https://www.ghacks.net/2023/10/03/windows-copilots-is-showing-third-party-ads-to-windows-users/
Windows Copilot is an AI feature that launches in October 2023 officially on Windows 11. It may show third-party ads to users, which is a problem in itself.
3rd party ads lead to the roulette wheel of malware injection. M$ can't even keep the malware links off of their garbage MSN homepage on Edge. This would be an extremely dumb move, and they will do it anyway because it trades off security for money.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody. There's no way it was going to be free and have no ads.
Edit: By the way, I don't see many people talking about it but DALL-E 3 was stealthily launched in the new Bing chat update and it's incredibly impressive. By far the best image generation AI in the market right now, and it probably won't be free for long.
Do you think that the next step is product placement?
"Draw a rabbit wearing a top hat."
Produces picture of rabbit, wearing a top hat, sipping a coke.
That would be hilariously evil, but I doubt they'd go that far. They'll likely just put an ad in-between every prompt if they decide to go full greed.
Why not both? Why would their greed have a limit like that?
I could see this being a very interesting watermark - the free demo is sponsored by Coke, and all images will prominently feature the product. Upgrade to a paid/business/Enterprise account to get images without the product.
Given how many God-awful advertising patents have already been filed, I really can't see anyone turning down this opportunity. The only reason against it would be a technological limitation- making sure the product isn't featured alongside negative/toxic content. For instance, Hitler yelling at a bunch of homeless orphans (while holding a Coke)
It won't be free for long. MS already announced that it will be moving to a paid service shortly.
I jave had mixed results. I asked it to generate a user interface and it was absolute gibberish.
The ads have been baked in for a while. Every time I turn on my PC, the first thing I see is it trying to get me to buy Game Pass, and when Starfield came out, it was putting pictures from the game on that startup screen. Even after I tried to turn that off, it still showed them.
Yeah windows has been an ad delivery platform since windows 11 came out. It’s why it was a “free” upgrade for so many people
Did you mean to say Windows 10?
Ads have been served in Home edition since 10 was dropped with 1507. And they strip group policy from it to make it harder to change that. Windows Vista to Windows 8.1 were offered free upgrades to Windows 10, based on the version those keys belonged to.
I'm right now testing Windows 11 deployment for work and I hate it. I'll move to Linux before I move to Windows 11 on my personal devices.
I mean yeah, whenever the specific changes were put in place as you outlined. I don’t use windows enough to know the history, but I appreciate the clarification
No problem. I don't apply my experiences to others' lives, or at least I try not to. Thanks for taking along the lines I was trying to convey!
Right? You bought the OS but you still get ads. Even worse, it sends your data to MS servers
You really, really don't need an AI assistant for regular computer usage. It's a solution in search of a problem.
There are genuinely good reasons to use GitHub Copilot if you're a developer, but otherwise, I think they're way more trouble than they're worth.
I mean I could see myself giving copilot some prompts when doing office stuff, like styling and formatting.
This should really simplify office usage especially for people who only use it sparingly and then don’t remember every function.
No Linux distro has, as M$ hasn't made their AIs open source. But there are people working on open source alternatives.
Not open source but free; https://codeium.com/
Not open source, paid; https://www.tabnine.com/
FOSS; https://github.com/THUDM/CodeGeeX2/blob/main/README_EN.md
Theres paid ai .. like this
https://github.com/KillianLucas/open-interpreter
Give commands to chatgpt in the the terminal. Then it executes it. It can generate files, etc as well. Using python iirc.
Microsoft has outright lost the plot with Windows. Spyware Operating System.
Linux has come a long way people, far more than you might realise and very suitable for the enterprise. Do yourself a favour, find a distribution that appeals to you and try it out.
I'm tech-comfortable but can't see myself using Linux (on my PC) until it is near-seamless. Windows is a pain in the ass in so many ways but when I want to play a game or install a program I can. I can disable all of the annoying/invasive features one time and never have to deal with them again.
I'm definitely rooting for Linux though and appreciate the users supporting the ecosystem.
