of monetizing Windows 10—in many cases, with ever-aggressive advertising in the product itself—I’m getting a lot of questions about alternatives. And while the case for moving off Windows 10 on PCs is not clear, I feel the frustration too.
In fact, I spend a lot more time than you may realize exploring those alternatives. This week alone, I’ve done work on macOS, using my MacBook Air, and I’ve installed the latest versions of Ubuntu and Mint Linux. In other recent weeks, I’ve spent time with a surprisingly high-quality Acer Chromebook as well.
I do this with no sense of joy. And to be clear I still find Windows 10 to be the obvious winner when I evaluate what it is that I’m looking for personally. And that’s true regardless of my job: Were I to suddenly hit the lottery, I’d keep using Windows 10 myself. I mean, I’d probably buy a really expensive Surface PC. But I would stick with Windows 10.
This isn’t the case on phone, of course, nor is it true on tablets. On these form factors, Windows 10 is either unusable (phone) or pointless because of the lack of ecosystem support (tablet). Phones and tablets, though, are more clear-cut: You should choose iPhone or Android on phone (I prefer iPhone), and iPad if you want a tablet. (I am not aware of a single decent Android tablet, which I still find curious.)
His list, oddly, places the wildly unpopular (and no longer available) Windows 8.1 at the very top, followed at #2 by the much more popular Windows 7; MacOS sits at #3, which probably isn't much of an option for most users given that you'd need to buy an overpriced Mac PC to get it; the much more affordable Chromebook clocks in at #4.
The most affordable option, Linux, is last on Thurrott's list at #5. Linux will run on any PC you own, of course, and is completely free, but it doesn't natively run Windows apps, and its bewildering assortment of distributions/versions, and its learning curve, are clearly hurting it. Linux developers clearly need to start doing a better job of working together to "sell" their platform to new users, but Mint looks like one of the simplest available options.
Thurrott's list isn't interesting as much for its recommendations, however, as for the fact that it exists at all. Thurrott likes Windows 10, remember, something that he mentions more than once in the article, but has been fielding so many inquiries from readers wanting off the Microsoft hamster wheel that he felt compelled to compile a list of recommendations. When even Windows 10's fans are talking about alternatives to the OS, it's probably not a good sign for Redmond.
In a couple of weeks, we'll get the first OS Market Share numbers of the new year. Thanks to Microsoft's hamfisted ineptitude, I'm expecting them to look almost exactly the same as the last numbers of last year: with Windows 7 still wildly popular among PC users, and Windows 10 growing very little, if at all. Satya Nadella's team truly need to re-think their approach, here, if only for Microsoft's own sake, and there are some hints of awareness on their part about how badly the ham-fistedness is hurting them.
Still, I'm predicting very little actual change in their tactics until closer to the end of the year, when Windows 10 still won't have taken off with Enterprise users in a way that even Nadella can't ignore anymore. Whether Nadella is actually capable of overseeing that kind of a tactical, and possibly even strategic, shift, and whether Microsoft's board of directors will be willing to let him try, are yet to be seen. Nadella's bet heavily on Windows 10, and it's not a stretch to say that his own success is heavily tied to the success of the platform; if the platform fails to thrive, Nadella's days as head of Microsoft may be numbered.
Still, I'm predicting very little actual change in their tactics until closer to the end of the year, when Windows 10 still won't have taken off with Enterprise users in a way that even Nadella can't ignore anymore. Whether Nadella is actually capable of overseeing that kind of a tactical, and possibly even strategic, shift, and whether Microsoft's board of directors will be willing to let him try, are yet to be seen. Nadella's bet heavily on Windows 10, and it's not a stretch to say that his own success is heavily tied to the success of the platform; if the platform fails to thrive, Nadella's days as head of Microsoft may be numbered.
UPDATE:
Microsoft's pain may already be worse that I'd previously suspected, if this GeekWire report is borne out:Microsoft will cut about 700 jobs in conjunction with its quarterly earnings release next week, according to a report this afternoon by Business Insider, citing an anonymous person familiar with the plan.
The latest layoffs are part of the company’s previously announced plan to cut about 2,850 roles globally during its current fiscal year, according to the Business Insider report. The company declined to comment this afternoon, but we understand the report to be accurate, based on our own sources.
It's not unusual for a big corporate to lay off some employees after a recent merger, so one might expect Microsoft to phase out, say, LinkedIn's HR team as being unnecessary, but the timing is interesting, here. Normally, when companies cut staff at the same time as they release their quarterly earnings report, it's because that earnings report is disappointing: either profits are far below expectations, or they're actually losing money.
Given that MS are struggling to grow Windows 10's market share after spending a year giving it away (although not exactly for free), and are going back to using free giveaways to propel adoption by Enterprise customers who clearly aren't planning to pay for it, all while attempting to monetize every part of the OS that they can think of, regardless of the damage that does to their brand and the Win10 platform... it's easy to see how this might just be Microsoft's scenario.
Now, Microsoft are a huge company, with a lot of cash in reserve, so they can afford to post some losses while building the Windows 10 platform and transitioning to a from a sales-based software producer into a cloud-based service provider, but it's unlikely to do their share price any good. And Satya Nadella, like all corporate CEOs, really only has one job: to keep the share price up. If he posts too many underperforming quarters in a row, then his position gets a lot weaker.
We'll have to see what next week brings, but I have to say... I'm kinda curious, now. Microsoft's bad behaviour of the last couple of years really doesn't deserve any kind of reward, and I'll admit that I've been hoping for some kind of backlash to materialize, but I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen quite so soon. It'll be interesting to see just how bad the news is, and how desperately they have to work at spinning it.