Microsoft is showing Windows 10 users full-screen ads for its Edge browser

[midian182]

A hot potato: Microsoft is no stranger to the world of nagging ads, the worst example being the Windows 10 upgrade campaign. That was a few years ago, but the public outcry at the time hasn’t cooled the Redmond’s company’s love of intrusive adverts. This time, it’s Microsoft Edge that’s being rammed down users’ throats.

As reported by Windows Latest, Microsoft is A/B testing the ads in Windows 10 production builds. For those unfamiliar, A/B testing involves showing two versions of a marketing asset or a web page to a group and comparing the difference in performance.

The full-page ads appear via the out of box experience (OOBE) when users set up a new Windows 10 device. They’re also shown after every system update and when clicking on a new ad banner within the Settings.

Microsoft is trying to get more people onto its Chromium-powered Edge browser, and it seems to be working. Edge passed Firefox as the second-most-popular desktop/laptop browser earlier this year, though its 7.75 percent market share remains far behind Chrome’s 69.28 percent.

The ads reportedly appear when Chrome or Firefox is set as the default browser. The OOBE ads boast: “Get world class performance, privacy, and productivity as you browse with the latest Microsoft Edge—the best browser for Windows 10.”

Image courtesy of Windows Latest

The “Use Microsoft recommended browser settings” will make Edge the default browser and pin it to the desktop and taskbar. You can always click the option to keep your current settings, of course, and you can skip the process, but that will just bring the ad back in the future.

With the prompts being A/B tested there’s always the possibility Microsoft could listen to what will doubtlessly be negative feedback and make the ads less annoying.

Last month we heard that some websites were redirecting Internet Explorer users to Edge, which will launch even faster once the Edge 88 update arrives.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/87609-microsoft-showing-windows-10-users-full-screen-ads.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Hopefully someone like the EU cracks down on MS doing this the way they did with IE in the 90s. This stuff is absolutely disgusting.

Software you pay for should not have ads in it. Ever. If ms were to do away with windows 10 licensing altogether maybe I’d be ok with it.

 

[MarkHughes]

I started using edge, Then it did this full screen thing that I couldn't get out of, I eventually shut it down and will never use it again. I had my doubts going in as it was.

 

[redhat]

Do yourself a favor and install windows 8.1 or free up just 30 GB from your HDD and install Linux Pop OS or Manjaro.

 

[Buhaj]

Edge is the best Firefox downloader.

 

[p51d007]

I don't see ads on my Edge full screen. Must be my ad blocker. (techspot whitelisted though)

 

[negroplasty]

Obnoxious.

 

[terzaerian]

Microsoft's stubborn determination to make their browsers a thing is just baffling. Stick a fork in it, Redmond.

 

[bviktor]

Do yourself a favor and install windows 8.1 or free up just 30 GB from your HDD and install Linux Pop OS or Manjaro.

Yeah, right.

Step 1: Be a masochist.

 

[Steve Lalancette]

I was right about this... The new Edge is decent. And Microsoft know it. The user experience needed to be crappier with Edge. It was too good for Microsoft.

 

[kimo1]

That's harassment which will end up with somebody suing Microsoft for anti-competitive practice.

 

[lazer]

Do yourself a favor and install windows 8.1 or free up just 30 GB from your HDD and install Linux Pop OS or Manjaro.

win 8 stinks, win7 was and IS the best - but do NOT update it.

 

[Aryassen]

I really don't see the point. WHY is MS doing this? To the best of my knowledge, their browser itself is not a revenue-generating stream. In fact, if Edge was gone altogether, it would just free up a lot of resources at MS, which they could either re-allocate elsewhere, or use to make savings in their ops.

Seriously: they are spending (a lot of) money to come up with a good quality product, the are agressively pushing it to be wider accepted, all for...what? What is the benefit they can hope for by doing this? Am I missing something?

 

[MasterMace]

Stop using Microsoft and Google browsers. Their business is advertising to you.

 

[Sundevildaddy]

I really don't see the point. WHY is MS doing this? To the best of my knowledge, their browser itself is not a revenue-generating stream. In fact, if Edge was gone altogether, it would just free up a lot of resources at MS, which they could either re-allocate elsewhere, or use to make savings in their ops.

Seriously: they are spending (a lot of) money to come up with a good quality product, the are agressively pushing it to be wider accepted, all for...what? What is the benefit they can hope for by doing this? Am I missing something?

Watch: The Social Dilemma on Netflix.
"If a product costs you nothing, you are the product"

 

[Dyson Parkes]

I really don't see the point. WHY is MS doing this? To the best of my knowledge, their browser itself is not a revenue-generating stream. In fact, if Edge was gone altogether, it would just free up a lot of resources at MS, which they could either re-allocate elsewhere, or use to make savings in their ops.

Seriously: they are spending (a lot of) money to come up with a good quality product, the are agressively pushing it to be wider accepted, all for...what? What is the benefit they can hope for by doing this? Am I missing something?

One way that Google make money from chrome is by tracking browsing habits (which are ostensibly anonymised, but that's a whole other can of worms). This is then used to target advertising.
Imagine how much more M$ would make if they were the ones who could sell that targeting information? Not only the browsing habits of anon_user#182743876587264398723, but what times said user is usually on their machine. This would allow for targeting ads in 'premium' time slots (much like prime-time TV advertising does).

 

[zamroni111]

Microsoft should choose firefox engine, instead of chromium, for new edge.
Chromium engine renders text badly in windows

 

[kmo911]

Ms do what they want unthil they getting SUed.

 

[GQcKZWDm]

I really don't see the point. WHY is MS doing this? To the best of my knowledge, their browser itself is not a revenue-generating stream. In fact, if Edge was gone altogether, it would just free up a lot of resources at MS, which they could either re-allocate elsewhere, or use to make savings in their ops.

Seriously: they are spending (a lot of) money to come up with a good quality product, the are agressively pushing it to be wider accepted, all for...what? What is the benefit they can hope for by doing this? Am I missing something?

Ms Edge is a serious revenue generating product for Microsoft. First, it syncs your browsing history, sorry, it takes away all your browsing history.

Through your browsing history, they will know every video you watched on YouTube, every search you made on Google, every product you searched on Amazon, literally, everything you do on the internet, they have a record of it, they will perfectly profile you, aggregate that data and sell it to advertisers. Watch how Microsoft ad revenues will go up in the next 3 - 5 years


They have Collections feature that does price comparison - more ad money

They have a coupon feature - more ad money

They will use that data to make AI products - more money

 

[bazz2004]

I'm up to date with Windows 10 on my several computers. Edge isn't my to go browser but when I use a different one there's always an option to make that the default browser. Microsoft doesn't make a nuisance of itself with adverts to use Edge apart maybe when there's a major W10 update. There are alternatives OS's and bigger things to be concerned about out in the real world.

 

[Endymio]

Hopefully someone like the EU cracks down on MS doing this the way they did with IE in the 90s. This stuff is absolutely disgusting.

I think a far better approach is for consumers to simply boycott products with intrusive ads. It would be incredibly hard to justify an EU antitrust action on the legal basis of "its just really annoying", especially given Edge's microscopic share of the browser market.