Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Crosseye_Jack 870 days ago
What annoys me is that this is done after purchase. It would be one thing if you knew at time of purchase that the hardware was "ad supported", its another to have adverts imposed on you months/years after purchase.

My thoughts are now "How long will it be before google starts running full screen ads after unlocking your phone?"
1 comments
southpawflo 870 days ago
Friend, you've hit the nail on the head.

As another example, I purchased an Xbox One years ago. Imagine my surprise when I turned it on this past November 3rd only to see a fullscreen ad for a videogame, before I could even sign in! And then again for some gamedev conference only a few weeks later!

Not sure (but pretty sure) that from the Xbox 360 onwards there have always been advertisements on the 'dashboard' - but you never had to explicitly interact with the ads before you could do anything else with the darn thing.

link
Crosseye_Jack 870 days ago
Companies seem to think that because there is a screen attached somewhere/somehow to the device they made it's carte blanche for them to turn that screen into a billboard.

I'm not "100%" against adverts (However I will avoid them if I can, for example I'm happy to pay for YouTube Premium simply to disable the ads and still support the creators I watch), I understand that services need to pay the bills, Take YouTube or Twitch an examples, they can't exist without monetization because servers, staff, bandwidth all need to be paid for and obv content creators need an income if the platform/viewers expect high quality content from a wide variety of creators (not just those who can afford to do it as a hobby/fun).

But its the "bait and switch" of these companies that disgusts me, esp when its on locked down hardware we have purchased. It's changing the sales contract after the purchase has been made. How would we feel if for example 2 years after purchasing a car, it now refused to start (or for something more "mild" changing the climate controls) until you had listened to 3 mins of ad's though its infotainment system? People would be up in arms about it. But for some reason, people just seem to accept it when it comes to our entertainment devices.

link