121–130 of 389 posts
There's also the dark bit where changing your default browser in Windows doesn't apply globally. That is, some UI widgets will still open Edge even if you change the default. There used to be an awesome open source project called EdgeDeflector that would fix that. Microsoft got wise to it and found a way to neutralize it, which killed the project. https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector
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…
You are right about one thing: I refuse to purchase a Windows computer, and have been refusing for a decade.
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…
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I’m not going to pay MS even more just to get a version that has a “please disable this one specific bit of crap” toggle. This has got to be the worst upsell ever. It’s like you book a hotel room and the TV is on Fox News and you can’t turn the TV off. You ask around but everybody says that they can turn it off just fine, must be you. Turns out that they’re all in the executive suite and they also have Fox News on th…
Your analogy is good but I disagree with your principle. Companies need to make money (if you don't accept this premise, fair rough but we probably have no further meaningful discussion). I'm OK if they offer me options. Here's a free / cheap option that's ad supported, here's a premium option that has no ads. This is a good choice! It's a good choice for all! It's when we don't have that choice that things suck! And…
The honest thing to do here is for Microsoft to leave the option visible but show a big ugly error window when lesser users try to change the setting. That way, people won't waste their time trying to fix something they're not allowed to fix.
Source: This happened to me, a now Linux user.
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I think you can track pretty well with just the device ID alone, but you combine it with other identities like location information, IP address, cookies, login information and so on. Is that why Windows 11 recently made it impossible to bypass creating an MS account?
Yeah but they're speaking about switching to a chromebook or a mac. How is your device ID going to help with that?
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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.
It’s a shame because I actually liked Edge, and it was the fastest browser in my experience.
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…
>and you can’t turn it off! Except you can. Taskbar setting -> toggle Widgets to OFF >I don’t understand why MS doesn’t get some sort of internal revolt. Windows sales aren't core moneymakers anymore when they're basically giving them away for free (I have mine registered with a MSDNAA key I found online and it worked). Money is in Azure, O365 subscriptions and ads shown to their Windows userbase. Nadella even said t…
Oh there is. Governments. The GDPR was a massive hit against the advertising industry, and there is more in the pipeline (DMA/DSA). Additionally, the EU is beginning to act against crap like lootboxes, and other annoyances like NFTs collapsed on their own.
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…
It blows my mind how non-consensual the Windows experience has become. I wouldn't let someone with a similar understanding of consent anywhere near my drink. You are right about one thing: I refuse to purchase a Windows computer, and have been refusing for a decade.
I think we should start a revolt in the IT sector against this shit really. I’d start one but I don’t know where to begin.
I understand what the author is getting at, but Apple does make a lot of money off Safari. Their deal for Google to be the default search engine makes them a ton of money.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johanmoreno/2021/08/27/google-e...
"Sacconaghi estimates that Google could be paying nearly $15 billion in 2021 for default placement. This is an increase over the roughly $10 billion Google paid last year for the exclusivity."
That's essentially $15B in pure profit.
The issue isn't that Microsoft wants to make money from Edge. Apple makes plenty of money from Safari while making sure Safari keeps that space as "a utility that end users can trust to have their back and preserve their privacy in as many circumstances as possible." The issue is that Microsoft is looking for all the edge cases to milk marginal profits out of. Microsoft could just have Edge feed Bing traffic and make money off ads on Bing - but they want more!
The issue isn't always making money vs. not making money. Sometimes the issue is restraint. It's why I'm sometimes skeptical about companies trying to optimize things too much. Maybe your profits are increasing, but are you doing long-term damage to your product and brand that will see bad long-term effects? "We've found that we can increase ad revenue by adding 7 more ads to the page." Then a few years later customers have left. It can be really hard to pass up what seems like free money and what seems to be working. Whether it will be sustainable money is the question, but often one that isn't asked.
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What's the practical difference?
Having a web view loading garbage in the background consuming resources and probably leaking your data vs. …none of that?
I'm currently using a laptop that was mid-to-low spec when I got it a couple years ago. It was chugging, especially during video calls. Uninstalling the Widgets feature was enough to make it useable again.