during the great Mastodon migration in 2022 I saw someone post how they head to unlearn scrolling past every 6th post or so on their timeline, because that’s how the Twitter app was displaying the ads. I wish Microsoft the Very Bad and daydream about year of the Linux desktop, but something’s telling me people will get used to ads on Windows the same way.
You’re definitely right. Facebook got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. Netflix got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. YouTube got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. Amazon’s shitty video service got even more shitty, but Fallout was about to come out, so most people didn’t leave and I bet they actually got more subscribers (but idc enough to look it up). It seems like most people have accepted that things just get shitty over time. Or maybe they’re just not noticing the shitty changes? Idk. It’s hard to look at our projected trajectory as a species and be left with much hope. There’s good in this world, but it seems like none of it is coming from companies.
On one hand I agree that most people probably won’t change. On the other, the difference between an OS and websites is that windows has very little exclusivity left. If you want to read Facebook content, you go on Facebook. If you want to watch fallout, you go on prime. If you want to watch long-form content (relative to TikTok), you go to youtube.
If you want a good OS, you’re not forced by Microsoft to exclusively use windows. There are some pockets (like Xbox game pass games) but overall the average user could realistically switch to debian, Ubuntu or mint and not actually materially change what they do and watch on their computer, whereas if you decided to stop using Netflix, yes the experience of watching would be better but you wouldn’t actually be experiencing the same content.
I don’t disagree with your point, but I think that the most important variable is how receptive the average person is to change. It takes a lot of discomfort for most people to want to make a significant change. Most people probably won’t even recognize that Windows sucks because it’s what they’re familiar with and they probably attribute general tech improvements and new software with the OS because they don’t know any better. So they see it as better in a lot of ways and only worse in a couple of ways. They probably also generally think that the only alternative is an overpriced Apple product. It wasn’t until YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers that most people were even aware of the existence of ad blockers lmao. So I’m sure your average Windows user thinks that Linux means programming gobbledygook in cmd.exe and they would rather scroll Facebook. People are dumb and uninterested in the discomfort of learning things. Even if what they’re learning is that there’s not much discomfort because there’s not much new to learn. You have to trick them by sneaking vegetables into their food. “You have a Samsung phone. That runs Android. Android is Linux. See, you’re already using it.” It’s a fucking shock to me that Windows phones never took off.
But maybe the most important factor to Microsoft is the business world. It’s obviously not unanimous, but a shitload of companies rely on the Office suite. Switching to something different overnight might be easy for some workers, but I’d assume a massive disruption in productivity until everybody got acclimated. There would probably need to be some kind of canned training thing to help workers with the transition, which would cost more money. In general, companies would run a cost-benefit analysis and ultimately decide that it really doesn’t make much business sense to make that change when things are fine as is. Because in reality, Windows is fine. It’s not bad enough for a business to burden a rocky quarter just because of some ads and a little jank.
The bad news for Microsoft however is that privacy and security could be getting called into question. Some businesses here and there might get worried about that, but it’s the big Department of Defense fish that will drop them overnight because it’s a matter of national security. In the same way that government devices banned tiktok years before considering a nationwide ban, government devices would not hesitate to dump Microsoft. Their greed could be their downfall. They’re okay so long as the government and their big contractors keep running Windows.
I didn’t leave Facebook, I just stopped using it. You can see their monthly active users are not going up, and sometimes going down. Only Instagram is growing
I had the same experience when switching from the reddit app to Boost. When Boost stopped working for reddit, I couldn’t stand it so it was bye bye reddit my entire pc connection is ad free. There’s a filter in my router, strong filter in my vpn and I have blockers. I do not watch streaming services, I download everything through usenet with an automated system on my NAS. I have no TV. I order groceries online, I never enter a store. My phone has filters too. I live completely ad free. But then Microsoft comes, and says “fuck you, here’s an ad!” on MY machine. Without consent. I was boiling.
during the great Mastodon migration in 2022 I saw someone post how they head to unlearn scrolling past every 6th post or so on their timeline, because that’s how the Twitter app was displaying the ads. I wish Microsoft the Very Bad and daydream about year of the Linux desktop, but something’s telling me people will get used to ads on Windows the same way.