Yeah no, I made my home teather/Plex server computer use Linux and I'm constantly having issues with it. Getting the 5.1 audio to work properly through HDMI was impossible and everytime I try to use it I have to un plug and re plug the HDMI cable or it won't recognize the tv.
Not to mention the 6 different Nvidia driver versions I had to go trough before it would actually output image after not being recognized. With most of them I had to reboot the machine
And I also use Ubuntu on my work laptop and I'm constantly fighting it whenever I dare use my Bluetooth headphones (Why does the entire system hang when the audio drivers hang??????) and having no middle ground for windows stealing focus is annoying as fuck.
Don't get me wrong I'd like to take Ubuntu over windows any day of the week but don't tell me it's seamless because it isn't. It has a lot of unresolved issues and requires a shit ton of tinkering to do things that are done with a couple of clicks on windows
Plus good luck having legacy support for ancient financial software using wine
Other than VR sadly, but it's really damn good for everything else I do. If only I didn't have an Nvidia card though it's given me so many headaches. >:(
Don't worry, I have an AMD card and it gives me other, more different headaches. Headaches all the way down.
I'd agree now. I've been 100% Linux since February and I love it. I've tried for 20 years to go to Linux and there was always something that made me go back to Windows. Now, no problems at all.
I looked at my Windows install one day and realized over half the programs I use are open source anyway. With Proton taking care of the few games I actually give a shit about, I don't miss Windows at all in the last four years.
I actually got into Linux like 23 years ago but never fully made the jump myself and delete my Windows partition until 2019. Always dual-booted until then.
I personally think KDE is the best Windows-lookalike desktop environment on Linux if you want something that looks familiar.
I'm not trying to twist your arm or change your mind, and certainly not trying to convince you to go install linux right now, Just giving you some first hand experience in response to your statements.
But honestly, it is near seamless as is. Especially if you mostly play steam games. The only games that don't work are ones that use grossly invasive anticheats, like Asian MMOs.
Check out protondb.com if you havent yet and look up the type of games you generally play.
and if you play games from other sources, theres usually a lutris script to install it with 1 click.
Just to give a recent example, I was playing Starfield the second it unlocked via proton with zero technical issues.
Honestly you will have far less issues on Linux in general. It is easier to install, won’t nag you for rent, it won’t change you default preferences or force apps as system and most of all won’t data mine your data and spy on you under the guise of telemetry. In saying that, it is with the possible exception of some games take a little bit to get up and running but most on steam are very easy and you will be quite surprised at how many run on Linux.
I use VR a lot and play a couple of games that use that dumbass anticheat thing so it's really not an option for me right now. I've been toying with the idea of slapping it on my old laptop that's basically a streaming machine at this point, but I'm tired and old lol
If you have an old computer you don't use much, you should consider giving linux a try. My Windows 10 installation on my desktop is far less stable than the arch instance on my laptop, and I am very much in the "still learning" phase of using it.
Definitely still learning, a seasoned Arch user starts and/or ends every comment with "btw I use Arch"
I use windows mostly for gaming now. If I'm doing anything else, I swap to my Linux disk. I don't use Arch, by the way, I use Fedora.
I was doing something similar for a while, but I found I struggled with inertia enough that I kept doing non-gaming stuff on Windows. I switched to using Fedora as my main operating system, getting rid of Windows entirely, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how straightforward gaming has been. (Though as I understand it, it's trickier for people with Nvidia GPUs)
Sigh, one more thing for the list ...
"Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
"Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts and written on the sky. Oh, and in our operating systems. But not in dreams. No siree!"
Microsoft: We now inject the malware attack vector directly into your OS because it makes us slightly more money.
Like it wouldn't.
Please, it's 2023. Corporarions have totally embraced the "you are the product" model. They offer you a service on their infrastructure ("the cloud") on their terms, which they can modify and terminate on will. Then they make money by selling your data, showing you ads and using your data to personalize those ads so that you are more likely to click on them.
Shame or ethics? Please, it's money that makes the world go round. Ads in every app! Ads on the web! Ads in every corner of the city! Ads on public transport! More ads! Even more ads! No square centimeter of physical and virtual space left unused!
