Advertisement in metro apps?!?

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

these third-party apps

Third-party?

almost all of the included apps do not have advertisements

I'm counting seven right now, that do. That's 35% of the default apps shown on the Start screen

[0nyX]

I dont have ads in any of the preinstalled apps and havent seen any on the apps i downloaded from Windows Store.

[grayscale]

I dont have ads in any of the preinstalled apps and havent seen any on the apps i downloaded from Windows Store.

You don't have an ad on the far right of the Weather app?

I've seen ads mostly only on games (Shuriken Ninja, Untangled) but not that much instrusive (those are free apps, so I don't really care :D )

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

You don't have an ad on the far right of the Weather app?

I just checked and the weather app doesn't seem to have ads anymore. Hopefully that will stick...

[nyolc8]

If I set my home location to my country, then there is no ad in Weather. If I set my home location to United States, ad appears in Weather app. So it's related to the location/country.

[Shane Nokes]

Third-party?

I'm counting seven right now, that do. That's 35% of the default apps shown on the Start screen

I think they are using the term third-party to refer to the fact that the apps you see in Metro are actually store apps. However they come by default with Windows 8 as a sort of 'jumping off' place so that you have some basic functionality in the new UI.

I will agree with your assessment on the number that have ads by default. These however are not apps like notepad & paint that are fairly static and do not receive updates over the lifecycle of the OS.

These apps are the kind that will see a constant investment and improvement, such as what you see with apps being updated on Windows Phone, iOS, and Android devices. Updates & submitting those updates costs money, so one way to offer an app for 'free' is to bundle an ad into it. This allows for the payment of that development cycle for updates & such.

[Rickkins]

It's not a bug... it's a feature... :rolleyes:

[Anthonyd]

So if you go to bing.com and see ads it's ok, but using the bing apps and having ads is a bad thing?

It's exactly the same thing, running the service costs a lot of money, and since people aren't ready to pay for it, then you get the free service with ads. What is wrong with that?

[Calum Veteran]

You do realize that GA isn't for another 2 months so the apps will have updates and changes to them before this point right?

I'm curious. . . . Is this confirmed? I don't doubt what you're saying, but it would be nice to know for sure that they're being updated by GA.

By some people's logic here, iMovie and iPhoto on a Mac PC should have advertisements in it!!

It's ridiculous the things fanboys defend.

Me defending the inclusion of adverts is not ridiculous and it doesn't make me a "fanboy." I'm defending it because adverts don't seem to bother me much and it seems the inclusion of adverts will help Microsoft more.

[bjoswald]

So are you going to whitelist Microsoft's ad servers too? I swear, some of you will just roll over and accept anything.

[Shane Nokes]

I'm curious. . . . Is this confirmed? I don't doubt what you're saying, but it would be nice to know for sure that they're being updated by GA.

I've already seen some of the apps be updated in the store since installing RTM. I'm trying to see if there's a way I can see which specific apps that happened with.

I can't say 100% for sure when updates are scheduled, of course, but I do know that the plan is to provide updates to apps just like has been done with Windows Phone.

I would say someone who would be better qualified to answer that question would be Brandon Live.

BTW while typing this I figured out where the 'Metro' apps are hidden in the system and I notice that the weather app has been updated since I installed the RTM build. It looks like an update pushed out on 8/28 unless I'm reading this information wrong. I believe the Weather app is one of the default installed apps right?

[@Leo]

So are you going to whitelist Microsoft's ad servers too? I swear, some of you will just roll over and accept anything.

Indeed. Microsoft's greed here knows no bounds. The entire Metro platform is tailored first and foremost to promote their store, which they will cut a share of each sell. On top of that, they offer an advertising platform, which they cut a share of also. Then they go out of their way to gimp the desktop experience as much as possible and make it intolerable all for the sake of luring developers into the marketplace trap. And on top of all this, in their own applications - they find it acceptable to put advertisement (so it could help them more :rolleyes: )!

Not right, and consumers need to voice their disgust.

[Shane Nokes]

Indeed. Microsoft's greed here knows no bounds. The entire Metro platform is tailored first and foremost to promote their store, which they will cut a share of each sell. On top of that, they offer an advertising platform, which they cut a share of also. Then they go out of their way to gimp the desktop experience as much as possible and make it intolerable all for the sake of luring developers into the marketplace trap. And on top of all this, in their own applications - they find it acceptable to put advertisement (so it could help them more :rolleyes: )!

Not right, and consumers need to voice their disgust.

Indeed, how dare a company want to make a profit off the software they develop and products they sell...

Oh wait...

[@Leo]

Oh wait, let them make it in legit channels, like they have done so up until this low moment.

But wait, a monkey is controlling the business now ("developers developers advertisers advertisers"), what did I expect? :laugh:

[Shane Nokes]

Oh wait, let them make it in legit channels, like they have done so up until this low moment.

Yes because free ad-supported apps aren't legit. Oh hi Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Zynga, and every other current tech company providing a service or software product out there...

Then again I don't expect much of a logical reply to this. :p

[@Leo]

Because it is not a logical argument.

Last time I checked, these apps were included in a paid operating system? I'd be damn angry at Apple if they put some Zynga ad-supported software. Zealots may argue how these are not really part of Windows 8, but of course they are, they are installed with it. Make Windows 8, and I'd be more inclined to accept it.

[Shane Nokes]

Because it is not a logical argument.

Last time I checked, these apps were included in a paid operating system? I'd be damn angry at Apple if they put some Zynga ad-supported software. Zealots may argue how these are not really part of Windows 8, but of course they are, they are installed with it. Make Windows 8, and I'd be more inclined to accept it.

