14 DAY TRIAL // The concept of ads in Windows has always been pretty controversial, especially because many users out there believe that once they pay for a product, Microsoft has no right to spam them with advertisements.
While this is a completely wrong approach, as users are actually paying for the right to use Windows (and not to own the software), ads have never been received well anyway.
But it doesn’t seem like Microsoft is bothered by this.
The software giant is now experimenting with a new idea that’s very likely to fuel the frustration in its user community.
Spotted by Albacore and shared on Twitter, the latest ad made its way directly to the user session flyout in the Start menu. In other words, when you click the Start menu to access the user session controls, you now see a OneDrive ad that doesn’t necessarily feel at home in this place.
“Back up your files,” the ad reads, prompting users to go to OneDrive to move essential data to the cloud. This option is listed alongside essential Windows controls, such as lock the device, sign out, and change account settings.
Microsoft hasn’t officially announced this change, but at this point, it looks like the company is only experimenting with this idea. Not all users are therefore seeing the new OneDrive ad, and to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the software giant pulling this controversial idea completely before it makes its way to more devices.
For the time being, however, bringing ads to Windows is something that Microsoft apparently hasn’t given up on. The software giant still believes ads should be part of the Windows experience, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that various experiments show up every once in a while (fortunately, without making their way to production devices).