You’re definitely right. Facebook got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. Netflix got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. YouTube got super shitty and most people didn’t leave. Amazon’s shitty video service got even more shitty, but Fallout was about to come out, so most people didn’t leave and I bet they actually got more subscribers (but idc enough to look it up). It seems like most people have accepted that things just get shitty over time. Or maybe they’re just not noticing the shitty changes? Idk. It’s hard to look at our projected trajectory as a species and be left with much hope. There’s good in this world, but it seems like none of it is coming from companies.
On one hand I agree that most people probably won’t change. On the other, the difference between an OS and websites is that windows has very little exclusivity left. If you want to read Facebook content, you go on Facebook. If you want to watch fallout, you go on prime. If you want to watch long-form content (relative to TikTok), you go to youtube.
If you want a good OS, you’re not forced by Microsoft to exclusively use windows. There are some pockets (like Xbox game pass games) but overall the average user could realistically switch to debian, Ubuntu or mint and not actually materially change what they do and watch on their computer, whereas if you decided to stop using Netflix, yes the experience of watching would be better but you wouldn’t actually be experiencing the same content.
I don’t disagree with your point, but I think that the most important variable is how receptive the average person is to change. It takes a lot of discomfort for most people to want to make a significant change. Most people probably won’t even recognize that Windows sucks because it’s what they’re familiar with and they probably attribute general tech improvements and new software with the OS because they don’t know any better. So they see it as better in a lot of ways and only worse in a couple of ways. They probably also generally think that the only alternative is an overpriced Apple product. It wasn’t until YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers that most people were even aware of the existence of ad blockers lmao. So I’m sure your average Windows user thinks that Linux means programming gobbledygook in cmd.exe and they would rather scroll Facebook. People are dumb and uninterested in the discomfort of learning things. Even if what they’re learning is that there’s not much discomfort because there’s not much new to learn. You have to trick them by sneaking vegetables into their food. “You have a Samsung phone. That runs Android. Android is Linux. See, you’re already using it.” It’s a fucking shock to me that Windows phones never took off.
But maybe the most important factor to Microsoft is the business world. It’s obviously not unanimous, but a shitload of companies rely on the Office suite. Switching to something different overnight might be easy for some workers, but I’d assume a massive disruption in productivity until everybody got acclimated. There would probably need to be some kind of canned training thing to help workers with the transition, which would cost more money. In general, companies would run a cost-benefit analysis and ultimately decide that it really doesn’t make much business sense to make that change when things are fine as is. Because in reality, Windows is fine. It’s not bad enough for a business to burden a rocky quarter just because of some ads and a little jank.
The bad news for Microsoft however is that privacy and security could be getting called into question. Some businesses here and there might get worried about that, but it’s the big Department of Defense fish that will drop them overnight because it’s a matter of national security. In the same way that government devices banned tiktok years before considering a nationwide ban, government devices would not hesitate to dump Microsoft. Their greed could be their downfall. They’re okay so long as the government and their big contractors keep running Windows.
I didn’t leave Facebook, I just stopped using it. You can see their monthly active users are not going up, and sometimes going down. Only Instagram is growing
Monthly active robots…
I had the same experience when switching from the reddit app to Boost. When Boost stopped working for reddit, I couldn’t stand it so it was bye bye reddit my entire pc connection is ad free. There’s a filter in my router, strong filter in my vpn and I have blockers. I do not watch streaming services, I download everything through usenet with an automated system on my NAS. I have no TV. I order groceries online, I never enter a store. My phone has filters too. I live completely ad free. But then Microsoft comes, and says “fuck you, here’s an ad!” on MY machine. Without consent. I was boiling.