Microsoft’s new plan could force many users not to buy Windows 11 PCs: here’s the reason – News18

Microsoft is trying new ways to get people to upgrade to Windows 11, but the company could be about to hit the nail on the head with the latest move. The company seeks to serve ads to Windows 11 users that will recommend various apps in the Start menu.

Testing is not yet taking place at the consumer level and is limited only to the Windows Insider community in the beta for those remaining in the United States. The company also assures that ads will not be part of its enterprise version, which is understandable given the higher cost of Windows versions for businesses.

Advertisements are never well received by consumers, whether it’s Netflix or Windows. Even Apple faced widespread criticism for running ads in the App Store with suggested apps displayed in app listings. As you can see in the clip below, the 1Password list is grouped with local files in the Recommended section.

The fact that it is being beta tested for Windows 11 users could be a dangerous play for Microsoft which is hoping that more people will migrate/upgrade to Windows 11 in the near future. The cost of getting Windows 11 for an old machine is quite high and when they realize that Microsoft is going to put ads on the Start menu that no one asked for, the company might have a hard time convincing people pay for the operating system.

In fact, some might even say that Apple MacBook would be a better choice if they were to spend big on these AI-powered Windows laptops in the near future.

Microsoft will surely need a better way to handle these situations, which seems inevitable if the official plan to serve ads on Windows 11 comes to fruition. That said, we’ve seen previous beta tests for ads fail, so there’s hope that Microsoft might be forced to rethink its plans again.

You can see why some companies use advertising, which helps them pass on overhead costs to consumers in the form of discounts. But what reason could a giant like Microsoft and Apple have when considering advertising? We’ll be watching things closely over the coming months and seeing if Microsoft brings it to public builds of Windows 11 for consumers.