back to article Microsoft opens Windows 7 to advertisers

Microsoft has cracked open Windows 7 to commercial sponsorship with desktop themes from advertisers. The company Friday announced desktops from Ducati, Infiniti, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Twentieth Century Fox under a pilot program that'll run until next October. Microsoft also created its own Windows 7 themes for Xbox …

COMMENTS

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  1. AlistairJ
    Gates Halo

    Gotta love them mercuns

    With their a hollerin' and a whoopin' and love of porches and whatnot. Personally I would prefer the Ducatic edition, natch.

    Bill because, well, just because.

  2. adnim

    How about

    Gnome or KDE themes?

    Isn't Windows 7 already sponsored by those people that buy it? Sorry, rent it.

  3. Roger Greenwood
    Linux

    thats right, microsoft,

    stick to entertaining the masses and leave the serious stuff to serious people.

  4. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Linux

    Bad Idea

    Roll up - Roll up Get your Windows 7 sponsored by Big Mac Here!

    Just one more reason NOT, repeat NOT to buy any Microsoft product ever again.

    They are really getting desperate if they are getting paid for stunts like this.

    Linux, Firefox & Adblock+ for Obvious reasons.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Oh, great.

    That, dear readers, is yet one more reason to switch to Linux on the desktop. How long before you go to your computer in the morning and MS have switched your desktop theme to "biggest sponsor of the week" without your consent, re-set your home page, added some extra bookmarks etc... isn't that a similar process to some versions of spy/nagware?

    Go MS.

  6. J. Cook Silver badge
    FAIL

    No ads for me, thanks...

    While I've no problems with putting a wallpaper on my desktop that's themed to a favorite video game or something, I'll pass on anything else of that nature.

    We suffer from too much advertising already.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Oh dear

    Bing goes the desktop.

  8. Wade Burchette
    WTF?

    Good idea for cash poor Microsoft

    Enough said.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I have three words for this..

    Fuck. Right. Off.

  10. Keith T
    Thumb Up

    As long as it is optional and done openly it is okay

    As long as it is done optional and done openly, and can be easily uninstalled or turned off, I have no problem.

    I imagine a lot of people would like to have car-company themed desktops.

  11. Antoinette Lacroix

    Much better

    If you think about "I'm a PC" or (shudder) Seinfeld, this is clearly an improvement. Looks like Microsoft has learned something.

  12. Tom 106

    Hey Dolly.....

    I would use IE8, but my web browsing goes TiTs Up when I use it.

  13. Doug Glass
    Go

    Corporate gods

    Those who worship corporations like NFL football teams, NBA Basketball teams, professional golfers. ML baseball and etc. will flock to download their favorite corporate logo so they can bow and pay homage sitting right there at their desk or on a laptop at their favorite corporate coffee vendor.

    I'll put a corporate log on my computer just as soon as they pay my fee to advertise on my property. My property being a home built has NO logos, stickers or other advertisements extolling the evil inside. Oh wait ... no evil inside since mine are all AMD. No wait ... lemme think about that ....

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    boring, boring, boring

    I think Penthouse should build a theme.

  15. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Wonderful

    So Vista SP3 - sorry, Win 7 - will introduce ad-supported OS releases, without the ad-supported drop in prices.

    Got to hand that one to MS - way to improve your bottom line without giving anything to your customers.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Well! Ah doo deklair that ...

    ... W7 themes on a Mac running OS 10.6 with Bento installed considers the file to be a Bento Theme Pack File.

    Someone in research and marketing hasn't done their homework no?

    http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1s9hkvjIBSzf5aBfeLd6OttsD358s

  17. Captain Save-a-ho
    Paris Hilton

    A little late?

    Haven't all of these themes been available for three weeks? Little late for this announcement, methinks...

    Paris, 'cause she takes all precautions to ensure she's never late.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Aren't MS nice!

    "The announcement drew support from advertisers who spoke in terms of opportunities for their brands to engage with people."

    MS not just content with fleecing you for £150 a copy for Windows 7, they sell your desktop space too! FFS! You might have a pop as us Apple fanbois and the the basement dwelling beard strokers of Linux fame, but at least we wouldn't sell out a user's desktop space to the lowest common, slimey, piece-of-dirt ad-man!

  19. Strappy

    Erm...

    "as long as that's Porches, sugary fizzy drinks, and films"

    A porch is a structure built on the outside of your front door. Porches is a multiple of porch. A Porsche is a car.

    Apologies for the pendantism but I've had beer.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    So Can I Have KDE And A Proper OS Behind It ????

    As it's only a theme I guess not. Wishful thinking I guess.

