Microsoft is stuffing pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows again | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft is stuffing pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows again

theverge.com

46 pointsCharlesW9 comments

“This is a one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome,” says Caitlin Roulston, director of communications

People already had the choice, this isn't giving them anything they didn't already have.

While I'm sure there is a large contingent of people who don't know how to change the default search engine, the assumption, and spin/excuse to do this, that people are not switching because they don't know how is getting quite long in the tooth.

plus if they're claiming to be offering a choice, where's DuckDuckGo, Yandex, etc.

We need amazing graphics card drivers and native AAA games support in Linux so Windows can finally die.

The stuff Nadella is doing is just gross.

Which org in MS is it that is so consistently failing its users in this way? Is it just Windows, or is it a separate org that's polluting Windows?

I've not used Windows full time since Vista, but each time I dip in it's shocking to see how much bloatware there is in a default Windows install (not from an OEM) – adverts, pop-ups, casino games, celebrity news. Windows itself feels better, it doesn't take much digging to find a screen that hasn't changed since XP, but it's mostly nice on top.

Is the crap from Windows itself? From a marketing team running amok? Is it all driven by Bing or Edge? Bing has always felt similar, like the MSN leadership were told to be more googley, but old habits have stuck around.

It feels like marketing running the show, which has been a trend at software companies for several years now, but it’s hard to tell.

Tech companies continue to run the domestic abuser's playbook:

* I want to know everything about you and who you talk to (privacy violations)

* I can change deals unilaterally and do whatever I want without your say-so (disrespecting user agency)

* You can't leave me (vendor lock-in)

It seems more systematic of American companies past few years and the trend of small fines for egregiously gross violations.

So glad I don't use either MS or GOOG browsers so I don't have to witness this childish behavior myself.

As a simple end-user, I see these two as nothing more than adware and spyware companies.

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