Microsoft won't let you Google search from Cortana any more

[captaincranky]

I never said it was "typical" - I said it was the one search I've done so far without Bing trying to sell me something. Most of the time when I do a Bing search I abandon the search results are start over again with something like Google ... and what makes me abandon Bing's output is the ads.

Yeah well, IMO those ads are at least partially attributable to M$ new CEO' business approach, and quite possibly the result of Windows 10 farming information.

IUmm ... no. There are far, far, more web sites with information about Kim Kardashian than there are web sites with information about just about any useful topic ... but they all repeat the same old same old. Thus the grand total of the information on those web pages isn't significantly higher than what you would get on any single one of those web sites.

Right, it's all copy and paste BS. That said, unfortunately you get tricked into visiting a few sites before that becomes apparent. I know I've found myself thinking, "maybe the next hit will have some different content. (But no, it wasn't Kimmy I was looking for. I don't want something like that on my record).

There is far more information out there about moderately narrow fields like controlling plasma in a tokamak or stellerator than there is about K.K ... but on far, far fewer web sites.

Well that makes a great deal of sense, in that information on the topic is likely only available at primarily technical universities. I would think some of those sites would be by subscription though. No?

I don't condemn Bing for "not finding information that isn't there". I condemn it for mixing too many ads into the search results ... which usually causes me to repeat the search with DuckDuckGo or Google. And you missed the point of my using MCF as an example: it is the one case I've had where the search results were not ruined by advertising. Ie., Bing actually produced good results on that topic.

Still in all, it's probably hard for the search engines to figure out what to try and sell somebody inquiring about nuclear fusion. (*) Now if you searched for "soft drinks", with respect to ads coming back in the returns, you should realize you're going to "reap what you soda"......(so to speak).

(*) But, "what to sell the man who knows everything", likely puts search engines in a tizzy. (That was simply an opportunistic jab, don't attach any relevance or mean intent to it). Hence their reticence to commit on ad content...

But, complaining about ads on the internet in general, that's one big a** can of worms to pop the top off. If you really want a pot you can stir though, just post to any thread which involves piracy or copyright. Now that's entertainment!

 

[kendtelarsen]

Another reason not to use 10

Jep you are complete fight about that thing , and I am an it-supporter in denmark ,and I hate w10 and the agresive way MS promoting this ios , and I have some times problems whit w7,update, where it is trying to snick its way in om my laptop.
NOT OJEY MICROSOFT.
Shame om you

 

[kendtelarsen]

Sorry my spelling,om om my mobil and it happens when it going a little bit to fast sometimes

 

[HyperPete]

Screw Microsoft. Disable Cortana, it's a security risk anyway.

 

[RobStow]

Well that makes a great deal of sense, in that information on the topic is likely only available at primarily technical universities. I would think some of those sites would be by subscription though. No?

Unfortunately a fair amount of them are, which means the free stuff often amounts to just abstracts of journal articles that offer teasing glimpses of journals I can't afford to subscribe to. Even the journals that will sell PDFs of individual articles usually want upwards of $50/article which is more than I can afford to pay for my casual curiosity.

On the other hand, a lot of the journal articles are written at a level way above mine so it can be worth waiting for someone who can dumb them down to my B.Sc. level. Once in a while a good article shows up on Arxiv and I often have to skip over the math and just read the words and look at the pretty pictures.

Still in all, it's probably hard for the search engines to figure out what to try and sell somebody inquiring about nuclear fusion.

It would be so cool if they could. The Big Bang Theory needs an episode with Sheldon trying to buy stuff on-line for his own tokamak or stellerator.

 

[RobStow]

I hate w10 and the agresive way MS promoting this ios , and I have some times problems whit w7,update, where it is trying to snick its way in om my laptop.
NOT OJEY MICROSOFT.
Shame om you

A few months ago I let Win10 install itself on my desktop at home ... and it wouldn't boot. So I reverted back to Win7 and used "GWX Control Panel" from UltimateOutsider to rid my system of the Win10 stuff. Since then, when WindowsUpdate wants me to install updates I allow the security related ones but I click on the "more information" links for all of the others to make sure they are not more Win10 stuff. If they are, I right-click on it them and choose "Hide this update" so that I never see them again.

 

[David Mark]

Its just try to create a monopoly. And nothing more. There is nothing you can do on internet without Google

 

[Raoul Duke]

"Google" has many guises, I use only the search engine Google page available by the browser, set to homepage in fact. Open the browser, there it is, I search for what I'm interested in, I never click on the personalized ads that follow you around like a horde of pesky bugs. I use it because it gives me the most relevant links, it does pain me though that I cannot even open a new tab in Edge browser and have it open my homepage.

 

[RockinRobbins]

Don't want Windows 10. Don't want Cortana. Hate the entire idea of Edge, a cell phone app for computers. I'll continue to use Windows 7 and configure my computer the way I want. Microsoft is as small a part of that as possible, the arrogant fools.

 

[NatalieEGH]

1. I have not upgraded to Windows 10. I do not plan to. I own my computer, not MS. It may be their OS but I want to make sure I can control what patches are on it and what are not. Also I do not like the discontinuing of Windows Media Center. So please forgive questions and comments if they do not apply. Were it not for gaming I would have long ago abandoned Windows as I am perfectly happy starting programs from the command shell in Unix or Linux. Oh wait Ubuntu lets you run multiple programs each in its own gui environments just like MS Windows.

2. Does Microsoft restrict when doing searches the customer from using say Firefox and Altavista (yes it no longer exists) completely or only when using Cortana?

a. If it only restricts choice of browser using Cortana, then I see no problem.

(1). Just do not use Cortana. I cannot see the EU saying MS is being anti-competitve if the only restriction is that if you want to use an MS product that it requires other MS products to work especially when the other products are provided for free.

(2). Currently Cortana is the only application of its type on MS Windows systems. As long as MS is not preventing competing products from being able to be developed and installed on their OS, I doubt the EU or anyone else will care about the restrictions placed on Cortana. As far as it goes MS could have written Cortana to use their own entry points into Edge and Bing and no one would have had anything they could say about it. Essentially Cortana is a MS search tool from what I understand. The fact that for a while they chose to have links outside their software does not mean they can not remove those links and it become an anti-trust action.

(3). Someone else can code something like Cortana and have it as a program that runs under Windows and it can have the external link capability.

b. If MS Windows 10 blocks any other browser from working then that is a problem and almost certainly is in violation with the anti-trust laws of many governments and organizations including the US government.


NatalieEGH
Former Systems Programmer
Former Assembler Programmer

 

[Raoul Duke]

"Here is free poop , because our last 2 models were lemons"

and too often if it's something paid for it turns out to be poop wrapped in gold foil. Seems to be fewer companies that you can trust anymore to make and deliver the real goods from manufacturing to the service industry