    But it is only a matter of time before your m$ system that *YOU* paid for and should do what *YOU* say will bombard you with crapvertisements. I doubt you'll be able to turn them off without disabling windo$e update.

    So the next time you run spysweeper don't be surprised when it wants to remove all m$ software as it's now become spy/adware.

    Please will the arrogant redmond pricks realise that this is not the way ? The future is not bright, and it will be free from innovation if m$ have their way.

    In the meantime mankind advances back in to the swamp.

    Progress !!?????!!?? Sounds like the bloody dark ages all over again.

    Except the merchant bankers (who are wankers) have got us there already. Go get that BONUS instead of a prison sentence boys/girls. Let us tax payers fund it - how much would you like ?

    Beer cos I need more.

  21. ElReg!comments!Pierre
    Megaphone

    Haha. Best of both worlds, as they say.

    On my left, wearing an austere anthracite suit synonymous of efficiency (with the corresponding price tag): Paid "the Beancounter of Doom" APP-LI-CATION!

    In the opposite corner, in the hawayan shirt and covered in ad stickers, synonymous of annoyance but free-as-in-beer: Sponsored "U-Kewl" SER-VICE!

    And now standing in the middle and loosely disguised as a referee, please welcome the best of both worlds: Micro "I Fuck You All Sideways" SOFT!

    Let the fight begin!

    Charge ridiculous prices for licences for not fit-for-purpose software. And still get the advertisment revenue. That's a win-win situation. Too bad MS' definition of "win-win" doesn't take the customer in account. It's "we win, and then we win again"...

  22. John F***ing Stepp

    Well OK.

    They are willing to pay for my W7?

    No problem.

    No problem at all.

    Because I might have went to Linux otherwise.

  23. Rebecca Putman
    Alert

    UserFriendly foresaw this.

    http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051121

    I'm so glad I'm not using Micro$oft anymore.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You know...

    ...for a bunch of people running linux, you sure are getting excited about this. Have you guys ever stopped to think that you might want to take a deep breath, step back, and stop treating a piece of software (which you don't even USE) as if it's a personal assault on your religion? Yikes. Haven't you got better things to get outraged about?

  25. George 24

    Themes?

    When you see the number of sites dedicated to windows, Linux and Mac themes or GUI customisation, many of them with adware and other unwanted programs attached, I think it is a good idea to have M$ providing a few wallpapers.

    How many of us already have changed the colour and added our own backgrounds?

    I just don't think that M$ is opening the GUI skinning enough. As far as I am concerned, the theme is always Aero. What is provided in those themepacks is nothing but the lipstick to be put on the proverbial pig.

    Now as long as nothing from sponsors is forced onto me, why not. Hopefully sponsored themes will be of quality. If you like having a car as your wallpaper, you don't have to get the image from the net and infringe copyrights in the process.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All your desktop are belong to Pepsi!

    In the future, we get a W7 (or 8, or...) that 's subsidized by advertising -- but you won't be able to turn off the ads. Hack the machine, and they'll boot you off Hotmail, and Messenger, and...

    So much for customizing.

    Happy with my Mac, my Solaris, and my Ubuntu. Windows lives in a VM solely for games and the odd Office-using dipstick who can't figure out how to send interoperable files.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Note to Microsoft supporters/users

    You will swallow it all and like it. Strap on your helmets, lads, because Microsoft is planning to recover the lost revenue caused by each customer defection to other OSes by making more money on your back. They know they can't bring back any of those who moved to Apple, Linux, BSD so they figured out a way to maintain the same level for their revenue stream. If you think it's bad, just wait until they will start monetize all your personal information by personalizing those ads.

  28. Deadly_NZ
    Flame

    More shite

    Just when Windows is starting to get quicker they want to go and slow it down by getting more useless shit installed, which probably more bugs, and more patches, as the knobbly kneed, pimply faced, script kiddies have something new to have a hack at!!!

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm trying to figure out...

    ... if it's The Register's fault for not presenting the program as an opt-in program where all you get are some (good quality) custom themes, or whether all tech sites have been taken over by freetards in general....

  30. Antti Roppola
    WTF?

    Väpor OS

    Not an original bone in that company's closet. This was all well understood way back in 1997. VäporOS proposed to sell UI elements to sponsors. Someone should have told Steve it was a joke and not to be taken seriously!

    http://www.dalahus.com/sites/vaporos/vaporscrn.html

    Hmmm.... Maybe I should start reading The Onion to get a feel for Windows 8?

  31. Joe 3
    Thumb Down

    How awfully tacky

    I don't mean Dolly Parton, I mean the idea of adverts all over one's OS. What will those Americans think of next?

