It looks like Microsoft is moving forward with its mission to place more ads in parts of the Windows 11 interface, and the latest move was an ad introduced to the Settings home page.
Windows Latest noted that the announcement, which is for Xbox Game Pass, is part of the latest preview build of the operating system on the Dev channel (build 26120). For the uninitiated, Game Pass is Microsoft's subscription service that gives you access to a large number of games for a monthly or annual subscription fee.
However, not all testers will see this announcement, at least for now, as it will only roll out to those who have chosen the “Get the latest updates as soon as they are available” option (and that applies to the other features delivered) . for this preliminary version). Additionally, the ad only appears for those signed in to a Microsoft account.
Additionally, Microsoft explains in a blog post introducing the build that the Xbox Game Pass ad will only appear for Windows 11 users who are “actively gaming” on their PC. The other changes provided by this new preview are also useful, including fixes for multiple known issues, some of which are related to performance issues with the Settings app.
Going too far is a definite risk for Microsoft
While I can see that this new advertising push won't play well with Windows 11 users, Windows Latest tested the new update and reports that it's a significant improvement over the previous 24H2 release. So at least it's good news, and the tech site further notes that there's a fix for an installation error here (apparently error stop code '0x8007371B').
Windows 11 24H2 has not yet been officially rolled out to all users, but it is expected to be the pre-installed operating system on the new Snapdragon devices will occur several months later, perhaps in September or October.
I'm not the biggest fan of Microsoft's strategy regarding promoting its own services (and, indeed, direct ads, as is the case here) or of the company's efforts to push people to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Unfortunately, next year, Windows 10 users will face the choice of migrating to Windows 11 or losing security updates when support for the previous operating system expires (in October 2025) . That is, if they can upgrade at all: Windows 11's hardware requirements make this a difficult task for some older PCs.
I hope, for my personal sake and for the sake of all Windows 11 users, that Microsoft considers showing that it values all of us by not subjecting us to more and more ads that infiltrate different parts of the operating system.
