What: Microsoft Engineer Rafael Rivera took to Twitter on Monday to announce that Microsoft WordPad is getting a new feature – an ad for Office web apps. The tweet included a screenshot showing 6 experimental variants and received mixed opinions from hundreds of advertisers online.
WordPad is a basic word processor introduced by Microsoft with Windows 95. Think of it as the intermediate between Microsoft Notepad and Microsoft Word.
Why: Though there hasn’t been much commentary on the new ads since, it’s no secret that Microsoft has implemented various controversial updates to Windows 10 over the years. The effect the campaign will have is unclear, though one Twitter user suggested it’s Microsoft’s way of convincing advertisers to “use a free and better product”.
The result: From the image embedded in the tweet, we can see a total of six banner ads stating “Try word online for free”, “Try Word for free online,” “Try Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free online”, “Use Word for free online”, “Use Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free online”, and “Try Office for free online”. It doesn’t seem they’ll interfere with user accessibility, though nothing is set in stone until an official announcement.
