What has happened to this website...?!

[Windows Central Question]

This used to be a really good resource for finding out about Windows Mobile / Phone, and then for Windows itself. I have come back to it after not visiting for a while (since MS gave up on Windows Mobile) and the whole thing is basically a flashing advert for shops and products. Is there another website out there for Windows / MS fans that is what Windows Central used to be like?

 

[Jamie Brahm]

This used to be a really good resource for finding out about Windows Mobile / Phone, and then for Windows itself. I have come back to it after not visiting for a while (since MS gave up on Windows Mobile) and the whole thing is basically a flashing advert for shops and products. Is there another website out there for Windows / MS fans that is what Windows Central used to be like?

Good question. Yes, there are too many ads here. Too much promotion. And user activity has really been slowing. I'd also like to know if there's somewhere better.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Yes, there are too many ads, but you can just use an adblocker. There are other sites, like ONMSFT, but Windows Central is probably the best of the bunch.

 

[ochhanz]

This used to be a really good resource for finding out about Windows Mobile / Phone, and then for Windows itself. I have come back to it after not visiting for a while (since MS gave up on Windows Mobile) and the whole thing is basically a flashing advert for shops and products. Is there another website out there for Windows / MS fans that is what Windows Central used to be like?

, maybe these sites, did a quick search:

https://www.windowslatest.com/
https://www.onmsft.com/
https://surfacetip.com/ (bit dead on the comments though)
https://mspoweruser.com/ (quick glance and it seems to much non-MS/non-Windows related stuff, like news over android phones...)

I think WC is still best for Surface reviews (besides notebookcheck), few in depth articles and the comment section is always fun ^.^ .

 

[anthonyng]

Blame Nadella lol

It goes to show how maybe windows mobile was niche, but people were excited to talk about it nonetheless

Yes other surfaces are nice and all but for me, there's not too much to talk about there, it's too incremental, not game changing enough, use cases too limited or not in my area of interest.

Get me some tablet mode development, and tablet telephony! Always on tablet are here, now let me voip it or telephony it so that it always rings when in a bag.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

This used to be a really good resource for finding out about Windows Mobile / Phone, and then for Windows itself. I have come back to it after not visiting for a while (since MS gave up on Windows Mobile) and the whole thing is basically a flashing advert for shops and products. Is there another website out there for Windows / MS fans that is what Windows Central used to be like?

The ads typically are something between the announcements, new products and comments section. What announcements or new products has WC recently missed?

 

[justjun555]

The euphoria got down with death of Windows on mobile platform.

hopefully surface duo & neo will bring some new & old fans back.

 

[pbilk]

You made this post yesterday, my assumption is that you haven't been on for a while (correct me if I am wrong) and you came back during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are recommending products for their readers and fans, nothing is wrong with that. Come back a week later and after Christmas and you will see articles that you will enjoy front and centre.

 

[Ryujingt3]

What was said above is correct. The death of Windows Phone has affected the site and it has to use other methods to get revenue and traffic.

It may be better, as has been mentioned by others, to rebrand as Microsoft Central and then focus on the enterprise side of Microsoft as well as MS hardware, Office, Edge etc.

 

[Laura Knotek]

What was said above is correct. The death of Windows Phone has affected the site and it has to use other methods to get revenue and traffic.

It may be better, as has been mentioned by others, to rebrand as Microsoft Central and then focus on the enterprise side of Microsoft as well as MS hardware, Office, Edge etc.

The only problem I see with focusing on enterprise is that decision makers who procure hardware and software aren't the typical people who visit this site.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

I think current approach makes the most sense. If you're a supporter of Windows and everything Microsoft, you have to accept the good with the bad. As MSFT switches it's mobile direction, interests and topics will change.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Isn't the site ad free if you register for the forums? If that is just the forums then simply install a good ad blocker.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Isn't the site ad free if you register for the forums? If that is just the forums then simply install a good ad blocker.

That is true. I believe the complaint lies in the supposed "articles" on the blogs that are really nothing more than adverts.

 

[Ryujingt3]

I actually want to write proper articles for the site, but nobody who I contacted replied back to me.

 

[ochhanz]

That is true. I believe the complaint lies in the supposed "articles" on the blogs that are really nothing more than adverts.

, now I understand people's complains more, I always visit this site on a laptop/desktop browser so I can easily scroll by the adverts and they are more clustered than on your images (where it does indeed look annoying lol).

 

[HeyCori]

I still visit WC regularly, but unlike in the past, I visit WC after checking several other sites. In doing so, I skip a lot of stories on WC because I've already read them somewhere else. The problem I have is that WC has become a mishmash of Microsoft news, random gaming news, hardware news, tips & tricks, re-posted articles, VPN promotions, UFC(???), and, as described, thinly veiled ads disguised as articles. So I get Microsoft news but often in the worst way possible.

Take the recent Series X announcement for example - which WC decided to split into tiny, completely unnecessary, articles. Most of it could have been comprised onto one webpage. Unfortunately, undeserving information like its dimensions are split off into a separate piece. I'm just guessing, but I imagine it's so WC can game search algorithms. Or look at the illogical occurrence of gaming news. WC isn't a gaming website so the news is sporadic and lacks any real depth. Hence, I get my gaming news from a gaming website.

