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Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

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Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#221

"Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft." They named their user tracking, telemetry, and "Buy Now, Pay Later" add-ons "trust"? That's really Orwellian.

> I hate saving money,’ said no one ever. Microsoft Edge is the best browser for online shopping.

I hate having Microsoft scan my online shopping carts so they can collect data and hijack affiliate commissions. Do they think we're dumb?

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#222
post #161
post #96

It's a shame the Linux is still "not there" to be a good replacement for Windows. I keep trying but having stupid issues all time, like my laptop is identified as a mobile device when connected to a Bluetooth multipoint headset so I can't connect to my phone and laptop in the same time :( Scaling is awful and unfortunately simply there are no good drivers for certain hardware. Windows 11 is awful, I went back to 10 w…

Drivers for certain hardware is still a huge issue. I have hardware that I just won’t attempt to install Linux on because devs don’t think exotic setups (like Intel integrated graphics AND an nvidia GPU) are worth supporting. But everything else seems to be much improved lately. I’ve got Ubuntu running on my laptop and it works with my Magic Trackpad (including gestures), 4k display with fractional scaling, and 1080p…

I don't know about Ubuntu but on Opensuse, Nvidia Optimus (Nvidia + integrated intel) works fine after installing the official Nvidia drivers and setting suse-prime to the desired mode.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#223
post #207

Back when Edgeium was new and just Chrome but with a lot of Google cruft removed, I actually used Edge instead of Chrome when I was on Windows. It was the same browser with some additional tweaks that I quite liked. Then Microsoft started this aggressive, disruptive push to bring it to iOS Safari's level as the only browser people should use. I don't know any good operating systems for normal people anymore. Windows…

> macOS only runs on very expensive hardware and doesn't run most programs people need (because the business world is still Windows oriented) This is an outdated take - it's functionally untrue in most business settings. Gaming on the other hand, is very much still mostly Windows only.

I'd agree if they still had 32-bit support. Nowadays though, even most creatives are getting frustrated by the vicious upgrade cycle and outright refusal to continue support for fairly modern tooling. If by "business" you mean word processing and web browsing, then... yeah. Chromebooks are also a competitor if we're bringing the bar that low.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#224
post #76
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying that there aren’t issues, but the fact that billions of people use Windows and don’t routinely have their profiles wiped out with every update points to a specific issue with your setup; not a systemic Windows problem.

For large proportions of people a misbehaving operating system is just "how computers work" and it would be like complaining that water is wet.

There’s a huge difference between “I need to reboot to fix some wonky thing” and “all my data gets deleted every time there’s a Windows update”. People would very much notice the latter as being a problem.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want auto updates for security patches, please.

Good for you, there should be a checkbox so I don't have to suffer for your preferences.

I agree with parent, most non-technical people don't want to be system admin for their OS, so MS taking over is not really a bad deal. All my computers are IT managed and I have never had any update issues, so maybe there is some special sauce there via group policy. I have instructed them to section off my work PCs so they never update unless I tell them to, and it works. I get months and months of uptime till I take the reboot hit and do the updates.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#226
post #196
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using Firefox as my browser on my Android phone for something like six or seven years now (I guess I'm weird). I don't recall any hard pushes to switch to Chrome. Using a non-Blink browser there is probably rare enough that making people switch isn't worth it. The websites don't seem to want to support Firefox, so Google definitely isn't blameless, but we should probably at least blame them correctly.

Oh snap, I misread the original comment and went off on the wrong rant, they didn't even mention phones :/ I use FF on Android too. Android is better than others. I have Chrome disabled on my phone and there are some things that just won't open without it. It won't let me shut off the "Play Protect" nag every single time I install or update something from F-Droid. I've accidentally turned it on countless times. But i…

Try the Samsung Internet Browser.. It will give you the benefits of Chromium but with a better user interface.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#227
post #179
post #30

I heard some people having a decent time with Edge in the past with some features implementations. Not that I would use it myself, but I'm firmly convinced these childish plays only ruin whatever good work was done on it. Who on Earth would continue using a browser that has such hostile behavior and dark patterns all over the place e.g., buy-now-pay-later at browser level? It's so hard to trust Microsoft anyway, I'm…

> Who on Earth would continue using a browser that has such hostile behavior and dark patterns all over the place Every kind of technology today has clear and visible dark patterns. In the past it was advertisement everywhere and now it is user-hostile design. See any discussion about smart tv, subscription services, webshops, smart devices, phones, apps or any other technology topics and the issue of dark patterns w…

There is no darkness in the world of FOSS, it's an actual, currently functioning, computing utopian dream.

Let Caeser have his awful stuff. We can all push for fun, and free computing.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#228
post #39

I hope Margrethe Vestager is paying attention, this bullshit is getting egregious. Microsoft not only deserve a fine, but a thorough breaking up into multiple separate entities.

I mean they were already thoroughly whipped and fined, forced to add a browser choice window, then made to pay a fine again after this browser choice window 'accidentally' didn't work anymore. Time for another fine? I mean I have no clue where that money ends up at, I like to think it goes into IT subsidies, but still.

>Time for another fine?

Sure! I mean it's working so well at changing corporate behavior, why would we want to stop now?

Things like this are why I advocate for Corporate Jail time and a Corporate Death Penalty.

Re: Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome

#229
post #49

Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode of operation. Now they are throwing away their good will with smarmy tactics --why? for some short term gains? They were passing Google reputation-wise, of late, but these moves undercut their work of the last few years. It seems they see Google, FB, even App…

> Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode of operation. Microsoft never changed. There was never a "new Microsoft". Only a new strategy with the same goals as ever: anti competitive behavior, bullying "partners", and what not. Just because they made this or that opensource changes nothing to the na…

I don’t contest that characterization; however, they did try to rehabilitate their brand, and, I think they did. So why go through that effort and throw it away?

To circle back to your point, I now feel Google’s Don’t be evil was a deke, a fake and was all about building reputation which they leveraged for market share.

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