7 ms·

This...does not seem as bad as I originally thought. Just a prompt bar to use Office instead of WordPad. I was thinking it would look like the start menu does.

This...does not seem as bad as I originally thought. Just a prompt bar to use Office instead of WordPad. I was thinking it would look like the start menu does. Admittedly I would be more concerned if it was advertising something other than a product most consumers regard as the default way to edit text.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jandrese 7y ago
The headline made it sound like the horrible mess that Freecell has become, but this is fairly low key.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  this is fairly low key Only if you're inured to this kind of corporate intrusion on your machine that you paid for with your money. My toaster barking, "Hey, wouldn't you like a nice Thomases' English Muffin instead? Nooks and crannies!" is also fairly low-key, but not something I want.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    Agreed. The fact that we're making comparisons to worse scenarios just shows how low standards have become.
  - Infinitesimus 7y ago
    It's more like your toaster saying "we have another model that provides xyz features you may or may not want"
    - jandrese 7y ago
      Maybe more like you rent an apartment that comes with a basic toaster, and has a sticker on the said that says "full feature toaster available, inquire with the landlord if you are interested". Mildly annoying and silly, but maybe some people wouldn't even consider the possibility if you didn't tell them about it.
    - tomc1985 7y ago
      Why is that even remotely OK?
      - Infinitesimus 7y ago
        If done well, it could just be a way to inform customers of an improved product. Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting? Or you go to gmail.com and see a banner for "Try Inbox!" etc. This isn't candy crush in WordPad, it's an ad for an enhanced text editor
        JohnFen 7y ago
        I honestly can't imaging who this could be "done well". > Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting? Yes.
        tomc1985 7y ago
        > Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting It would, actually. I don't want to be sold to, at all.
  - simcop2387 7y ago
    It really does get as annoying as you'd expect. The Sci-Fi comedy Red Dwarf has a toaster that does essentially this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
    > My toaster barking, "Hey, wouldn't you like a nice Thomases' English Muffin instead? Nooks and crannies!" is also fairly low-key, but not something I want. On the bright side, my kids would get to (briefly) see a reproduction of After Dark's "Flying Toasters" screensaver.
reaperducer 7y ago
Just a prompt bar to use Office instead of WordPad Wait. Feature creep. Scope creep. Ad creep.
matsz 7y ago
Paid users shouldn't be exposed to advertisements like these.
- zerkten 7y ago
  They probably have a very different idea of "paid" from the companies creating the software. Even though you "bought" a piece of software, it's more accurate to say you "licensed" that software. Buying something in a box doesn't change this in the eyes of the law and companies take advantage of this. What can be done to change this perception? If "software is eating the world" then it's hard to see where this ends. Soon you'll have ads in your car, or on home appliances.
  - JohnFen 7y ago
    > Soon you'll have ads in your car, or on home appliances. No, I won't, because the instant that I see any of that happening is the instant that I'll be getting rid of that car/appliance/whatever.
- dylan604 7y ago
  so says every single cable subscriber.
  - Waterluvian 7y ago
    And look at the slow march to the grave cable is experiencing.
    - Inityx 7y ago
      Hulu seems to be doing OK
msrmthehomeless 7y ago
Title is clearly click bait. This seems more like a message to gradually help people moving off a product that will eventually get retired. If MS is advertising you would think they would advertise in higher traffic apps (i.e. Paint) but most people don't even use WordPad.
s3cur3 7y ago
Agreed. Most of my Windows-using family members wouldn't be able to tell the difference between WordPad and Word... until they go to share the file and discover that RTF looks different on every other person's machine. This is entirely a positive for the tech-illiterate portion of Microsoft's userbase, who probably intended to be using Word anyway.
- _underfl0w_ 7y ago
  It will also train them to further ignore the presence of these bars if they see them and close them without reading - these same bars that usually contain security warnings in Office products.
anigbrowl 7y ago
It could surely be worse, but it's still bad. I often pick Wordpad because I want more capability than a mere text editor can provide, but don't want to get bogged down with the overhead or complexity of the full Office offering. It's not appropriate for the OS to be second guessing my choices.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

jandrese 7y ago

The headline made it sound like the horrible mess that Freecell has become, but this is fairly low key.

