5 ms·

And it also ads on it. Really Microsoft? Do you really need all the ads revenue from the weather app? What’s next? Ads on the start menu?

WakeUpPeople 1mo ago
> What’s next? Ads on the start menu? They already exist: https://www.howtogeek.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-how-to-turn-them-off/ https://www.howtogeek.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-how-to-t...
- _trampeltier 1mo ago
  Don't they even had it earlyer and even let the DNS expire, so someone else could spam the startmenu?
- Zopieux 1mo ago
  Patent was being sarcastic. Everybody heard about (or had the displeasure of seeing) those ads.
mort96 1mo ago
Microsoft absolutely doesn't need it, but I'm guessing the weather app team (or the core filler apps team or whatever team is responsible for it) needs it to juice a metric to make some middle manager happy. And it makes the middle manager happy because it lets that middle manager report better numbers to their superiors again. Etc. It's why all large dysfunctional organisations do self destructive stuff like this.
- SlightlyLeftPad 1mo ago
  “What value are you bringing to the company?” translates to “if you’re not printing money, you lose your job.”
  - mapontosevenths 1mo ago
    Any manager who doesn't push back when given a perverse incentive should be fired. They are not leaders, they are followers... And not even very good followers.
    - mort96 1mo ago
      Yet they're the ones who get promoted because their KPIs are the best.
    - anonymars 1mo ago
      Fired by whom? Where do you think these perverse incentives are coming from?
      - mapontosevenths 1mo ago
        Typically from C-levels who offer intuitive seeming, but internally inconsistent goals. For example, "We need to increase sales and decrease spending" might be two inconsistent goals if the only way to increase sales is to increase spending. A bad manager will accept these inconsistent, and mutually exclusive, goals as if handed down on high by the gods and find counter-productive ways to save money or increase sales - even at the expense of actual profit. There is always a way, if you don't care about the actual outcome. These people will Goodhart the company into a terrible position, as long as it means they meet their arbitrary KPI's and get their full bonus. A good manager might instead gather some data, then come back to the executive the next day with a data backed explanation showing why meeting both goals might be possible, but still wouldn't be advisable due to the negative externalities. A good executive will actually listen, because it's backed with real data they didn't have when they made the call. Unfortunately if either the manager OR the executive are bad or thinking with their ego's... The entire thing falls apart. Which is why it's so very common.
  - dasyud 1mo ago
    I once worked on a project where the goal was to improve the reliability of MS Teams. The skip level manager was not happy when we said we cannot estimate what the revenue gain would be because it can't be measured.
bossyTeacher 1mo ago
They do. Never forget, Microsoft's goal is to squeeze as much money from you as possible.
- dabinat 1mo ago
  That’s the goal of every publicly-traded corporation in a mature market. Wall Street demands ever-increasing returns and they can’t grow their customer base much so cost-cutting and fleecing existing customers are the only levers to pull.
ColdStream 1mo ago
Yeah it is actually really sad when a company the size of MS still bows down to the great god Advertising! Avert ye eyes for there are no morals in these bad lands of Redmond!

WakeUpPeople 1mo ago

> What’s next? Ads on the start menu? They already exist: https://www.howtogeek.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-how-to-turn-them-off/ https://www.howtogeek.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-how-to-t...

_trampeltier 1mo ago
Don't they even had it earlyer and even let the DNS expire, so someone else could spam the startmenu?
Zopieux 1mo ago
Patent was being sarcastic. Everybody heard about (or had the displeasure of seeing) those ads.

mort96 1mo ago

Microsoft absolutely doesn't need it, but I'm guessing the weather app team (or the core filler apps team or whatever team is responsible for it) needs it to juice a metric to make some middle manager happy. And it makes the middle manager happy because it lets that middle manager report better numbers to their superiors again. Etc. It's why all large dysfunctional organisations do self destructive stuff like this.

SlightlyLeftPad 1mo ago
“What value are you bringing to the company?” translates to “if you’re not printing money, you lose your job.”
- mapontosevenths 1mo ago
  Any manager who doesn't push back when given a perverse incentive should be fired. They are not leaders, they are followers... And not even very good followers.
  - mort96 1mo ago
    Yet they're the ones who get promoted because their KPIs are the best.
  - anonymars 1mo ago
    Fired by whom? Where do you think these perverse incentives are coming from?
    - mapontosevenths 1mo ago
      Typically from C-levels who offer intuitive seeming, but internally inconsistent goals. For example, "We need to increase sales and decrease spending" might be two inconsistent goals if the only way to increase sales is to increase spending. A bad manager will accept these inconsistent, and mutually exclusive, goals as if handed down on high by the gods and find counter-productive ways to save money or increase sales - even at the expense of actual profit. There is always a way, if you don't care about the actual outcome. These people will Goodhart the company into a terrible position, as long as it means they meet their arbitrary KPI's and get their full bonus. A good manager might instead gather some data, then come back to the executive the next day with a data backed explanation showing why meeting both goals might be possible, but still wouldn't be advisable due to the negative externalities. A good executive will actually listen, because it's backed with real data they didn't have when they made the call. Unfortunately if either the manager OR the executive are bad or thinking with their ego's... The entire thing falls apart. Which is why it's so very common.
- dasyud 1mo ago
  I once worked on a project where the goal was to improve the reliability of MS Teams. The skip level manager was not happy when we said we cannot estimate what the revenue gain would be because it can't be measured.

bossyTeacher 1mo ago

They do. Never forget, Microsoft's goal is to squeeze as much money from you as possible.

dabinat 1mo ago
That’s the goal of every publicly-traded corporation in a mature market. Wall Street demands ever-increasing returns and they can’t grow their customer base much so cost-cutting and fleecing existing customers are the only levers to pull.

ColdStream 1mo ago

Yeah it is actually really sad when a company the size of MS still bows down to the great god Advertising! Avert ye eyes for there are no morals in these bad lands of Redmond!