Microsoft is again experimenting with displaying ads in its products. This time, users found advertisements for Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions right in Office 2021. If they signed up for a three-month Microsoft 365 subscription, they were promised a discount of more than $28.
Messages about Microsoft 365 ads started appearing online last week, August 10, 2022. In addition, the chief security architect of Microsoft Azure Security, Lee Holmes, also noticed what was happening and posted a screenshot on his Twitter, in which the promotional offer is displayed right below the Office menu and looks like some kind of important warning. Holm notes that this is an extremely disappointing sight.
The Bleeping Computer publication also notes that the ad format was chosen unsuccessfully: the banner looks like a notification about the need to enable macros, just the “Enable content” button has been replaced with “Redeem Offer”.
Needless to say, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has tried to introduce ads into its products. For example, in 2016, Microsoft showed ads for OneDrive in the File Explorer app. Also two years ago, the company tested ads for free Office web apps right in the menu bar of Wordpad for Windows 10, and Edge ads were displayed in the Windows 10 Start menu every time a user searched for a competing browser.
Finally, in the spring of this year, the company introduced advertising directly into the “Explorer”, which caused dissatisfaction among users. True, then Microsoft reported that there was an error, and it was an experimental banner, “which was not intended for an external audience.”