Microsoft start testing ads in Windows 10 Mail and Calendar app

It appears ads, which are becoming increasingly pervasive on Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, have now reached the Windows 10 Mail app.

Users on Reddit are now reporting that a banner has shown up in the Windows 10 Mail app in a space above the Mail, Calendar and People buttons. The banner cannot be removed except by closing the menu, and currently advertises the Office 365 subscription service.

The ads in the mail app are somewhat ironic, given Microsoft’s ad campaign against Google a decade ago, criticising the company for reading user’s email and showing them ads appropriate to the content of the email. Gmail is, of course, a free service, while most users pay for Windows 10 when they purchase their PC, making the operating system ads a deal Windows 10 users have not really signed up for.

The current ads appear to be a test at present, and it is not clear how Microsoft is targetting them, though of course Windows 10 does include a privacy control related to Microsoft collecting data specifically for targetted ads, suggesting these ads are not being shown randomly.

How do our readers feel about this latest move by Microsoft to monetize Windows? Let us know below.

Via Winfuture.de