reaperducer 7y ago
this is fairly low key Only if you're inured to this kind of corporate intrusion on your machine that you paid for with your money. My toaster barking, "Hey, wouldn't you like a nice Thomases' English Muffin instead? Nooks and crannies!" is also fairly low-key, but not something I want.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  Agreed. The fact that we're making comparisons to worse scenarios just shows how low standards have become.
- Infinitesimus 7y ago
  It's more like your toaster saying "we have another model that provides xyz features you may or may not want"
  - jandrese 7y ago
    Maybe more like you rent an apartment that comes with a basic toaster, and has a sticker on the said that says "full feature toaster available, inquire with the landlord if you are interested". Mildly annoying and silly, but maybe some people wouldn't even consider the possibility if you didn't tell them about it.
  - tomc1985 7y ago
    Why is that even remotely OK?
    - Infinitesimus 7y ago
      If done well, it could just be a way to inform customers of an improved product. Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting? Or you go to gmail.com and see a banner for "Try Inbox!" etc. This isn't candy crush in WordPad, it's an ad for an enhanced text editor
      - JohnFen 7y ago
        I honestly can't imaging who this could be "done well". > Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting? Yes.
      - tomc1985 7y ago
        > Lets say Apple launched iTunes2 as a separate product and one day you opened iTunes and saw the banner "Try iTunes2!" would that be equally upsetting It would, actually. I don't want to be sold to, at all.
- simcop2387 7y ago
  It really does get as annoying as you'd expect. The Sci-Fi comedy Red Dwarf has a toaster that does essentially this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
  > My toaster barking, "Hey, wouldn't you like a nice Thomases' English Muffin instead? Nooks and crannies!" is also fairly low-key, but not something I want. On the bright side, my kids would get to (briefly) see a reproduction of After Dark's "Flying Toasters" screensaver.

reaperducer 7y ago

Just a prompt bar to use Office instead of WordPad Wait. Feature creep. Scope creep. Ad creep.

matsz 7y ago

Paid users shouldn't be exposed to advertisements like these.

zerkten 7y ago
They probably have a very different idea of "paid" from the companies creating the software. Even though you "bought" a piece of software, it's more accurate to say you "licensed" that software. Buying something in a box doesn't change this in the eyes of the law and companies take advantage of this. What can be done to change this perception? If "software is eating the world" then it's hard to see where this ends. Soon you'll have ads in your car, or on home appliances.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  > Soon you'll have ads in your car, or on home appliances. No, I won't, because the instant that I see any of that happening is the instant that I'll be getting rid of that car/appliance/whatever.
dylan604 7y ago
so says every single cable subscriber.
- Waterluvian 7y ago
  And look at the slow march to the grave cable is experiencing.
  - Inityx 7y ago
    Hulu seems to be doing OK

msrmthehomeless 7y ago

Title is clearly click bait. This seems more like a message to gradually help people moving off a product that will eventually get retired. If MS is advertising you would think they would advertise in higher traffic apps (i.e. Paint) but most people don't even use WordPad.

s3cur3 7y ago

Agreed. Most of my Windows-using family members wouldn't be able to tell the difference between WordPad and Word... until they go to share the file and discover that RTF looks different on every other person's machine. This is entirely a positive for the tech-illiterate portion of Microsoft's userbase, who probably intended to be using Word anyway.

_underfl0w_ 7y ago
It will also train them to further ignore the presence of these bars if they see them and close them without reading - these same bars that usually contain security warnings in Office products.

anigbrowl 7y ago

It could surely be worse, but it's still bad. I often pick Wordpad because I want more capability than a mere text editor can provide, but don't want to get bogged down with the overhead or complexity of the full Office offering. It's not appropriate for the OS to be second guessing my choices.