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Comment by IvyMike | Hacker News Reader

This is my only real issue with Windows 11:

> There’s also the fact that the OS has been forcing ads as "recommendations" into the Start menu and has even begun testing promotional recommendation pages that take up your whole screen, urging users to make Edge the default browser and installing or enabling other services. The worst part is that there’s no way to fully opt out of these ads, which accomplish nothing but clog up the UI with constant notifications.

If Microsoft wanted to drop that, they could do so instantly. But apparently MS values the ad revenue more than they do the trust in their system, and going to Windows 12 won't magically change MS's mind.

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Windows 11 feels like the kind of OS you would get if it were free (ad supported). Ironically, the actually free OSes are much less cluttered and much more stable.

Wait, they still expect people to pay for Windows? I thought the whole play now was giving that away as a loss leader for the services that actually make money.

Granted, I haven't paid attention to Windows since about 2020, when a brief flirtation with an OEM copy of Windows 10 turned me off the platform permanently. So maybe this is just me being out of touch - although, if they are still charging money for it, maybe not as out of touch as Microsoft's product leadership.

Microsoft doesn't charge for Windows upgrades any more but OEMs definitely pay for Windows.

I recently set up my grandmother with a new computer running windows 11. She has gotten used to checking her mail using the Mail app on Windows10; Windows 11 forces you into what seems like a "lite" outlook app.

It's normally wouldn't be a problem, except their new outlook Mail app has ads that look like emails. The very first "email" Is actually an ad built into the default mail client.

I had to explain to my grandmother that she has to always just ignore the first email since it will always be an ad.

I was able to switch to old Mail by uninstalling the "Outlook" and launching Mail repeatedly after.

it's not just this tiny place though; their desire to force "stuff" everywhere - by default - widgets on the lock screen, things on the taskbar and system tray, useless apps you cannot uninstall, repeated nagging to change default apps for specific documents to the lame MS ones (Q: has anyone ever done this after changing it to their desired application?), having to opt-out and try and turn off things that add no value for the user... I've used windows my entire professional life and when my current win10 system (which easily runs triple-A games and deep development) is EOL'd because it "can't run windows 11" I think I hold my nose and switch to a Mac.

Just in case: some systems "can't run windows 11" because the TPM module is disabled in the bios. If that is the problem, enabling it allows the upgrade. You might need to update the bios first. If you already knew this, sorry, but I thought I would mention it.

There are severe additional problems. Secure boot/TPM enforcement and online account requirement to name that largest flaws.

> going to Windows 12 won't magically change MS's mind.

They could go to drawing a more distinct and reachable line with the Home users suffering more while the rest has to pay more initially.

Home users feeding the machine while others get more privacy.

And so on.

I haven't seen any ads on Windows 11 (besides constant nagging about switching to Edge..). It seems pretty easy to disable all of that crack in regedit, of course that's not ideal but not really a huge deal for all "power" users.

> I haven't seen any ads on Windows 11 (besides constant nagging about switching to Edge..)

So you constantly see one ad, instead?

Yeah but that usually only happens if I open Edge for some reason.

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