Apple seeks OS-jacking advert patent Apple has filed a patent application for an intrusive ad-presentation system that requires users to acknowledge adverts before getting on with their work. The recent patent filing carries the unusually straightforward title "Advertisement in Operating System." The described system would be buried deep in a device's OS - so …
And since there's really no fundamental difference between "real" marketing types and dirt-common spammers, not deep down in their disgusting little hearts, the reaction to ads like this will be just like the reaction to spam: do nearly anything to get away from it and ignore it.
For example, there's an ongoing spam campaign in the Craigslist discussion forums from some dimwit outfit calling itself "Toptog.com". They've been spamming for weeks, and their spam has been deleted as fast as it's flagged, but what apparently is over the head of the brains behind this spam campaign (one Amy Chen, one gathers) is that by now Toptog.com has alienated all their potential customers. The harder you spam, the poorer the results - and the same is true of advertising in general. The marketers will claim otherwise, but they're professional liars and can be expected to lie about something as close to their own vested interests.
If Rupert Murdoch wants to charge to look at his not-very-good news sites (Have you read The Times lately? It's pathetic!) all he has to do for widespread uptake is get rid of the ads - especially those disguised as news, for example the Times' endless articles on travel, where to stay, where to eat, and how to get there. That kind of news is little more than pimping for the businesses mentioned and one can't help but wonder what the price for inclusion is.
Sorry for the rant, o Divine Moderatrix!
The idea that the ads would make the product free is hopeful in the extreme. It is no longer the case that we are given a choice of Free+ads or Pay+no ads. Hollywood movies have already moved towards product endorsement and TV is doing the same, and these are not free - so the powers that be are seeing that the mugs (us) are prepared to pay AND have ads.
Personally I believe that any movie that has product endorsement should be free to watch (maybe a small admin charge for the theater - but nothing else). Unfortunately the trend is for non-free with ads, and I expect applications (and OSs) to go the same way - the excuse being that the ads are 'subsiding' the cost rather than meeting it.
It must be late (as I am in a very pessimistic mood).
GO APPLE!!!! YAY!!!!
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?? Prior art? :P
Sorry Moderatrix and all fine Reg workers but I had to :)
Oh, only the negative response on show today.
This is a stonking idea, think of all the benefits here.
To keep it short.
A)Nobody likes working anyway.
B)After a while, nobody will be able to work.
That will leave endless free time, to sit at home watching TV, my particular favourite channel at the moment is QVC, soon I'll be able to watch that all day.
Only difficulty being, as I see it, who is going to sponsor me. Perhaps I'll have to get an Apple logo tattooed onto my fore head.
Why don't they just buy "Business Interruption" Insurance like everybody else ? Jobs evidently believes that Apple's Corporate Suicide is an act of God, not to be confused with an act of Jobs, more like an act of somebody who thinks they are God, but are not really Jobs. I could go on.
But seriously, aren't they risking a lawsuit from any spammer who rewired a dialog box so that "OK", "Cancel" and the X in the top right all launch a program ? I guess they'll be getting their appeal financed by Steve.
I'm a Mac*
*Or rather I'll get back to being one just as soon as you click on this non-blockable advert
It just works*
*As long as you click here, here aaaaaaaaaaand here
I'm Steve Jobs*
*I'm fucking insane. I want my company to be patronised by halfwits, occultists and masochists.
Intellectual property like this is one reason why Apple is a potential hostile takeover target (and Apple's cash reserves, of course). Google wants the world to use non-MS apps, running on Google's environments; either Google will gain revenues by subscription (which would legitimize MS's plans, and increase MS revenues, so not likely) or by advertising. An enforceable patent like this could seriously crimp Google's business model.
Pfft - we know what a wrench is....
Anyway, I had the same immediate thoughts as you, although being British, my optimism and hope quickly vanished as I realised the full scope of Jobs's evil plans.
Basically, there is no way a company that is as commercially driven as Apple would sit on this, sadly.
Same as many others here, if this cack starts appearing in my O/S, two choices, never upgrade/patch or simply dump OSX off my Mac and install Ubuntu Linux, even with it's minor faults at least I can reasonably assured it will not have ads in its code. If ads do appear in FOSS code, we can quickly strip the code and recompile, not like MS and OSX.
Sick and tired of these Ad companies behaving 300lb businessmen on a night out in Bangkok and we the consumers being treated like 6st Thai hookers, to be used and abused any way they see fit.
This is insidious almost makes Kurt and his Phorm toy seem reasonable!
