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Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

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Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#141

Post by ht85 »

cm2187 wrote: post #63
arnvald wrote: post #3

They're right, recently I've installed some Windows update for my parents and I had to reject like 5 suggested changes - installing Office trial, switching default browser to Edge yet again, and more. But this goes way beyond the browsers - I've never explicitly installed Keychain on my iphone and yet it shows as an option next to 1password every time I fill in a password field. Google calendar asks me to install an…

Does the default browser matter that much? I mean how often do you click on a link outside of a browser?

You're right, it doesn't matter, they spend so much time and take so many risks (and pay so much in fines) to push their own settings for absolutely no reason.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#142

Post by izacus »

dralley wrote: post #22
bombcar wrote: post #9

Google Chrome is highly successful on Mac and Windows so it’s clear that Microsoft and apple aren’t forcing that hard. Mozilla is just not doing so hot.

Google Chrome: * Got years of free advertising real estate on the most visited website on the internet, but hid the ads if you were using Chrome already * Payed the likes of AVG, Avast, Adobe, Oracle and others to have their own software installers automatically install Chrome and make it the default browser unless you uncheck the boxes * Repeatedly leveraged nonstandard and Chrome-specific APIs (Polymer v0) on their…

And none of that comes close to being installed as a default handler for every single web interaction as Safari and IE/Edge were.

Chrome, for a long time, was simply _better_. It's bizarre how you want to erase history when we installed Chrome originally because of how much darn faster it was than Mozilla (not to mention IE7 and that crap).

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#143

Post by rlpb »

arnvald wrote: post #3

They're right, recently I've installed some Windows update for my parents and I had to reject like 5 suggested changes - installing Office trial, switching default browser to Edge yet again, and more. But this goes way beyond the browsers - I've never explicitly installed Keychain on my iphone and yet it shows as an option next to 1password every time I fill in a password field. Google calendar asks me to install an…

It's also impossible to set up someone less technical with an alternative. The platform will keep prompting them incessantly and in various different ways, and sooner or later they'll switch or activate something by mistake.

It really needs to be possible to say "no means no". But somehow, continuously nagging seems to have become acceptable.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#144

Post by iggldiggl »

pjmlp wrote: post #57
ram4jesus wrote: post #13

The most recent W11 update turned on hypervisor on my machine, which I had off to be able to use Bluestacks 5. That config being on/off probably does not make that much money - yet Msoft decided to mess with my settings (not the first time this has happened in W11 and, were I to bet, not the last time either). Why wouldn't Msoft NOT force Edge as the default browser; a company could fill their coffers hugely if they…

Since Windows 10 plenty of security features rely on Windows actually running as a guest OS on Hyper V, like secure kernel and device guard, hence turning on the hypervisor.

Last time I tried it, it also broke hybrid sleep, or possibly actually any kind of hibernate-to-disk at all. Is that still the case?

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#145

Post by izacus »

mhermher wrote: post #53
dralley wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Chrome: * Got years of free advertising real estate on the most visited website on the internet, but hid the ads if you were using Chrome already * Payed the likes of AVG, Avast, Adobe, Oracle and others to have their own software installers automatically install Chrome and make it the default browser unless you uncheck the boxes * Repeatedly leveraged nonstandard and Chrome-specific APIs (Polymer v0) on their…

Your second point is such a lost gem of history. I still remember it well and remember how upset it made me. But it seems the world has forgotten, and just assumes that Chrome just meteorically shot up in usage just on its merit. Did you just update Java? Looks like a new browser you've never used is your default now.

Just like you've seem to have forgotten just how much lighter and faster Chrome was that people took to preferring it without looking at Java installers.

It had to compete against the default interenet icon on both major operating systems and the OSes themselves were marketing themselves loudly as well.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#146

Post by scarface74 »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #118
KerrAvon wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

define "the government" -- who and what exactly is controlling this supposed policy?

I mean... It's pervasive? Many elected officials across both parties in the United States have advanced the surveillance state and have passed legislation at the behest of 3 letter agencies. Of the last 4 presidents, 3 were pretty involved with advancing it: Bush, Obama, and Biden. I don't know if Trump did anything to advance the surveillance state. Bush+Cheney did the PSP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27…

And yet the default position seems to be that we should give the government even more power…

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#147

Post by VancouverMan »

mhermher wrote: post #53
dralley wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Chrome: * Got years of free advertising real estate on the most visited website on the internet, but hid the ads if you were using Chrome already * Payed the likes of AVG, Avast, Adobe, Oracle and others to have their own software installers automatically install Chrome and make it the default browser unless you uncheck the boxes * Repeatedly leveraged nonstandard and Chrome-specific APIs (Polymer v0) on their…

Your second point is such a lost gem of history. I still remember it well and remember how upset it made me. But it seems the world has forgotten, and just assumes that Chrome just meteorically shot up in usage just on its merit. Did you just update Java? Looks like a new browser you've never used is your default now.

Neither of those things would necessarily keep users using Chrome, however.

Once exposed to it, many people chose to continue using Chrome because Chrome offered a better experience than browsers like Firefox and IE did at the time.

Early on, Chrome felt faster and sleeker than its competitors, without sacrificing functionality.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#148

Post by throwaway41597 »

g_p wrote: post #12

One of the next frontiers as a barrier to browser switching will be "software"-backed WebAuthn/FIDO2/"passkeys". If you look at the APIs available on MacOS/iOS at present [0], and how WebAuthn works, you need to "trust" the client-side software to correctly identify the site origin (i.e. protocol, domain, port) and pass it to a physical security key. In the case of a software token, you need to restrict which app(s)…

I wasn't sure what your concern was, but is it that?

1 ) Hardware authenticators won't spit their root secret, almost by design.

2 ) Webauthn doesn't require that the authenticator store the list of accounts, also by design (for privacy). So if you want to switch from iPhone to Android, you have to remember all websites you used Passkey on, and go one by one hunting down the right security settings page.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#149

Post by Mikeb85 »

Does Linux force you to use Firefox? Every distro I know has it by default. Yet the first thing I do on a new install is install Chrome...

And of course everyone does the same on Windows. Only Edge has started to slightly change that trend, and that's with some very aggressive tactics by MS.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#150

Post by smoldesu »

dmitriid wrote: post #96
osel wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can remove the 'iCloud' notification by starting the setup for it, and then cancelling. It's a dark pattern Apple repeats with a lot of notifications - they are not dismissible and give the appearance they are only resolvable by completing the notified request, but it actuality just starting the setup and then cancelling will resolve it.

Apple has become a parody of itself. A decade ago they were mocking Windows for the abundance of notifications. And now...

Try the new Safari!
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