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The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

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Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#71

Post by sphars »

flir wrote: post #64
mikub wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just three clicks to disable widgets, "Right click taskbar, select taskbar settings, click on slider to turn widgets off".

Do you happen to know how to disable the page of clickbait I get every time I open a new tab in Edge? I tried setting my "Home" to Google, but that doesn't seem to do it.

This worked for me when I used edge > 1 year ago, it may still work: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/i... and set my new tabs to https://aboutblank.page

Also it's open source: https://github.com/jimschubert/newtab-redirect

The only way AFAIK to change the new tab is an extension

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#72

Post by alisonatwork »

skrebbel wrote: post #3

I’m a longtime Windows fan, and initially I was quite enamored by Edge as well. Base UX is excellent, lots of settings and they’re easy to find. Vertical tab bar, profiles, and it all Just Works. I flat out love its “turn this website into a desktop app” feature. But by now they've shoved their core consumer products so chock full of crap that even I am starting to look for a way out. I got my son a new laptop recent…

I just switched from Edge to Ungoogled Chromium for exactly these reasons. It used to be a slick, lightweight alternative to Google Chrome, but the last 6 months or so have been a disaster, and the beta version is even worse with the useless sidebar that magically appears when you accidentally hover your mouse in the corner and the hideous rounded corners that turn your Surface Pro into a 1950s CRT. Not to mention the default search one day decided to railroad me into using mainland China censored Bing instead of the international version. It's been so disappointing.

Meanwhile on Android they also started screwing everything up, which led me to switch from Outlook and Edge to k9 and Bromite.

I don't know what's going on in the applications teams at Microsoft, but it's really soured me on the "new" Microsoft, and I've been a fan up until relatively recently too. I just hope VS Code isn't next.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#73

Post by foobarbecue »

Lendal wrote: post #55

I wouldn't call it "Dark" if switching it off is so simple and right there in front of your face. "Rapacious" is a great description though, and one I would see used in the title instead. These "features" shouldn't be default, they are extremely annoying and they are numerous. Some are arguably useful. But it's not "Dark" if you can switch them off right in the main interface where you'd expect, and doing so actually…

"dark" as in the tech term "dark pattern." User-hostile defaults are generally considered a dark pattern.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#74

Post by manderley »

skrebbel wrote: post #37
pluc wrote: post #31

The only reason to use Edge is because your corporate policy forces you to. There is no other reason whatsoever. If you must, use Chrome if you'd rather send all that data to an advertising company in exchange for a familiar UI. Otherwise, use Firefox.

Edge has lots of great features and UX elements that set it apart. Eg proper vertical tab bar, profiles with great UX, “turn site into desktop app”, well-designed website translation, etc. Chrome has some of these and Firefox lets you piece it all together with lots of add-ons but it’s not the same. Firefox is my daily driver, but for a long time, before all these user-hostile misfeatures were added, Edge was Pretty…

"Turn site into desktop app" is a Chrome feature, and has been for many years. Chrome calls it "Create shortcut - Open as window".

Website translations and the profiles UI is very similar to Chrome as well.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#75

Post by plagiarist »

alisonatwork wrote: post #72
skrebbel wrote: post #3

I’m a longtime Windows fan, and initially I was quite enamored by Edge as well. Base UX is excellent, lots of settings and they’re easy to find. Vertical tab bar, profiles, and it all Just Works. I flat out love its “turn this website into a desktop app” feature. But by now they've shoved their core consumer products so chock full of crap that even I am starting to look for a way out. I got my son a new laptop recent…

I just switched from Edge to Ungoogled Chromium for exactly these reasons. It used to be a slick, lightweight alternative to Google Chrome, but the last 6 months or so have been a disaster, and the beta version is even worse with the useless sidebar that magically appears when you accidentally hover your mouse in the corner and the hideous rounded corners that turn your Surface Pro into a 1950s CRT. Not to mention th…

It's a real shame, I thought they were trending in a different direction by actually releasing large projects as open source under permissive licenses.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#76

Post by zvmaz »

sph wrote: post #67
zvmaz wrote: post #63

It's also obscure what really gets sent to Microsoft, and what not. There was a Linux based OS that warned the user at every single application trying to phone the internet[1], even Gnome Calculator. [1] https://subgraph.com/index.fr.html

There is no reference to GNOME calculator in that page. Given the extraordinary claim, please link better proof. I cannot imagine GNOME calc phoning home, unless you crashes and you have manually enabled debugging telemetry post-installation.

Note that in the example shown in the website, Gnome Calculator is not phoning home, but imf.org; probably a benign thing; it just showed how much control one can have over one's computing.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#77

Post by everdrive »

skrebbel wrote: post #3

I’m a longtime Windows fan, and initially I was quite enamored by Edge as well. Base UX is excellent, lots of settings and they’re easy to find. Vertical tab bar, profiles, and it all Just Works. I flat out love its “turn this website into a desktop app” feature. But by now they've shoved their core consumer products so chock full of crap that even I am starting to look for a way out. I got my son a new laptop recent…

This is the new pattern for almost any successful free software provided by a corporation. Make it nice enough to start building a user base, and then slowly make it more terrible to find a way to extract value from it.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#78

Post by everdrive »

tetrep wrote: post #16
skrebbel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Internal) metrics may be short sighted.

What if they're not? What if it really is economically better for Microsoft to "double dip" and try to monetize Windows beyond its purchase price?

I think you raise a very important point. What if it's economically better for you to let men have sex with your wife for money? If you _don't_ do this, you're just sitting on untapped value.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#79

Post by makeitdouble »

binbag wrote: post #24
LoganDark wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That does not disable widgets. That only hides the button that toggles it. (Edit 29 minutes after, because I can't seem to post anymore:) It still runs its webview in the background and can be toggled with the keyboard shortcut, Win+W, even if the button is hidden. In order to fully disable it you need a Group Policy or a registry hack.

What's the practical difference?

You still get the widgets in some interactions (like left swipe from the edge of the screen). There must be a way somewhere to customize those as well, but getting rid of widgets altogether is a lot faster.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#80

Post by lapcat »

From 2020, "Web Browser Privacy: What Do Browsers Say When They Phone Home?" https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf

> We find that the browsers split into three distinct groups from this privacy perspective. In the first (most private) group lies Brave, in the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari and in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex.

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