Microsoft realizes that we do not really want ads in our mail

If you are a person who is even bothered by the ubiquitous presence of ads in virtually any digital space, it is probably safe to assume that you absolutely do not want them in your e-mail. Microsoft seems to have only realized this.

The company appears to have retreated on deploying an A / B test for banners in its Windows 10 Mail client as a result of this week's ad appearance reports for some of its users, according to The Verge. Reply to a tweet Frank Shaw, communication manager at Verge, said their appearance in Mail "was an experimental feature that was never designed to be tested on a large scale and that was disabled."

A Microsoft blog on Deployment linked by Verge is now dead, although an archived version confirms that the page previously directed to an FAQ page regarding ads in Mail for Windows 10. As Verge notes, it's a good thing. is curious given Shaw's response on Twitter that this is an "experimental feature".

The page indicated that the pilot program was conducted in Brazil, Canada, Australia and India on Windows Home and Windows Pro. He also said that ads would appear in non-professional email accounts such as Outlook.com, Gmail and Yahoo Mail, but not in the non-professional accounts of users with an Office 365 $ 7 per month subscription).

Microsoft said ads were targeted by default, but users could choose not to use their privacy settings. The page also states that Microsoft will not scan users' emails, a practice already used by users such as Gmail and Yahoo.

The timeline for this deployment is unclear, but Verge cited some examples of people tweeting on Windows Mail ads as early as July. Anyway, given the fact that people already hatred this feature makes it best for everyone to disable it, at least for the moment.

We have contacted Microsoft about the ad deployment and will update this post if we are aware of it.

[The Verge]