WARNING: JUNK AHEAD
Junk offender: Microsoft’s adverts in Windows 10 apps
Ifired up Windows 10’s Mail app the other day, only to come face-to-face with an advert. It appears at the bottom of the folder list and proclaims: ‘Get the free Outlook app on your phone’ (see screenshot right). I’ve heard reports that the ad crops up in the Calendar app too, though I’ve not seen this myself.
Not only that, but the adverts are targeted. I logged into Mail with an Outlook.com account, but if you log in with Gmail, you’ll see an ad for the Gmail mobile app instead. Unlike ads elsewhere in Windows 10, you can’t remove them.
Microsoft first experimented with ads around a year ago, and I very nearly ranted about them then. But, at the time, they only appeared in preview versions of Windows tested by users on the Insider Program. When they disappeared, I assumed they had proved unpopular and ineffective. But now they’ve reared their ugly head again – this time in the mainstream versions of Microsoft’s apps.
Advertising is, of course, a valid way to support free software. Many of the free Android and IOS apps we use contain ads, for example, as do many free Windows tools. But Windows 10 isn’t free software. You may have installed it for free, if you took up Microsoft’s free upgrade offer. But nowadays it costs £120 to buy a copy. And if you buy a new PC, part of the cost of the computer covers the copy of Windows 10 that comes pre-installed.
Make no mistake, Microsoft has just stepped over a big fat line. It’s one thing having to put up with ads in free thirdparty tools, but it’s unacceptable to force them on to users of apps that are an essential part of Windows.