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Is this extortion or what?

is this extortion or what?

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12 replies to this topic

#1
Tony

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In April of this year I decided to upgrade to a new Dell 3847 Inspiron with Windows 10.  In the games apps., I use the Chess app., on a daily basis.  Today I discover that now when I attempt to open the Chess app., these animated dragon games and racing games pre-empt my Chess game.  I did some research, contacted Microsoft and they wanted me to pay them in order to remove the ads.  Gee, I must be mistaken in thinking that since I paid for the system, it is now private property.  I am overwhelmed by audacity of this intrusion, in addition them wanting me to pay them.  Now it is impossible for me to play the game, without paying them first.  Something needs to be done about this.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Antonio



#2
deano

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Apple is just as bad.  They download apps on my iPhone phone without my permission and these apps cannot be removed.


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#3
Tony

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Apple is just as bad.  They download apps on my iPhone phone without my permission and these apps cannot be removed.

Well, this one is not downloaded yet, because I choose not to.  I need to find another way to prevent that from popping up every time I wish to play chess.  Thanks for your comment.

 

Antonio



#4
Tonyfromalnwick

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Can't you just use a different chess app ? I'm pretty sure you'll find a few for free in the app store.

#5
Tony

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Okay, here is the deal. I contacted Microsoft again and asked to speak to a Manager. The Manger was very courteous and helpful and seemed to understand my dilemma. Apparently when I purchased this system, the Chess Game app., was on a temporary basis, no ads. The temporary period has expired and that is why I am receiving these game ads. They showed me how to get around the ad, only after I have to watch it for about 30 seconds, then I can get into the Chess game. Would have been nice to know that up front. I just hate being set up for surprises, because I do not believe that is an above board way to transact business.

Thanks for reading.

Antonio

 



#6
Thumper

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That EULA (that most people never bother to read) pretty much says that you agree to whatever terms the manufacturer  decides to impose (even through updates).   Once you click "Okay" or "I Agree", they can do pretty much what ever they want.   But if you decline, you don't get the software at all.  


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#7
Merco_61

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Most of the bloat loaded on a new computer is trialware of some kind, so it will turn to either ad-financed, subscription financed or simply switch itself off until you pay for a full license after a period of use. Dell have always been (in)famous for loading their consumer machines with trial versions. This is their way of selling the hardware cheap to the consumer as the software companies pay for their distributing the trial versions. It is an underhanded way of doing business, but that is how it works. 

There are free chess games, and some of them even have good game motors so they can be quite difficult to beat even after you have played them for a while. If you search, you can probably find a blog somewhere with reviews of the free apps so you can make an informed decision on what to get. I can't help you there as I don't use Windows.


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#8
nikdood17

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I, too, have fought the Chess Wars and have been defeated every time. I bought a  Windows box and got their nice chess game. My next window box did not have it. It would seem they think that programs is gold and nobody gets his grubby hands on it. I tried a few off the Big I but it was so full of bugs I had to use blasting aps to clean out the room.



#9
Marcus Rowland

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It's amazing how the idea that you own a program seems to be being eroded - I'm still using fairly old software on my real computers (e.g. Windows 7 and Office 2007 on my PC, Office 2008 on my Macs) since I refuse to participate in this game for any software I use productively. A pox on paying a yearly rental for software! On the iPad and iPhone I'm just very selective and delete apps if the adverts make them unusable. Fortunately I'm not a huge games person - the only game I play obsessively on any computer is Oolite, the free Elite play-alike, and that's about as non commercial as you can get. Apart from that I play a few solitaire and puzzle games, and not very often. If things get truly bad I'm probably going to switch to Linux, if the major distros ever get round to adding support for my printer and scanner... (and no, PLEASE don't start telling me how to write my own drivers etc., I don't currently have Linux installed at all except in a virtual environment and I really don't want to change unnecessarily.)


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#10
Brian

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And this is why I use DOS for real work.

 

Win7 for web surfing and running Lightroom 6.8.


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#11
Tony

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Just to add a little more fuel to the fire, I did contact Microsoft again and they informed me that I do not own the software that was installed.  It is merely on loan to me.  I often wonder how things in this world got so turned around to the point that we as citizens and consumers have forfeited our rights and privileges because of Big Corporations and worse yet, Big Government.  I am still fuming over the fact that I had no choice as to hooking up with Cable TV.  Back to Microsoft.  They did inform me that I do in fact own the hardware but not the software.  I can recall when I was a kid, reading comic books called:  "Bizarro World." where everything was the opposite of reality.  I think we are there now.  I did manage to find a really cool Chess Game called, Sparkschess.com and it is a lot of fun.  It will not allow you to win in anything above beginners' level.  It is a futuristic style game where the pieces actually glide to position indicated.  It is free, so give it a try if you like.  Okay, I have had my fit for the day, so take care and thanks for reading.

 

Tony



#12
Brian

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I own perpetual rights to redistribute the development tools that I use for my software development. That way anyone that gets my software can modify it, and recompile it.

 

Delete their software from your machine and find something else that does the same thing. Chess has been around for a long time, many implementations of it. What is so special about this one that you cannot live without it? If this software is so unique that nothing else in the world comes close to it: they have you, and you play on their terms. if not- delete it.

 

I have some applications that are irreplaceable. I keep a WIN95B Pentium Tower running for when I have to use them. AND- it was not trivial to get DOS with FAT-32 working on a 512GByte drive Intel Core 2 machine with 4GBytes of memory.



#13
Marcus Rowland

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A page on free chess games

 

https://www.chess.co...-chess-software

 

The last game on this page looks a lot like the chess game in Windows 7, but I haven't tried it since I'm no good at chess.







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