MS craves extra revenue, but ad pipelines in the OS are hostages to fortune
Opinion Queen Elizabeth I is said to have expressed her attitude to her subjects’ private beliefs by noting: « I do not seek to open windows to men’s souls. » Microsoft Windows 11 has few such qualms. A new feature, accidentally enabled in an Insider build, not only opened a channel between the company and the quintessential tool, File Explorer, it then stuffed it with adverts. It is an open secret that Microsoft is increasingly keen on using Windows as an ad delivery platform, to the exasperation of users and the despair of all who have to manage the corporate computing environment. Windows 10 is replete with lock screen ads, suggested apps in the Start menu, nagging taskbar pop-ups, notification nudges, and even a brief excursion into third party ads in its Mail client. Now the company has taken a utility that’s been at the heart of Windows since the first version and plastered it with advertisements. It’s not unfair to assume that Microsoft has developed at least the technology and potentially the appetite to open content pipelines anywhere it feels like doing so. As any cultural theorist will tell you, adverts contain a lot more than just the thing they’re advertising. When, where and how they appear can tell you a great deal about the advertiser, how they see their market and what their real priorities are. There are two big messages in the File Manager farago, both revealing aspects of Microsoft’s own internal thoughts and deeds that the company would rather not advertise at all. As with the third-party ads in Windows 10 Mail, once people noticed and started asking questions, Microsoft was quick to say it had no intention of actually doing the File Explorer advertising scheme.
