So in a time when Linux is getting user friendlier than ever, Steam is making ever more games playable on Linux out of the box, when Intels new GPU lineup is about to launch with heavy official Linux support and has been demonstrated to perform vastly better on Linux, that's when they decide to crank up the anti-consumer sentiment? I don't see the plan here, but you do you Microsoft.

"The was experimental banner that was not intended to be published externally and was turned off." ie. "Due to public backlash, the plan was quickly canceled for the next release and we will be retooling it for later on the roadmap." Also, this isn't the first time MS did this. They've done One Drive ads in file explore as far back as 2016. MS has toyed and rolled out ads in lots of their shit over the years. The "News and weather" update for 10 was pretty much just an ad widget pretending to be a weather feed.

I can already see the massive amounts of pirated, hacked, and cracked copies of Windows 11 hitting the internet by week 1, and by week 2 someone will have made an adblocker. I don't understand Microsoft's game plan here. Ads have already become intrusive and asinine, but when even paying for a product can't give you an escape then there's no point in paying for it.

They could increase productivity by making Explorer more robust, multithreaded, able to handle out-of-date/busted shell extensions better, add tabs, improve search, etc, but no. They add ads. Thanks for reminding me every bug I report to Windows Feedback is a productivity-killer, yet they keep ignoring them. They want cash for garbage output.

This was pretty much obvious the moment Microsoft was begging people to use Edge direct on their PCs. "Please give Edge a shot" should have been a bigger problem than it was.

The fact that they can turn these things on and off without your consent should tell you everything you need to know about how much control you actually have over your own computer.

If Linux users are this happy at a change in Windows, you know Microsoft fucked up.

People:We want tabs! Microsoft:Oh you mean ads? People:No we said tabs. Microsoft:Have ads instead.

honestly a really good move from Microsoft Corporation, the first time I've seen in a long time an actually good "use GNU/Linux" ads

Imagine paying for a OS and getting ads in your file manager Can’t relate

5:30 Speaking as someone who attempted to be a programmer once, that's actually as simple as setting a tooltip to contain whatever text based on which folder is open of ones they could guarantee will exist (ie the generic documents, downloads, pictures, etc under the user folder) or otherwise based on the file types that the folder contains. None of that would allow anyone or anything to "see" or more accurately log your "every move", that would be a massive waste of resources for setting something as basic as a tooltip. There are genuine concerns with Windows and data privacy, this is not one. Still, I have no interest in Microsoft trying to sell me its own properties by cluttering up the file explorer, screw that.

Damn, this is a really good move by Microsoft to lose most of their market share

This is exactly the reason why I feel justified for pirating Windows. You pay for it and you *still* get advertising. Nobody should be paying for Windows.

Operating systems...AS A SERVICE!

I've already switched to Linux on my laptop full time - it's working great. I'll never upgrade past Win10. Nobody in their right mind has wanted anything they've done with Windows since Win8. - changes made to user interfaces that have been efficiently and successfully used for decades - changes made to terminology that's been in use for decades, just to piss people off - added bloatware that nobody wants and that anyone who cares removes immediately - added intrusive user activity tracking Now they want me to pay for Windows and be served their shitty ads? No thanks.

If I ever heard this was in my OS, that person in charge of doing said operation would be fired on the spot. There's ways to get around paying for the costs of running your OS as a free service. Then again, there's a lot of things I'd do a lot differently if I was in charge of a lot of these companies.

I've used Windows my whole life and never never knew that tabs in a file explorer were a "thing" until now. That alone makes a great case for switching to Linux. I'm confident that having tabs in my file explorer would considerably boost my productivity.

I remember the days when pop up ads where a real problem on the internet. Never though they would evolve to infest our PCs at the operating system level...

I've wanted to use Linux for a while and this will be my breaking point. Thanks Windows for forcing me to make the leap

If MS is pushing their products via "tips" style ads in Windows it may be deemed anti-competitive. I can't see it being permitted unless they are willing to advertise their competitors as well, which they are not going to do.

They’re probably going to charge more for a version that doesn’t serve ads.

We already know microsoft sends file explorer data to their servers. Either that or their file explorer is really slow... but when it takes *minutes* to open/display the contents of a folder you know something else is going on...

There are amazing file explorer alternatives, kind of crazy to think that we've been using stock apps on our desktops for so long when there's so many more options.

Thanks so much for introducing me to Linux, I don't know what I would do if I still had to use Windows on a daily basis.

