I know I keep harping on the declining quality and enshittification of Windows, but Microsoft just makes it so easy. In the changelog for the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Builds is this gem:
Beginning to roll out with this build, Chat is now Microsoft Teams – Free. Microsoft Teams – Free is pinned by default to the taskbar and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar.
So you buy a new Windows machine or reinstall Windows, and the taskbar will have the beautiful and not at all thirsty name “Microsoft Teams – Free”.
I know a good ad agency for Microsoft.
“enshittification” – I looked up this word not realizing this term was actually coined by tech journalists to describe these platform regressions….
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/11/users-advertisers-we-are-all-trapped-in-the-enshittification-of-the-internet
It seems apt that the companies making up the backbone of late stage capitalism should be described by “enshittification”. It really does seem like the trajectory of corporations today is becoming less about innovation and positive experience and more about nickle and diming consumers.
I’ve only seen one popup ad interrupting my work on windows 10 so far, but that I’ve seen any makes me believe it’s a sign of things to come as microsoft tries to overcome resistance to ads on our computers. The cable-TV experience – expensive, annoying, and riddled with ads, coming to your desktop computer soon!
Actually, if this is consolidation of messaging into a single platform I don’t have a problem with it. It would be hypocritical of me to complain about bloat, then to also complain about consolidating functionality from three or four Apps into a single App. Most Windows users already have Skype, Teams and others running in the background all being used 3% of the time, cut it back to a single App makes sense.
Of course I expect some who are heavily invested in scripts won’t be happy if the legacy developments get kyboshed, but that’s software progress on any platform not just Windows. However, I’m constantly unhappy about such events on a hardware level so I’m sympathetic to the App and Script developers.
Oookay, if you can’t take 10 bloody seconds to unpin and uninstall you can call it what you like. But this bothers me a HELL of a lot less than the fact there is zero way to “De-Google” my phone, unlike Windows where it is trivial to “De-Microsoft” with something like ShutUp11 and a single trip to Ninite to grab some replacement apps.
In addition to the long and silly name for an app pinned to the taskbar by default, my biggest problem is that the relationship between “Microsoft Teams – free” and the Microsoft Teams from Office 365 is entirely unclear. This kind of name collision always causes massive confusion and disfunction.
Check out this gem:
================================================================================
Once I upgrade, can I go back to the free version of Teams?
No, once you upgrade and convert from a free account to a paid account, you can’t revert to the free version using the same email address. The email address associated with your converted account can no longer be associated with a free account. To create a new free account, use a different email address (both for the admin and for each user).
===============================================================================
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/upgrade-teams
Microsoft pays top dollar for their Product Management talent. They do not get good value.
tanishaj,
Good find. So they hold your email hostage, not cool at all. You should be allowed to change the emails associated with any/all accounts.
It seems like it could even be illegal for microsoft to continue to keep your email in some jurisdictions under the GDPR after you terminate service.
https://iapp.org/news/a/top-10-operational-responses-to-the-gdpr-part-5-preparing-and-implementing-data-retention-and-record-keeping-policies-and-systems/
Of course ordinary users don’t have the time or money for good lawyers, but those fines could probably change microsoft’s position pretty quickly.
Comic Chat would be a better choice.