Few things are as annoying as invasive advertisements, which are unfortunately growing in number on Windows 11. Microsoft, clearly keen to increase its profits, has taken yet another step to filling its operating system with the aforementioned annoying ads. Now, they make an unwelcome appearance in the newly redesigned Weather app. Worse still, in service of these big blocks that bring in the bucks, the company is seemingly making the usability of its own software worse.
A few months fresh from the controversy generated by its Start Menu ads, Microsoft is clearly going all in on its ad-driven strategy for Windows 11. As a reminder, this is an operating system that costs £120 ($140) to buy, making the increased prevalence of ads equally frustrating as it is concerning. The latter especially, given that the company’s driven for more advertising revenue is demonstrably making user experiences worse.
X user ChangeWindows shared an impressively detailed deep-dive into the new Weather app. They describe it as “incredibly accurate” and “genuinely think this is a great update” overall. However, for all their praise, they’re equally quick to call out Microsoft for “butchering” the app in some respects, via an update that adds yet more ads.
Taking the app for a spin myself, the ads are indeed very distracting to the eye. While I can’t comment on differences to usability, as I’m more of a Google Weather person, I trust ChangeWindows’ commentary here.
Much as it may seem like all this hubbub makes a mountain out of a mole hill, we’re on a slippery slope. What’s to say Microsoft isn’t planning to put ads in file explorer, or other frequently used Windows 11 apps? After all, that’s where the major footfall is. Will we soon be offered subscriptions to remove ads, on top of the premium we’ve already paid to access the operating system? Should any of this come to pass, I can only hope that Valve gets a desktop version of Steam OS out the door as soon as possible.