And while I understand WC will promote holiday deals (because most tech sites do around this time), there's also a lot of so-called "buy this" or "best of" articles where, to the best of my knowledge, WC hasn't reviewed any of those products nor can I verify that anyone on staff uses those products. The recently re-posted "7 Surface Pro keyboards" article actually has a metal keyboard listed with a design flaw that will crack your screen! Bare minimum, someone should do enough research to verify the device they're recommending won't destroy your product.

While WC does a lot of what other tech sites do, WC just does it worse.

 

[tgp]

This used to be a really good resource for finding out about Windows Mobile / Phone

Yes, it used to be called Windows Phone Central. However, there is not much more to talk about there anymore. Now the only thing left to do is basically to make funeral arrangements.

 

[Ryujingt3]

I still visit WC regularly, but unlike in the past, I visit WC after checking several other sites. In doing so, I skip a lot of stories on WC because I've already read them somewhere else. The problem I have is that WC has become a mishmash of Microsoft news, random gaming news, hardware news, tips & tricks, re-posted articles, VPN promotions, UFC(???), and, as described, thinly veiled ads disguised as articles. So I get Microsoft news but often in the worst way possible.

Take the recent Series X announcement for example - which WC decided to split into tiny, completely unnecessary, articles. Most of it could have been comprised onto one webpage. Unfortunately, undeserving information like its dimensions are split off into a separate piece. I'm just guessing, but I imagine it's so WC can game search algorithms. Or look at the illogical occurrence of gaming news. WC isn't a gaming website so the news is sporadic and lacks any real depth. Hence, I get my gaming news from a gaming website.

And while I understand WC will promote holiday deals (because most tech sites do around this time), there's also a lot of so-called "buy this" or "best of" articles where, to the best of my knowledge, WC hasn't reviewed any of those products nor can I verify that anyone on staff uses those products. The recently re-posted "7 Surface Pro keyboards" article actually has a metal keyboard listed with a design flaw that will crack your screen! Bare minimum, someone should do enough research to verify the device they're recommending won't destroy your product.

While WC does a lot of what other tech sites do, WC just does it worse.

You make some very valid points here. It does seem that there is a lot of article spinning going on.

 

[Jamie Brahm]

You make some very valid points here. It does seem that there is a lot of article spinning going on.

There really are some branding issues here.

When it comes to tech advice, there's very little. That generally brings click. How-to's, problem solving, is very light here. Sometimes with articles, quality is kind - yes you can bring all kinds of clicks throwing stuff at a wall, but for something to genuinely trend? Usually that's a work someone has put effort into.

For gaming, WC actually has some of the earliest commentary on new XB studios games and products. It's a good source for this - however hardware articles are a little puddle deep at times, and there's very little in the way of solid game reviews. So, solid early leading MSFT gaming news, but little else of substance to bring in gamers - mods, reviews, tips and tricks, class/strategy guides
You might say that places like IGN do this, and they do - but this is a sub specialty WC could nail - gaming specifically for xbox studios games and products. They have insiders, they have good connections.

Whatever people might say about 'windows news' and it's audience, both of these two definitely have audiences. And by leaning into it's 'news' basis, in tends to cover a wide variety of product related stuff that has no real relationship to windows or microsoft, like the echo (unless there's some intergration talk it's not really on topic).

I wrote blogs for years, and I know that people get tired, they want that 'refresh' so you can keep up your ranking, and top tens and so on always end up somewhere. But the big hard work ones here are thinkpeices about where windows and MSFT are going, and whilst that's interesting, couldn't some of those hard work articles be gaming or software related?

And if one of these bloggers gets thrown the task of writing a guide to reskinning/customizing windows, or get forced to play baldurs gate 3 for a few days, are they really going to complain next to writing endless articles about IDK, backpacks or other widgets?

Also there's some stuff that people are always just interested in, even if not much is going on, like the hololens. The new xbox. Tech hype.

And with a few less ads disguised as articles, and some, just here and there, quality content, they'll probably get more conversions that the advertisers want.

I feel like the project right now is to just churn out as much news as possible (half of it just ads), and maybe in some limited way that's working. But look where the audience is, look where the engagement is, and I bet they could do a lot better.

Honestly I do wonder if "Microsoft" Central would be better. Windows is something people want to talk about, but it's not where the excitement is. People want to know about xstream, game pass, about the new xbox, about the next batch of xbox studio games, about interesting new uses for the hololens, ways to use their PC that they hadn't thought of, services they hadn't heard of or considered etc.

 

[tgp]

Honestly I do wonder if "Microsoft" Central would be better. Windows is something people want to talk about, but it's not where the excitement is.

I'm pretty sure that the reason this site is called "Windows Central" is because it used to be called "Windows Phone Central", back when WP/WM was still a thing. "Phone" was removed because it no longer applied. I agree that "Microsoft Central" might be more accurate.

Or, judging by what @HeyCori said, the cynic would say that "Clickbait Central" is objectively accurate. I think that the passion is gone from this site. It seems to be purely after clicks now. That said, I don't fault a site for going after clicks. That's how they survive, and they all need them. But I don't think that the writers have the interest that they did back in the "Phone" days. It's all business now.