"It was just an internal thing" Yeah, no. If it was an internal thing it would have read something like "remember to test the app and report any bugs" employees don't need to be convinced, they just need to be reminded.

I was hardcore Windows fan. I still believe Windows 7 was best system ever. Last month I've changed to Linux due to requiring modern compatibilities. Microsoft destroyed Windows for me. I don't even know what would they have to do for me to regain trust into Windows to start using it again. And of Valve manages to push Linux for gaming, I won't even need to virtualize Windows for gaming.

Never was a fan of Steve Jobs but he was correct about Microsoft having zero taste. No matter what app they come up with, it always feels super uncanny. Cortana, Xbox game bar, the default MSN clickbait nonsense that was first the startpage in IE/edge but now also made it into the task bar, groove music, constant pushing of onedrive, the microsoft store and random shortcuts appearing in start for licensed apps you don't even have access to, Zune for the insiders and now even file explorer is getting weird. I still think Azure is cool but it is becoming bloated out of control with dozens of apps doing more or less the same thing.

One of the few moments when I'm very glad that I've switched over to Linux for at least a year at this point.

Wow, not even file managers can just be file managers anymore. I'm glad that I have fully switched to Linux. I started using Linux about 3 - 4 years ago, and I've started using it as my full time operating system around a year ago. I haven't looked back ever since. I started on Pop!_OS and now I'm on Endeavour.

Seems like Microsoft WANTS us to use Linux instead of Windows.

This is awesome! I'm so happy they're doing this 😀😀😀

Seeing this kind of things nowdays makes me feel so glad i still use Windows 7...

Hoping the ad money goes to the "tabs in basic utilities" fund, so poor microsoft can finally afford to develop such a luxurious feature

Well thats one reason to keep using win10 forever or switch to linux. A stripped down win10 1909 or earlier is really not that bad especially with tools like OpenShelly process priority saver etc

Thank you very much, omg I didn't know about the taps, I have been using the linux file manager wrongly as a windows.

The start menu ads are only in Windows 10 Home, not any other version. They were also removed in Windows 11. They are not in Windows "Full stop".

It's just as dystopian and evil, but at least Apple was quite upfront about their plans to normalize client-side file system scanning. Also, how many advertisement related mishaps has Windows 11 had by this point? This is the second one I've heard about.

This will definitely become a normality. Ads in file browser, ads in boot screen (preloaded ones), 10-second ads before a .exe file executes, ads on all close-buttons (even on the close-buttons of ads, rinse repeat), not having close-buttons on i-frames in html, injected i-frames with ads everywhere, ads on bsods. Soon© they will lobby to make Windows mandatory OS for government sites and government services (like Digid).

Thank you very much, OMG I didn't know about the tabs, I have been using the linux file manager wrongly as a windows. I have switched over two years ago to Linux Mint, because the updates of the "gorgeous sluggy Windows 10", made me choose between installing a new operative system or buying a new laptop with "the most loved Richard Stallman's operative system".

Ads in file managers are bone standard for Android file managers. It took me awhile to find a file manager for Android (it was FX File Manager), but when I did, I stuck with it for years.

A guy opened a thread in the Xfce forum asking for tabs in Thunar.. me and like 3 other people said "yeah we also want that" and like the next day, the dev was like, "Well I don't personally see myself using it but here ya go."

Hey guys, remember when using a product that had Microsoft branding was something to be proud of?

I've actually never seen an ad on my windows 10 pro desktop, it's great to have all these features

I finally got my whole desktop life moved onto Manjaro and I'm very happy.

My respect for hackers & coders increases ever more. Thank you.

Linus: If you use an adblocker for Windows, thay's PIRACY! People who BOUGHT Windows: Visible anger and confusion.

I have to tell you I love the Start Bar in the center because I don't have to look at the other side of the screen.

as a stock holder, I welcome this. Posted from my PopOS computer.

To be fair, Explorer giving you a heads-up about Microsoft's own Editor when you are in the Documents folder could be considered a 'tool tip', slightly more useful than "you can hurt yourself if you run with scissors" 📎. The slippery slope between that and a paid advertisement is admittedly short, but there is a difference in vibe between the two.

As disgusting as Microsoft is, just imagine a discord moderator browsing his "homework" pictures folder and being served ads for rope.

