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The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

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Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#231

Post by 8ytecoder »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #219
unxdfa wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I’m in the middle of switching from macOS back to windows because I need to do things I can’t do on macOS. I’ve had to build out a locked down windows 10 LTSC build to get anywhere near a sensible outcome for me. 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.

Start here: > because I need to do things I can’t do on macOS. IT departments in huge corporations have purchasing requirements specs. Require any software that you pay money for to run on at least one non-Microsoft operating system. As a second source requirement. If more than a trivial number of large corporations do this, developers make sure their software runs on other systems, which is what allows users to swit…

I work for a pretty large financial corporation. They sent out the IT roadmap for the next year and in it was casually mentioned that they expect Macs to be the dominant platform in the next five years. Our current mac usage is <15% and as a result support is an afterthought with a very frustrating experience. For them to say that and push for this change in an industry that very strongly favours Windows is the clearest indication I’ve seen that Windows is starting to lose.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#232

Post by CSMastermind »

schemescape wrote: post #126
flir wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sadly, Edge updates sometimes re-enable all the clickbait “news” stories. The last time it happened I finally gave up and switched to Firefox. It’s a shame because I actually liked Edge, and it was the fastest browser in my experience.

Yep can confirm, after every update I have to go re-disable this, it's beyond annoying.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#233

Post by _piif »

favaq wrote: post #98
justinclift wrote: post #21

Did you know that out-of-the-box, Edge will transmit the content of your text boxes on web pages to the Microsoft Editor service for the purpose of grammatical suggestions? I have no idea how this concept got past legal but hey, it’s on by default now. Holy shit. :( At what point are some of the major government legal departments actually going to step up and sort this shit out? It is so , so, so, so, so far past ove…

It helps to read TOS/EULA/etc. If you agree to something then you shouldn't be complaining about it.

Yes, have us let tech giants see how much dystopian shit they can get away with without any kind of pushback because their ToS has a vague remark at page 30 that might grant them the ability to do so. That is the kind of future we want.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#234

Post by soundnote »

_fat_santa wrote: post #91
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…

> 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. IMO this is one of the great tragedies with MS Edge. The UX is so much better than standard chromium but because of all the other crap that MS puts into it, I just can't use it. If MS open sourced Edge and someone created an "UnMicros…

Brave has vertical tabs built in too, though they're behind a flag. But similar implementation as Edge and they work well.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#235

Post by soundnote »

gjm11 wrote: post #83
xattt wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was either in 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 where each house was equipped with a radio that couldn’t be turned off but only made quieter. My Google-fu is failing me.

On the first page of _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ there's this: "Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely." (Though the more nightmarish thing about 1984's "telescreens" is that they were two-way, giving the government the ability to see and hear what yo…

And people today happily buy voice assistants themselves.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#236

Post by chasing »

jlarocco wrote: post #214
koromak wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft just can't stop doing this. All of their products suffer. I'm happy to fork over the absurd Apple tax just to feel comfortable at my computer, and to know I'm not going to wake up one morning to a forced OS update that has Cortana start screaming black friday deals from my desktop. I mean, ads in the task bar? I spend all of my time on my computer, I do not want all this shovelware pushed in my face at ever…

Having used OSX for ~10 years, I can say Apple isn't much better. Both systems treat the user like an idiot, just in different ways. You'll see what I mean when the OSX updates start undoing changes you've made to settings and things like that. For your own good, of course.

It's called macOS, now that it's no longer on version 10, and it ain't perfect but it is miles beyond Windows when it comes to respecting the user, as far as I'm concerned. And, yes, I'd rather have an operating system that makes things easy for me -- "treats me like an idiot," pejoratively -- rather than one that's unnecessarily convoluted and full of crap.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#237

Post by itishappy »

gloryjulio wrote: post #227
gjvc wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome has two-page view for .pdf files.

Not sure which extension you are referring to. Just tried and couldn't open pdf with chrome

No extension. It should work by default. Two page view is in the menu at the top right.

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#239

Post by jnsaff2 »

Dalewyn wrote: post #191
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…

>Why do they allow the Crap And Turds department to piss all over their work? Because Windows is a free-in-practice product and it needs/wants a revenue stream. Remember that Windows 11 can be activated with Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 keys; as if that wasn't crazy enough you can straight up not activate it and you won't lose out on anything important. As for install media? You can download those for free any time. No…

macOS and Linux are even more ‘free-in-practice’

Re: The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge

#240

Post by Kwpolska »

psyclobe wrote: post #238

This Edge bullshit pushed me off the edge; I'm all Linux now.

Microsoft does not force you to use Edge. There are some places where it will launch Edge instead of the default browser, like the start menu search or widgets, but they are quite pointless anyway. For all your other web browsing, you can just switch to Firefox and forget Edge is a thing.
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