There are nearly half a billion active users of Start news feed, says Microsoft
- Reference: 1651066210
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/04/27/microsoft_start_q3_results/
- Source link:
[2]Microsoft Start is a personalized news feed "tailored to your interests," which at least some users, in our experience, are switching off.
Nonetheless, [3]Microsoft corporate vice president for Communications, Frank X Shaw, has said the company is seeing "strong engagement" for the widget panel and reported "nearly 500 million monthly active users."
[4]
We asked the Windows-maker what "active users" meant in this context, but Microsoft has yet to respond.
[5]Microsoft fixes Point of Sale bug that delayed Windows 11 startup for 40 minutes
[6]Microsoft plans to drop SMB1 binaries from Windows 11
[7]Windows 11 usage stats within touching distance of... XP
[8]Microsoft, NXP unveil Arm-based Windows 10 IoT Enterprise experience
The software and cloud giant immediately received pushback on social media, with a user on Twitter remarking: "If Microsoft think[s] the tabloid widgets from a forced live icon placed on every Windows 10 and 11 taskbar is adoption, then it's not listening to customer feedback..."
By all accounts, Microsoft has continued to pull in the dollars despite disquiet over its [9]licensing practises and grumbles over [10]alleged anti-competitive behavior . The company's flagship operating system, Windows, has continued to rack up customers despite the seeming stalling of [11]Windows 11 adoption .
[12]
Shaw [13]said : "More than 100 million PCs have shipped in each of the last eight quarters, and Windows [14]continues to take share ," as the results rolled out.
Revenue in "Personal Computing" segment was $14.5 billion and increased 11 percent, with Windows OEM revenue up 11 percent, Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue up 14 percent. Surface revenue increased 13 percent, while Xbox content and services revenue increased 4 percent. Meanwhile search and news advertising revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs) increased 23 percent.
[15]
So overall, while the cloud may continue to be the big thing, Microsoft's legacy Windows PC business is still bringing in the dollars. As for Microsoft Start, we can't help but wonder if the company's considering adding sponsored content to that bottom line, especially with numbers like nearly half a billion active users. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/27/microsoft_q3_2022/
[2] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/09/07/the-content-you-care-about-simplified-and-reinvented-introducing-microsoft-start/
[3] https://twitter.com/fxshaw/status/1519069973368385537
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YmlosJ6RwyuCgOm@hhNJzAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/26/windows_11_patch/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/20/smb1_uninstalled_by_default_windows_11/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/19/windows_11_marketshare/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/06/windows_10_iot_enterprise_nxp/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/17/ovhcloud_microsoft_complaint/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/04/euro_commission_and_microsoft/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/19/windows_11_marketshare/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YmlosJ6RwyuCgOm@hhNJzAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://twitter.com/fxshaw/status/1519069597596487680
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/19/windows_11_marketshare/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YmlosJ6RwyuCgOm@hhNJzAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Fixed it for you
You jest, but I'd guess in most cases that's true.
I've never actually turned it off because I use OpenShell instead and I suspect I probably count in that half billion because it probably background updates itself.
Re: Fixed it for you
Or, if the figures are to be believed(*)... There are nearly a billion users who have turned it off.
(*) [1]Windows now has 1.4 billion users
[1] https://www.techadvisor.com/news/windows/windows-1-4-billion-users-3812742/#:~:text=Windows%2010%20and%20Windows%2011,before%20its%20successor%20was%20announced.
Re: Fixed it for you
Just like the annoying weather widget I always see in the taskbar on other user machines
Re: Fixed it for you
I quite like the weather widget; what I detest is all the crud that opens up if I'm not very careful with the mouse down in that corner of the screen. I suspect this makes me one of the half billion 'active' users!
"If Microsoft think[s] the tabloid widgets from a forced live icon placed on every Windows 10 and 11 taskbar is adoption, then it's not listening to customer feedback..."
Yes, that is exactly what Microsoft thinks.
As for customer feedback -- they do listen, but the problem is that no matter what the feedback actually says, what they hear is "as a user, I would like for Microsoft to exfiltrate and mine more of my private data for advertising and tracking purposes."
Fixed it for you
"There are nearly half a billion users who don't know how to turn off Start news feed, says Microsoft"