It's really pathetic.
Microsoft will keep doing this shit until their monopoly is broken.
I don't know why people are continuously surprised at MS doing scummy things when they pretty much control the market, have little to no competition, and regulators have proven they don't care.
Truly amazing. Usually you roll out these features, get the userbase involved and intrigued at these new features, get used to them and THEN try and monetize it to capitalize on the sunk cost feeling
I was finally able to get rid of the ads in Windows. I'm sure that it doesn't block everything, but editing the 'hosts' file helps. At least I don't see any ads in Windows anymore. Here is an simple tutorial that I found on how to do so:
youtu.be/IJr2DcffquI
you did actually pay for it as you can get a refund for windows that comes preinstalled on computers
I removed copilot the instant I saw it. I don't need any more Microsoft online shit built into my OS, thanks. (I also use Arch, but Windows kernel anti-cheat)
I keep telling myself im going to give linux a try at some point, and I should probably get familiar with it as soon as possible
Your instinct is right, because it does take a little bit of time to be familiar enough that it's automatic, but it doesn't need to be a big daunting thing - I first dabbled with Linux running in a virtual box. Then I dual booted for a while. Now I'm running just Linux. Dipping your toe in the water is good
Here's the knife they slip in with a new "free" feature in Windows...
At least with co-pilot for O365, they are charging (a lot of) money for the feature, presumably without ads.
I had a brief look at enabling this but I didn't see the point. Copilot in the office suite or outlook makes sense though.
Reasons I haven’t owned a windows device in over a decade. I’ll pay the premium for Mac to not have to deal with this bull shit. Also Mac has been killing it in the user privacy game.
It's like you actually went out of your way to post something more irrelevant and unhelpful than "jUsT UsE LiNuX"
It's helpful to me if others use Windows. I haven't used it as my primary OS since Vista so my knowledge is out of date, they can go hassle someone else about their Windows issues
lol. What? Unless your personal computer is actually a backend server for heavy infrastructure, then a Mac can probably do it.
Computers are just tools, and a personal computer running MacOS can do more or less the same as one running Windows. One tool might be better optimized than the other, like gaming on Windows, but that's about it.
Now, you might strongly prefer one, or not know how accomplish what you want on the other, but that doesn't mean it can't do it. It just means you don't know how.
MacOS would be a complete write-off except thankfully it has some POSIX compatibility and standard Unix tools work on it (with varying degrees of success, but much more success than trying to create Unix environments on Windows)
If it didn't have that then it'd be as useless as Windows
I have a top end gaming PC with an RTX 4090. Does Mac even install Nvidia drivers? It sure as fuck doesn't run games!
Apple will gladly do everything in their power to make developers resent creating things for macs, but they are compensating it by porting Proton to it now.
Yes, there has been native eGPU support since at least MacOS 10.13. That doesn't mean it's better at gaming then your Windows desktop, just that it can, which is what I said.
Latest supported Nvidia GPUs are from the 10xx series up to macOS 10.13.6. 10.14 and up only support Kepler based GPUs, like GTX 770
eGPU support! 🤣 Great, you can play iPhone games. Run Cyberpunk 2077 on your "Apple silicon" and let me know how it goes. Get serious, Macs don't game. I also use a PS5 controller with my PC using DS4 Windows? Does Mac do that?
Jesus Christ you're a dense dork.
eGPU = External GPU (over Thunderbolt), not embedded GPU or whatever else you imagined.
Maybe you should reread your original comment about "Macs can't do half the stuff a PC can", which I was responding to.
I don't even use a Mac, but I'm not a dipshit fanboy convinced of the supremacy of Windows, or any OS.
You said something dumb, I corrected it. You keep saying dumb shit, but I can't fix stupid, so I'm out. Peace.
What I said was, "Half of the shit I do on a PC, a Mac isn't capable of" which is still true. Mac doesn't even natively run Cyberpunk!
Also Mac has been killing it in the user privacy game.
Okay, I thought you were serious, but now you have to be joking