“Everyone on Windows 10 has seen an ad for Candy Crush, full stop.” I hate so much that this is true

Also, if you're going to run windows 10 or 11, (I run 10, but only for gaming) get one of the second last generation's HP boxes from Ebay, slap OpenBSD on it, and use that as a deny by default firewall. Windows has virtually no inherent security. The firewall works, but if I disable the rule that allows Spotify access to my machine, (I don't use Spotify, so I don't need the port open) it gets re-enabled on next reboot.

I find it funny how, despite quite liking windows 10, I barely interact with the new gui elements like the start menu which feature ads. Even the settings app I will avoid if I can get away with it. As such, I barely had any problems with the ongoing issues, and turned off everything I didn't like with vigorous googling and determination

windows 8 windows 10 windows 11 are the best operating systems in the world because they pushed so many people to linux i hope they continue to support the linux community and hope they figure out how to out off business faster

All the default apps on my phone had ads. The file explorer, the mp3 player, the video player, the camera, etc.. and not like a tiny bit of text at the top of the screen, like actual, ten second long video ads

i use start meu in the middle since official release of Windows11 came out, not because im lazy to switch it to the left, but because i like it

Microsoft seem really interested in pushing me towards finally learning linux. Like a boomer I'm scared of learning new things, but I'm also pretty scared of Microsoft selling my computer usage data around the world and forcing adverts onto me against my will. Also the file explorer tabs blew my mind, I'd never even considered that idea.

Everytime something like this happens I realize how much free software programmers/organizations deserve more donations, be it in code or money, and I feel an urge to donate more money than usual. If I had acceptable programming skills I'd submit code, but for now I'm mediocre at best. I hope ReactOS get out of beta as soon as possible, god dammit I never understood this quality rollercoaster of Microsoft, once in a while they produce something very good and RUINS it completely just after. NT architecture is very good, and they managed to fuck it up to the core. Unfortunately I still have to use Windows for professional reasons, and one of my machines (which is basically just a game console) still have it, but thankfully most of my stuff is done on a Linux machine.

This is on the level of like Internet Explorer toolbars. If I suddenly had ads in my file browser, I would think I downloaded something malicious accidentally.

I've been using Linux mint for a while now and it's such an improvement over windows for basically everything I do. To the point where I actually donated money to them because I feel like they're doing something that really benefits me and I'm totally fine with paying for things like that

Imagine paying $100 for a windows license only for this

advertising gets more clever and aggressive by the year. I remember when i could skip a youtube ad in 5 seconds but now because some of the ads were exactly 5 seconds long i was forced to watch the second ad. I know ad blockers are a thing but this example just shows how clever they've become

MSN ads were a pain too. I went and blocked mine back in the day from accessing internet explorer and it helped to kill them off from loading on my MSN

3:06 You can change the wallpaper on non activated windows 10 by right clicking an image and selecting set as desktop background. I just activated my windows recently with a cheap key, but I was on unactivated windows for years with a custom wallpaper.

Just sticking with Windows 10 LTSC version, consume less ram, 10 years of support and security updates, no ads, feature update every 2-3 years (instead of every 6 month, and they can be skipped entirely), and less bloat (Microsoft store not there, but can be installed manually)

This along with the announcement that the next W11 update will prevent Pro editions from using local accounts finally did it in for me. Until I can reliably get GPU passthrough working in KVM, I've switched to W11 Enterprise w/ MAS activation. Guilt free Windows piracy is here to stay

I read the title and thought Microsoft was merging Windows Explorer with Active Directory Server. An odd choice but I'd take it. Then, I realised. Oh, *those* ADS.

This is a return to my past dread:ie6 style malware toolbars.

Remember when you used to run programs to remove adware?

I've kept windows on my main rig and Linux on my laptops and home server for the last decade. This is the final push for me to switch fully to Linux. With Steam Deck out, gaming on Linux is going to finally start getting better and more accessible with proton. And as soon as I find a distro that I actually enjoy using on my first gen surface it's getting switched also.

Microsoft: Lets put ads in explorer! Me: OpenShell sure is great!

I’m getting a Microsoft ad on top of the video title. Microsoft sure does love stuff in the wrong places.

not going to lie, I thought you meant ADS like aim down sights and I was really confused why you would need a red dot for your mouse

Windows 10 was my last stop. I pray for better linux support on modern games in the future.

now thats the unique feature they were talking about

lmao, that now feels like cyberpunk where advertisement was everywhere.

Am glad that Microsoft is finlaly helping its competition, hoping that people will try out Linux or Mac and stay with it.