Didn't know it would be possible to patent what is essentially a virus. Didn't know Jobs Inc. invented that too.Guess they think they can once again take somebody else's idea and make it their own with their marketing prowess. Wouldn't think they'd really increase market share if they become known as the company that "invented" the computer virus. Wonder if it'll be called the iVirus.
FFS there are a lot of regtards jumping to completely ridiculous conclusions here! It's so utterly obvious that none of the "I'll throw away my Mac" scenarios will ever happen. The potential use for this is either to stop other people from doing something similar (unlikely) or as a way to offer free versions of content (music, films etc) and satisfy the content producers, for example, letting you watch series or films on Apple TV for free, but in return you have to watch some ads, and I can't see anything wrong with that. You either pay to watch the film without ads, or you don't pay and are forced to watch some ads, the choice will always be yours.
Anyone who thinks that this will somehow mean that when using a Mac you'll be interrupted by ads you can't ignore just doesn't have the smallest clue.
"Or by depositing $1,000 in the bank account of St Steve?"
Or giving him your liver.
Bah, f*ck apple, Steve Jobs and everything related to them.
BTW, will mactards start boasting that their system has adverts that "just works"? Or that their mother/girlfriend/whatever can finally use the adverts, with no support, since they replaced their Windows box with a Mac?
Having the ads at the OS level is just a way to make them more difficult to block. If anyone seriously thinks that Apple, or any company that has the faintest idea of what its customers wants (and Apple is better at this than most), will insert unignorable ads into the everyday running of their OS/software then you just don't have a clue.
Anyone with any sense will not be the slightest bit concerned with this patent.
Well, I've given this thought but not too much thought.
I've given it consideration but not too much consideration.
And concluded but not too much of a conclusion that an ad based Apple OS is probably the best way to get Apple technology to the masses.
Think #1
You buy your kit at premium rates = no ads
Think #2
You buy your kit at grossly discounted rates and Apple makes up the difference with its ads in the OS campaign.
Niche marketing with cutting edge or wot!
Droolable way to get Apple stuff out there into the discount world yet at the same time keep Apple's brand high, high, high and higherer.
Yes, I've just gone from #2 purchaser to #3 purchaser and it is a lot better without al the ads?
Elitism maintained, nurtured, fostered and Done!
And! If it does not work well, it can be stopped in the second year and Apple's reputation has not been harmed but might have been empathised by its user base as a way to evangelise and promote its reson de etre ((?)!)
... over an UNAPPROVED, UNIMPLEMENTED patent application?
Some ("some"?) of the comments here seem to be assuming Apple are going to spam full-screen ads all over OS X. Yeah. Sure. Of COURSE that's what they'll do. And there goes the Pope, flying by my window on his favourite wingéd pet, Pigasus!
The iTablet will likely be the main recipient of this kind of technology. E-magazines could then be offered for free, with the ads paying for the content, or you could choose to subscribe and get the ad-free version. Embedding the ad support at the OS level makes it much harder for Joe Casual-User to switch off, and buys Apple a bit of credibility for their platform from the old guard in the print media.
(Don't believe me? Consider the evolution of iTunes and its changing approach to DRM.)
The iPhone might get similar support as it's likely to have a lot of overlap with the e-book reader market.
A distant possibility is an ad-supported version of iWorks bundled free with all new Macs, rather than the present trial version. (This seems unlikely. This model hasn't proven all that successful for Microsoft.)
You know, a patent's approval status has no bearing at all on whether the applicant can put the technology into any number of products. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Niente. Furthermore, applying for a software patent with the USPTO has a probability of being granted with a number of nines behind the decimal dot that would make a reliability engineer green with envy.
Also, you seem to be eminently unclear on the distinction between applications and the OS.
I'm perfectly clear on the distinction between apps and the OS. An OS is an app. It's just an app that runs other apps, providing a number of handy middleware to make writing said apps easier.
As for your other point: Apple also have a patent on an iPod with all the controls on its back. I don't see one of those around either. Do you?
Apple, Microsoft, IBM—every IT company on Earth—HAS to patent damned-near everything it develops, in case another company gets there first and tries to sue them. The USPTO, being a complete and utter cock-up of epic proportions, is about as effective at screening out "obvious" and "prior art" applications as the UK's current Prime Minister has been at preventing "boom and bust".
It's called arse-covering. All companies are now forced to do it, thanks to the law-happy lawyers who keep inventing more and more useless laws. (And not just in the US.)
This wont go live on paid for devices, might be good for kiosks and other presentation devices.
Hopefully they patented it just so nobody else will but say all that is wrong and they sell advertising on your machine :
Microsoft buys it all for their Are you a Mac or PC adverts.
Jazz it up a bit and add the tagline "I'm a PC and I'm advert free".
Sit back and watch Apple shares sink.
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