Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge • Hacker News Board

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#91

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:37 AM UTC

misja111 wrote: post #64

rbanffy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WSL2, running Linux on Windows, VS Code, VS 2022, it's all good. As someone who also has a Linux desktop and laptops in addition to the Windows machine, WSL is terrible next to the real thing. Unless you need software that only runs on Windows, I advise against using it as a reason to stay on Windows.

Of course WSL2 can never be as good as running Linux natively. But as someone who needs software that runs on Windows, I like WSL2 a lot. For me the choice was native Linux + Wine or native Windows with WSL2. I have tried both, and I have to say that the WSL2 option runs much better in terms of both performance and stability.

> But as someone who needs software that runs on Windows

It boils down to which OS you want to be the "second-class citizen" on your machine. With Wine, it's Windows. With WSL, it's Linux.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#92

Post by dx034 » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:38 AM UTC

makach wrote: post #38

Huh? Without asking the user? I received an update, and Edge asked me to update my settings. I respectfully clicked no and nothing changed. For the novice user, there might be a use-case where this is a good solution, to revert settings settings in case you somehow messed them up.

> For the novice user, there might be a use-case where this is a good solution, to revert settings settings in case you somehow messed them up.

Maybe that's the justification for the product manager or developer, I'm pretty sure though it's just driven by management to increase usage of Edge and Bing. That I have to tell Microsoft on a monthly basis that I don't want to use Edge is in no way user friendly. But same goes for Google which will always ask me why I don't use Chrome.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#93

Post by medo-bear » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:39 AM UTC

SantiagoElf wrote: post #24

rbanffy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WSL2, running Linux on Windows, VS Code, VS 2022, it's all good. As someone who also has a Linux desktop and laptops in addition to the Windows machine, WSL is terrible next to the real thing. Unless you need software that only runs on Windows, I advise against using it as a reason to stay on Windows.

I have been using Linux since Redhat 6.2 back in 1998. I have had my share of xconfig edits, bash scripts, etc explorations. I am now reaching 36, I just like 'things that work' - like Windows. Windows works with all my hardware, with all my 7 laptops, with all my 2 towers, I can install Visual Studio 2022 on it, I can install Ubuntu in WSL2 and I can play Dota2/Civ/Baldur's Gate/Warhammer 40k Insquisitor Martyr/list…

without games windows would crumble. what has been changing in the past few years is the ammount of support given to gaming on linux as well as nvidia actively developing drivers for linux due to the machine learning community. it will be interesting to see how this develops

also, as someone who has to keep a windows machine for availability of certain applications that have no linux versions yet, the statement that "windows just works" is bs in my experience

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#94

Post by gambiting » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:39 AM UTC

premun wrote: post #83

coryrc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just went and resetted it back to Chrome. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Exactly, why would anyone prefer Chrome to Edge? They both are built on the same Chromium core but Google adds a bunch tracking with merging your website logging together with your browser account.

>>Exactly, why would anyone prefer Chrome to Edge?

Is this....a real question?

I'll bite - because Chrome signs into my google account and it seemlessly remembers everything I do between my PC, my laptop and my phone. I literally couldn't care any less what core it uses, the usability aspect is just better than in Edge.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#95

Post by iqanq » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:40 AM UTC

eps wrote: post #56

iqanq wrote: post #23

>How do you deal with Microsoft's crap on a daily basis? Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC. No updates and supported for 10 years. Rock solid.

It does actually update itself every now and then even though it shouldn't be. In the middle of the night no less. You may want to check the logs. No feature updates, just patches, but still.

I meant no feature updates.

Windows 10 does indeed update itself by default, but you can disable automatic updates using the policy editor.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#96

Post by Ygg2 » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:41 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #79

Ygg2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah, the answer is to simply not use Windows. Yeah, no. You either switch to Mac and lose 99% of your applications and some of your hardware. Or you switch to Linux and lose 90% of your applications and latest hardware; And enjoy random problems and figuring out which of hundred answers online is right. Answer could be none, because for example Wayland support for multiple monitors sucks.

If you want to run Linux on a computer, you do your research and build/buy one where the hardware support is there. Most people don't need "latest" hardware; hardware from 2-3 years ago is fine, and, honestly, most latest hardware works fine too -- again, if you do your research. Grabbing a random machine and expecting it to work fine (especially if it's a laptop) will often fail, and that's why people spend hours on…

> Grabbing a random machine and expecting it to work fine

Not random, but my current machine. How else am I (or random person on the Internet) to migrate to Linux then?