I've been waiting for years for either linux to become user-friendly enough or for microsoft to become belligerent enough for the linux-verse to truly take off. This could spell the beginning of my switch from Windows 7 over to Mint.

They do this kind of stuff with Xiaomi phones, if you make a folder with games, for example, there will be some apps recommendations which, coincidentally, are games.

The MiUi OS for smartphones was way ahead, I have annoying ads everywhere, the file folder, my gallery, even the damn music player.

The last thing I want is to open my downloads folder and be told "Six pack ABs with this one simple trick! Doctors hate him!" Microsoft, giving more and more reasons to never return to their garbage ever again. No HDR is not worth it.

wow thanks for the tip I'm a noob who's been using mint for a year and somehow didn't know the tab thing existed, you just genuinely made my daily life easier and more efficient so thank you.

I didn't even know TABs were a thing in Linux. That sounds so useful. -.-

As a prior Microsoft fanboy, this is hilarious. The greatest victory is one which requires no battle.

>"Antimalware Service Executable" taking up 50% of my CPU >Way too inconsistent design >Way too much bloatware I'll never use (looking at you, Mail and Contacts) >Basically spyware >Ads in file explorer >The 3rd party Files app from the ms store runs at inexcusable speeds for a file explorer >Updates when I shut down >Have to install way too many programs to get in a usable state (Open Shell, QTTabBar, Winaero Tweaker, I can go on forever) >Requires a Microsoft Account to even use the OS >Shoves OneDrive and Edge down your throat >No, you cannot disable Windows Defender fully even though you have Malwarebytes installed >Group Policy Editor not present because I'm using Home Single Language I. AM. FUCKING. DONE. the only reason why i switched back to windows is because newer versions of distros ran like shit or didnt even install, even the known-good ones that i have installed before like linux mint and elementaryos. fedora didnt even boot to the live iso, manjaro installer crashed at the partitioning page, mint couldnt install because it couldnt unmount my emmc, arch installed but was laggy af and constantly blackscreened and elementary os also couldn' boot onto the live iso because it got stuck in a softlock. please help me i wanna get off of this godforsaken os...

uBlock Origin, Sponsor Block, and not moving to Windows 11. Once 2025 hits, I'll move to Linux.

It looks like its an other way to insert ad, but it doesn't look like typical ad form, more like a tip that has ad which kind of doesn't bother user

They were testing this with Windows 10 earlier. Users complained and it got silently removed.

God why can't the world just become tech literate enough to move onto Linux already

Gotta give Microsoft some credit, they are just trying to make this the year of Linux on the desktop.

Damn, I got excited thinking file explorer would show alternate data streams.

Have had tabs on Finder in macOS since 2013. Something you never can go back from once you tried it.

If this gets pushed, im switching to linux. This shit is deplorable. Remember when adware was considered malware?

Feels like Microsoft wanna go the route of the "Remove Ads" business model. Goes like: "Windows will be free! But you know, it will be full of annoying ads and it will have awkward design. DO YOU WANT TO REMOVE ADS and customize Windows? Buy the license." Looks like the "Remove Ads" profit model reaches operating system level.

Well, time to look into Linux for any future computers.

You'll be able to remove these via registry or local group policy editing - but it will probably not be there at all for Enterprise edition/s of Win11. Even as an individual home user I would only use Win10 (or 11) enterprise (rather than Pro, home, etc). Enterprise ships similair to a win server build; majority of bloatware is removed by default.

i’m sorry what? am i now gonna have to pay to see high res previews of my files?

I mean, to be fair, even if they do not have the ads you still can question whether Microsoft is recording your every move (through app launch logs, for example) and telement it back because, well, WinNT is closed source. Especially since "Recent Opened Files" is a thing in recent Windows 10 builds. And really anything that isn't open source or is written by you cannot be said to be truly secure. What if the company decide to throw tables out of the window? You can't prevent that. That doesn't mean I like the idea of having ads inside file explorer. I understand why it's there, but it's certainly not attractive and, probably won't earn much good for the company Which might be the reason they push to insiders (sort of like open beta), as anyone with windows running (and signs in to their account) can opt to be a insider and receive insider builds/updates

I wish there was a version on the KDE dolphin file manager app for windows. Everybody needs to know what great features they're missing on with the windows file explorer.

even today, buying license for windows will only unlock 'personalization' while ads keeps popping here and there.