A Windows Insider named Florian earlier this week noticed a not-so-subtle addition to File Explorer that suggests Microsoft is experimenting with new ways to promote its services throughout the Windows user interface
We go to know that File Explorer will soon have a tabbed interface, which is one of the most highly-requested features of the past few years.
Florian spotted the first ad for Microsoft Editor (part of Microsoft 365), the company’s AI-powered grammar and spelling assistant for Word, Outlook, and the web.
The ad showed up as a suggestion in the upper part of a File Explorer window, right below the address bar, which makes it quite difficult to tell if it is an ad.
Here is the tweet to that effect
Well, people are mad.
Honestly there is quite a bit of overreaction as i’m pretty sure i’ll be possible to disable it. https://t.co/UufEKY7gMc— Florian (@flobo09) March 15, 2022
It is said that The company has previously used this approach to promote OneDrive and Microsoft 365 subscriptions, sometimes even to people who already own one or both.
If Microsoft implements this feature on file explorer, there is the likelihood of being able to disable it in the settings.