  32. Havin_it
    Grenade

    Titles suXX0R

    Good thing we have all these commentards on hand to explain what the article didn't, i.e. how these themes are going to be stealthily implanted onto all our PCs and won't be able to be removed once installed. From reading the article I assumed that the themes would just be available to download and install, y'know, if you wanted to. That's set me straight, thanks team!

    @ Strappy: "Apologies for the pendantism but I've had beer."

    Pendantism? Swinging back and forth in front of a woman's cleavage? Don't worry, I do that too when I've had beer.

    @ Antti Roppola: "Not an original bone in that company's closet."

    I wonder why they got rid of the original bones that came with the closet? Maybe it's very old and needed restoration with some new bones. Where do you buy a closet with bones anyway, I know someone who'd like one of those.

  33. windywoo
    FAIL

    Look at all the hate

    Over desktop themes that people will install voluntarily. There's no gun to your head. Yes its corporate greed trying to find new outlets, but I looked at the themes available, installed one without corporate sponsorship and moved on. Is it much different from themes for mobile phones? Some people will pay for those themes.

  34. James 55

    I thought

    They killed Zune?

  35. Kevin Dwyer

    Famous Dolly Quote

    " It takes a lot of money to look this cheap"

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More jerking knees

    Yes, another misunderstood feature, and in wade the expert commenters, all guns blazing, with the predictable comments about "switching to linux" and spelling Microsoft with a $. So if you don't want a themed desktop, don't download it. Very simple. Well yes, very simple, but also leaves nothing to moan about, so let's pretend that we've all been sold up the river and spout off in the comments. I have to say that El Reg has fallen a bit on this one too, choosing to use loaded phrases instead of simply reporting the facts. A number of other outlets have done the same, and people really want to believe the worst, hence the predictable comments.

    The Register is not the Daily Mail and I expect better of it and its readers.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    It was bound to happen

    ... am just surprised this sort of crap took so long to eventuate.

    Still, its a laugh, eh?

    Winblows LOL :D

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's amazing how riled up some people are getting

    As if a Microsoft employee was about to show up with an AR-15 and make you do sick things to yourself if you don't pick one of these themes.

  39. Steve Foster
    FAIL

    Themes not the only problem!

    I use Windows Media Center to record stuff from radio 4, and now suddenly I have this new entry in the WMC "menu strips" for Sky Player "Coming Soon". WTF???? I will never subscribe to Sky, and am seriously pissed off with MS for pushing their crap at me (and there doesn't appear to be an obvious way to disable it).

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    First signs ...

    ... mega companies can go titsup when they frig around trying to be clever.

    Mega companies particularly go titsup when nobody trusts them.

  41. Nuke
    Gates Horns

    @ Chris 68

    You wrote :-

    "Yes, another misunderstood feature, and in wade the expert commenters, all guns blazing, with the predictable comments about "switching to linux" and spelling Microsoft with a $. So if you don't want a themed desktop, don't download it."

    Will anyone understand it until we see it in practice? The fact is Microsoft have got themselves into a position such that a significant proportion of us are deeply suspicious of every new project they announce. Microsoft have only themselves to blame for this serious breakdown in their public image.

    The concern here is that these themes may be rammed down our thoats whether we ask for them or not. In other words the worry is that adverts may come with Windows whether you download a theme or not, as they currently do with most Websites (the latter is not MS's fault, just in case you think I'm claiming it is).

    Eg : No downloaded theme? Then you get a stock theme with ads based on your browsing history."

    As for spelling Microsoft with a $, that is not inappropriate in this context, which is about a spivvy money-making scheme. I don't make it a habit of it myself though.

  42. Alex 3
    FAIL

    Dolly's website not working correctly under IE8

    Dolly's new website - the menu doesn't work properly under IE8 (check out "Media").

    Embarrassing!

  43. Maty

    A plague on all your houses ...

    Apple, linux fanbois ... some of us don't want your operating systems. Lovely as they are, they won't play as many games as well as a PC can. Win7 - phooey! DRM'ed crap.

    Until someone gives me a reason to change, its XP pro all the way.

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Glad I left MS some years ago

    Glad I left MS some years ago....Yeah, I admitt the poo-brown color of the default Ubuntu desktop and theme is kinda bland, but the system sure has a lot of positives going for it, among them now I can add

    Not having to listen to some crazy old lady injected up with 5 gallons of Botox from Tennessee belting out some campy southern tunes...yeah, I am a deep-blue stater where the classical music stations way outnumber the country and western ones...

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