14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently experimenting with another ad banner in Windows 10, only a couple of months after the company started advertising the mobile version of Outlook in the Mail app.
This time, the software giant will begin promoting Office Online apps in WordPad, once again using a banner that shows up right below the ribbon.
The experiment was discovered by Rafael Rivera, who said that the software giant was evaluating six different messages that could make their way to WordPad:
• Try Word online for free. • Try Word for free online. • Use Word for free online. • Use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for free online. • Try Office for free online. • Try Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for free online.
These ad banners also include an “Open Word” or “Open Office” button (depending on the displayed message) that presumably loads the browser and points users to the official website of Word online or Office Online, respectively.
More ads
A close button is also included, albeit it’s not clear at this point if clicking it prevents the banner from showing up again in the future or the ad relaunches on every app load.
It goes without saying that this approach won’t sit well with Windows 10 users, especially as Microsoft seems to be exploring the advertising side of Windows 10 more aggressively later. In addition to the Outlook banner that’s now placed in the Windows 10 Mail app (no matter if you installed Outlook on your mobile device or not), Microsoft also displays similar ads in other Windows 10 apps, like Microsoft News – where users are encouraged to download the Microsoft News app for Android and iOS.
Of course, it’s important to keep in mind this is just an experiment for the time being, so the company can very well change its mind before bringing the banner to production devices running Windows 10.
