Abstract:
Previously, Microsoft used various methods to push the Bing Wallpaper application launched by the Bing team. After the application is installed, it will automatically change the wallpaper every day, and the source of the wallpaper is the daily image searched by Bing. However, it is impossible to develop an application without advertising. The Bing wallpaper download agreement clearly states that you agree to receive in-app notifications from Microsoft that contain promotional offers.
The user's desktop wallpaper changes to Harry Potter advertising:
Recently, many users have found that their desktop wallpapers have changed into promotional images for Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts-related movies. Some users have not figured out what is going on, but this is the advertisement pushed by Microsoft through Bing Wallpaper, and Microsoft adopts a region-by-device rotation mechanism, so not all devices will be replaced with advertising wallpapers.
However, Microsoft has not yet officially confirmed whether this is a temporary business event, a regional test, or the follow-up normal business model of Bing Wallpaper. However, this is the first time that Microsoft has used Bing Wallpaper to use user desktops as advertising spaces. There is a high probability that Bing Wallpaper will continue to place such wallpaper-type advertising images in the future.
There are also problems with the advertising agreement that Microsoft wrote in advance:
Microsoft confirmed that it has written on the Bing wallpaper download page: Installing the app means that users agree to receive in-app notifications from Microsoft containing promotional offers. The problem is that in-app notifications are usually understood to pop up advertising notifications through Bing wallpapers, but Microsoft's actual approach is to directly turn the user's entire desktop into an advertising space. This approach also seems to contradict Microsoft's statement.
Currently on the official website of Bing Wallpapers, Microsoft still regards automatically changing wallpapers every day as its main selling point. It also continues to retain the instructions in the download area that installing Bing Wallpapers will receive promotional notifications from Microsoft.
It is better to uninstall purely advertising apps:
Bing Wallpaper has been controversial since its release. Microsoft installed the Bing Wallpaper application through system push. Many users installed Bing Wallpaper after receiving a push notification from Microsoft. Bing Wallpaper also has aggressive promotion behaviors. For example, in the previous update, Bing Wallpaper promoted Bing Search by directly adding the action of clicking in the blank space to open Bing Search.
This experience was so bad that users were scolding it, so Microsoft later removed this feature and no longer enabled it by default. Click on a blank space on the desktop to open Bing search.
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