Create an entire new machine just for Linux? That is a pretty hefty price.

E.g. You bought an expensive nVidia card. Yeah, throw it away. Get AMD. Want dual monitors. Throw one away...

I honestly dread switching to Linux.

> Certainly some people have Windows-only apps (or games) they can't do without

Stuff like Office (not online ones), Adobe suite, video editors, sound editors, etc.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#97

Post by hutzlibu » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:41 AM UTC

SantiagoElf wrote: post #6

pizza234 wrote: post #4

> How do you deal with Microsoft's crap on a daily basis? I don't; I develop on Linux. Ignoring this, within my very limited usage of Windows, it seems to me that MS has become increasingly more hostile over the last few years or so. To answer with something actionable: I discourage people from upgrading to Windows 11.

Windows is pretty much alive and kicking. The best it has been since Windows XP. WSL2, running Linux on Windows, VS Code, VS 2022, it's all good. Windows 11 is VERY solid and you can play lots of games on it too :) I am dead serious. I have been using Windows since 3, using betas of Microsoft products since Longhorn - right now, Windows is reaching it's PEAK in terms of performance, ecosystem. Sure, they will need 2-…

"The best it has been since Windows XP ... it's all good"

As far as I remember, XP had no tracking and advertisement build in by default. And it left control on when to update and when to invoke antivirus with you.

Is this really all good to you? Or are you so deep invested in windows, that you can just disable them? Because I surely can disable most of that shit, too - but it takes a while and one update later it can be all back.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#98

Post by rob74 » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:42 AM UTC

anthropodie wrote: post #87

pizza234 wrote: post #4

> How do you deal with Microsoft's crap on a daily basis? I don't; I develop on Linux. Ignoring this, within my very limited usage of Windows, it seems to me that MS has become increasingly more hostile over the last few years or so. To answer with something actionable: I discourage people from upgrading to Windows 11.

It seems weird that when a company grows beyond one point they start these user hostile practices. Google is another example. When they are small they are more open to innovation than manipulating user into using their product. What goes wrong?

These practices are nothing new for M$, they did that in the past (15-20 years ago) with IE, then got several slaps on the wrist, which made them cut back on it for a few years, but now they seem to be thinking that if IE/Edge is no longer the dominant browser they can start using these tricks again?!

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#99

Post by Octabrain » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:42 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #16

SantiagoElf wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows is pretty much alive and kicking. The best it has been since Windows XP. WSL2, running Linux on Windows, VS Code, VS 2022, it's all good. Windows 11 is VERY solid and you can play lots of games on it too :) I am dead serious. I have been using Windows since 3, using betas of Microsoft products since Longhorn - right now, Windows is reaching it's PEAK in terms of performance, ecosystem. Sure, they will need 2-…

> WSL2, running Linux on Windows, VS Code, VS 2022, it's all good. As someone who also has a Linux desktop and laptops in addition to the Windows machine, WSL is terrible next to the real thing. Unless you need software that only runs on Windows, I advise against using it as a reason to stay on Windows.

> ...WSL is terrible next to the real thing...

I am genuinely interested on knowing your reasons for saying WSL is terrible. Just for clarification, I'm a Linux/MacOS user but the times I've had to use WSL in the past whether experimenting at home or in some companies where I was force to use Windows, I though it is actually one of the most decent things Microsoft has created on its entire existence. It is easy to enable, to operate, it integrates well with the network stack of Windows (kubectl port-forwarding or docker run -p8000:80 works out of the box) it performs very decently (with exceptions on IO filesystem operations) etc.

Re: Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge

#100

Post by Shacklz » Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 10:42 AM UTC

anthropodie wrote: post #87

pizza234 wrote: post #4

> How do you deal with Microsoft's crap on a daily basis? I don't; I develop on Linux. Ignoring this, within my very limited usage of Windows, it seems to me that MS has become increasingly more hostile over the last few years or so. To answer with something actionable: I discourage people from upgrading to Windows 11.

It seems weird that when a company grows beyond one point they start these user hostile practices. Google is another example. When they are small they are more open to innovation than manipulating user into using their product. What goes wrong?

My probably a bit naive take:

The MBAs take over and implement KPIs that might even be well-intentioned but are ultimately easiest to satisfy by cutting corners. For example: KPI that measures market share of Edge; instead of making Edge better to increase its share, just screw your users by making Edge default on Windows on every other update.

I've seen it happen at my own company, and while I always had pipedreams that this isn't happening at the big tech players because there are too many smart folks around to stop that nonsense, I can well imagine that it boils down to these kind of bullshit reasons.