Right in the KB: "Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that."
Still inexcusable. They're wasting power users' time by making them have to search for a way to change this unexpected and undesirable setting. I'm glad that the first time Edge hijacked my Outlook link I saw a popup message that allowed me to change the setting to use the default browser. But I could have easily missed it and it would have wasted my time.
Its so weird that one company isnt mentioned, but will straight up not allow you to run any programs they want. These have dark patterns, but freedom still. (Not M$ anymore, they restore defaults with each update)
Which company? You can run an unsigned .app on Mac with a ctrl+click, and there's also a system flag to change the block to a click-through popup. Apple is generally good at providing hidden flags to permanently turn off nanny mode, with a few exceptions (the context menu translation feature will happily tell you that a language isn't supported instead of letting you use Google Translate).
I believe he was referencing iOS were it is not possible to use a third party browser engine. Just safari in different dresses.
The final straw for me and Windows was when I took the time to remove some annoying feature, cortana or edge, can't remember. Then an update replaced my work. It wasnt some 'uninstall program', but a multi-step process that involved registry editing. I don't feel like I have control over Windows.
I think these two things help make Windows more usable.
* StevenBlack/hosts: Consolidating and extending hosts files from several well-curated sources. Optionally pick extensions for porn, social media, and other categories. | https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts
Google does something like this with the GMail app on iPhone— you click links and instead of just opening Safari, it pops up a "which browser to use" selector modal, which is really just an advertisement for you to install Chrome.
This is what I want personally. I use different browsers for different things: let me fucking chose which browser to use. I am currently wondering how easy it would be to build a "shim browser" that you can set as default but does not actually open the page, it only list the urls apps tried to open and lets you copy them to whichever browser you prefer.
You're an extremely niche use case... most people do not use multiple browsers.
Glad I uninstalled Windows and use Ubuntu on all my computers
Sure, Ubuntu is still a level-up from Windows, but it isn't really the best Linux experience - Canonical isn't all that great. I would recommend Fedora if you want the bleeding edge or Debian if you want a super stable system (Or NixOS stable, but NixOS is kind of hard to get started using).
RedHat also has been declared isn’t all that great recently.
Looks like only decent operating system remains is MacOS, others are highly specialised, like BSD, box of unfinished toys like most of Linux distros, betas as Windows 11 or ads and spyware infested services upsell platform: android, windows again, redhat and ubutu..
Windows is just full of hostile, anti-user patterns these days. I've considered building a windows box just to have a gaming rig multiple times over the last few years, but every time an article like this or their crusade against Chrome reminds me that Bill Gates is still the same anti-trust monster he was in the 90s.
Dear European-Union! How about enforcing direct control about Microsoft business? Not just another “low” fine in the ten to twenty billion range. Just stopping Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon. Enforcing AT&T to not enter any new business worked well. In consequence we got UNIX, C, open-source and documentation and finally the TCP/IP-stack of BSD, GNU and Linux. This had a positive effect for the complet…
Hmmm, interesting. How would this be implemented in practice? EU passing laws about specific things that Microsoft should and shouldn't do?
> That is on iOS, on MacOS they allow other browsers and respect the systemwide defaults. Why is that in any way exonerating? Most people do most of their actual computing on their phones now, it is not an irrelevant toy platform. We should be more, not less, hard on Apple than Microsoft for pulling this shit on their mobile platform.
Apple sells the ability to be part of an 'in-group'. People don't buy their phones for their computing abilities, they do it to have access to other Apple users. Its a psychology trick that took decades of marketing to pull off, but they are deeply entrenched as someone's identity. These users have a religious devotion and will defend them, because an attack on Apple is an attack on them and their group. If you don't…
I agree on all points, but the access you get to other Apple users comes with access to iMessage, FaceTime, and all the other services specifically tied to the iOS ecosystem. A lot of people, me included, hate Apple for the way the wall their garden, but these services are valuable to me and others. So I would caution against everything being a psychology trick. They objectively do make a great product.