Early Windows 11 beta features show Microsoft really wants users to try 365 and OneDrive, bombarding them iwth messages in the Start and Settings menus.
Microsoft is dealing with Windows 11 more and more like a signboard bus, finding methods to stick ads for its services along every surface area and underarm of its operating system. In addition to advertisements in the Start menu, the current test develop for Windows 11 includes notifications for a Microsoft 365 trial and more in the Settings menu.
On Friday, Windows beta user and regular leaker Albacore shared numerous screenshots of the most current Insider Preview build 23451. These shots originate from the ultra-early Canary test develop, and show a new “Home” tab in Settings that includes a notice to “Try Microsoft 365.” This appears to connect to a free trial of the company’s office apps suite. There’s also a notification for OneDrive and another to ask users to finish setting up a Microsoft account, advertising users can use the 365 apps and its cloud storage on desktop. Another notification in tje Accounts tab also blasts users with a demand to sign in to their Microsoft account.
These advertisements are very comparable to other sneak peek constructs with so-called “badging” that reveals up when users click the Start menu. Because menu, the advertisements are more subtle and ask users to “Sign in to your Microsoft account” or advertise to users that they can “Use Microsoft 365 totally free,” of course disregarding that users need to input their credit card information to access their complimentary month of workplace apps.
Microsoft decreased to use extra comment beyond what was mentioned in its Build 23451 article. It’s clear the Redmond, Washington busines is seeing how far it can get with advertisements for its own services inside its OS. Albacore composed the test Settings page has actually been concealed “for a couple of weeks,” though it’s received more of these cards, AKA advertisements, over the last few builds.
Based exclusively on the screenshots, it’s uncertain if users will have the ability to disable these ads like they can for the Start menu (by browsing to the Settings menu). This version of the Home tab on the Settings page doesn’t appear to include anything but the ads themselves.
Microsoft has actually been attempting to press its 365 apps just recently, with updates that include AI features to apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The business retired the old Office monicker late last year in a rebranding and debt consolidation effort to combat off Google’s own suite of cloud-based office apps.
Windows 11 can already be a tough sell over WIndows 10, particularly considering how it took Microsoft a long time to add brand-new features like File Explorer tabs and a native video editor. The issue for Windows 10 holdouts is that Microsoft stated it is no longer supplying any new function updates to its earlier OS. In addition, the company will not provide any brand-new security updates for Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education versions of Windows 10 beginning in October, 2025. Announcing the new customer roadmap, product manager Jason Leznek stated the business “highly motivate [s] users transition to Windows 11.
Sadly, whith all these proposed additions, Microsoft is making that shift a much harder pill to swallow.
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