It is interesting but people have different thresholds for what they consider “ads”

I know Ubuntu took some flak for offering their system — was it Ubuntu Pro? — at their login screen. That’s fine with me, but bothers others.

Ubuntu again did it with some music store app in their app search results.

Meanwhile Windows has stuffed Candy Crush, Office, and many others in the start menu over the years. And sometimes it’s not Microsoft but OEMs doing this.

But is crapware “advertising”? Im not sure but it seems like perceptions have shifted at the same time as Microsoft specifically has pushed more and more intrusive ads, and those have moved further to the “advertising” side of that line between suggestion and spam.