This article tells us that Microsoft will be including ads in the file browser of Windows 11.
So let's see if I have this straight. Microsoft gets money from the computer OEM for the pre-installed version of Windows. Microsoft collects "usage data" and possibly other personal data which it can use to tailor future versions of software to be more profitable, and also sell on to third parties making more revenue. Microsoft gets to show you ads when you use their search platform which is defaulted in the pre-installed web browser ("Edge"), and now Microsoft is going to show you ads in your file browser.
I can't help but wonder how many steps there are between this and Microsoft just showing up at your house in a windowless van, pulling a black fabric bag over your head, dosing you with a paralytic, and take you off to some undisclosed site where they harvest all your black-market saleable organs and tissues, and dump what's left in the Berkeley Pit.
OK, maybe that's hyperbole. Maybe.
The article says that this won't affect commercial users. Goodie.
So-called "insiders" will get the ads in the "Beta Channel". The article suggests that negative feedback from these "insiders" could influence Microsoft to not promote this "feature" to general release. I have my doubts.
If Microsoft was giving away (free as in beer) full-fat Windows Professional (or, better still, "Windows Server") with no restrictions, and wasn't doing the "telemetry" thing... maybe I wouldn't mind ads in the file browser. ...maybe. Windows is already generating revenue, and provides them an "in" to sell more products and services. I suspect Microsoft could afford to distribute Windows for free as a "loss leader" and only charge for the add-ons (MS Office and so on) and it wouldn't really hurt their money position. According to this, Windows 11 amounts to just over 10% of the company's revenue. The overwhelming majority of their revenue comes from cloud services (Azure and Microsoft 365) -- more than five times what Windows 11 brings in. That's also where most of their growth is. Some Internet stats show MS Windows declining in market share to Mac and Linux, to as low as the mid 70% range.
Ironically, Linux is crushing it on Microsoft's cloud platform.