The apps are there as part of a default install, but they are actually store apps. They were thrown in so that some basic functionality would be included. I've already pointed out that these apps are not like your traditional static apps that are usually bundled with an OS and are not updated during the lifecycle of that OS.

These will receive updates & will require work to go into them to provide those updates. They are offsetting the cost of that work with the money generated by the ads. So in other words you get free apps that will receive updates that provide functionality that is normally provided by paid apps. In return ads are there, and are completely unobtrusive.

[phailyoor]

The apps are there as part of a default install, but they are actually store apps. They were thrown in so that some basic functionality would be included. I've already pointed out that these apps are not like your traditional static apps that are usually bundled with an OS and are not updated during the lifecycle of that OS.

These will receive updates & will require work to go into them to provide those updates. They are offsetting the cost of that work with the money generated by the ads. So in other words you get free apps that will receive updates that provide functionality that is normally provided by paid apps. In return ads are there, and are completely unobtrusive.

Actually, the apps that you claim are "part of the OS" must also be updated over the lifecycle. Based on the windows support cycle, you are entitled to bug fixes and feature additions across the entire OS for the duration of mainstream support. Do you think that every patch tuesday is free? Those updates cost a lot of money, but you get them because you paid for them when you bought the OS.

I'm not saying that the ads are not warranted in any way, but these "apps" are part of the OS. They can't be removed without editing the system files. They also come with the OS when you buy it, along with everything else. You paid for the desktop wallpapers, even though they're just "images" that you can download off of the internet. You paid for the screensavers. You paid for notepad, wordpad, and paint. You paid for all of the icons. You paid for the desktop gadgets(in win7 and vista). You even paid for that free "ninja tuna" track that comes with windows 7. You can buy that on iTunes, but you still paid for it when you bought windows.

[Shane Nokes]

Actually, the apps that you claim are "part of the OS" must also be updated over the lifecycle. Based on the windows support cycle, you are entitled to bug fixes and feature additions across the entire OS for the duration of mainstream support. Do you think that every patch tuesday is free? Those updates cost a lot of money, but you get them because you paid for them when you bought the OS.

I'm not saying that the ads are not warranted in any way, but these "apps" are part of the OS. They can't be removed without editing the system files. They also come with the OS when you buy it, along with everything else. You paid for the desktop wallpapers, even though they're just "images" that you can download off of the internet. You paid for the screensavers. You paid for notepad, wordpad, and paint. You paid for all of the icons. You paid for the desktop gadgets(in win7 and vista). You even paid for that free "ninja tuna" track that comes with windows 7. You can buy that on iTunes, but you still paid for it when you bought windows.

The 'Metro' apps that are there by default can be completely uninstalled just like any of the other 'Metro' apps can be. The only way to reinstall them at that point is to either refresh the system or re-download them from the App Store.

So please top repeating that point when it is completely false.

Second, when was the last time you saw an update for Paint or Notepad during the lifetime of an OS? In fact, Notepad.exe in Windows 7 64-bit is 243,712 bytes (238KB) in size. Guess what size it is in Windows 8 64-bit? Huh... 243,712 bytes (238KB).

Paint also matches from what I can see.

That's the items I'm talking about. The built-in 'extras' that aren't actually important to the Core OS itself, which are also examples you pointed out. Those don't really see updates at all during the normal lifecycle of the OS.

[phailyoor]

The 'Metro' apps that are there by default can be completely uninstalled just like any of the other 'Metro' apps can be. The only way to reinstall them at that point is to either refresh the system or re-download them from the App Store.

They actually cant. Stop acting like an idiot and accept the facts. "Uninstalling" the prebuilt metro apps just hides them. The files are still on the computer in the c:\program files\windowsapps directory.

[Shane Nokes]

They actually cant. Stop acting like an idiot and accept the facts. "Uninstalling" the prebuilt metro apps just hides them. The files are still on the computer in the c:\program files\windowsapps directory.

So you're telling me that after I just uninstalled one of the default apps & then reinstalled it that it didn't actually do anything?

Huh? Well these date stamps from when I just did that show otherwise:

It's now just after 1:08pm so I took this screenshot just a few moments ago showing that I uninstalled a default app, and then after having to reinstall it, it shows all different dates. If it were the case that the app didn't actually uninstall, then it would just add the link back to the screen. It would be a waste to download all that data again if it already exists wouldn't it?

So once again, your name is very fitting.

[Dashel]

It would be a waste to download all that data again if it already exists wouldn't it?

Seems like it takes just as long to install apps under other user accounts as it does from scratch.

[Shane Nokes]

Seems like it takes just as long to install apps under other user accounts as it does from scratch.

That's because other user accounts have their own Microsoft Account credentials, and the Apps are tied to the owner of that Microsoft Account.

So just because I own something, doesn't mean that everyone else owns it as well. :)

[phailyoor]

So you're telling me that after I just uninstalled one of the default apps & then reinstalled it that it didn't actually do anything?

Huh? Well these date stamps from when I just did that show otherwise:

It's now just after 1:08pm so I took this screenshot just a few moments ago showing that I uninstalled a default app, and then after having to reinstall it, it shows all different dates. If it were the case that the app didn't actually uninstall, then it would just add the link back to the screen. It would be a waste to download all that data again if it already exists wouldn't it?

So once again, your name is very fitting.

I'm not saying anything about the reinstallation process. The fact is, "uninstalling" the default apps does nothing to the files.

I "uninstalled" fruit ninja AND bing news. Guess what? Fruit ninja actually got uninstalled. Bing News still had files there. I wonder why?

My analysis: The "base" version of the default apps is always present. When you "reinstalled" the app, the updates were removed, then redownloaded, while the base files were always still there.

[@Leo]

It's there probably because default users should have these apps when the user is created.

But these apps have nothing to do with the OS.