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Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

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61–70 of 71 posts

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#61
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've been able to change the default browser on iOS for quite a while now. The underlying browser engine is the same, but non-technical users don't care and just want to sync bookmarks/passwords from Chrome/Firefox.

Well then that's not changing the browser then is it? It's merely changing the 'window dressing' or facade that is the 'chrome' around the iOS web rendering engine.

I think I addressed this in the comment. To clear, I'm not a fan of Apple's policy on this and think they should allow other engines. Having said that, I think for 99% of users, the underling web rendering engine is an implementation detail they aren't concerned with.

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#62
post #9

edge is just a front-end using the googel Big Tech web engine from google. If they customize the web engine, it's only a posture to hide the fact that they were unable to code their own in spite of their billions. That said, they are big tech, they are all and the same.

Safari also forked from Chrome. Not just MS Edge. There was a joint collaboration between a lot of companies on 'chromium' (wasn't it webkit before?) and then that relationship soured and each forked it to their own browser. (I think Apple forked it first). It wasn't like the 'engine' was just some small open source project with beautiful code that MS stole. I also think you are little conflating the front end render…

Not sure why original post was down-arrowed.

Here are Wiki pages to read up on the subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_web_browser

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#63
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then that's not changing the browser then is it? It's merely changing the 'window dressing' or facade that is the 'chrome' around the iOS web rendering engine.

I think I addressed this in the comment. To clear, I'm not a fan of Apple's policy on this and think they should allow other engines. Having said that, I think for 99% of users, the underling web rendering engine is an implementation detail they aren't concerned with.

The funny thing is that this policy is one of the few things keeping WebKit alive, if not Chromium would become the only usable browser engine (and Firefox but people would probably stop supporting it if it was the only alternative browser)

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#64
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I echo your concerns, and add that I find it slightly humorous Edge is also being offered on Linux. I've spent hours working to remove it from Windows; why would I willingly install it?

Internet Explorer 5 also had a few UNIX releases.

Internet Explorer was, for a brief time, the default browser in macOS as well

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#66

> It even overtook Safari as the second-most-popular browser in the world behind Chrome. [...] Despite running on Chromium, the same engine as Chrome, it has a lot of features even Chrome lacks, like collections and shopping features that can help you save money. And, of course, there's the recent rise of Bing Chat. There's a reason why I use it every day on some of the best laptops I review Then later, > Microsoft n…

That first quote... those are not the things I want from a browser. No, I don't want you to sell me stuff. No, I don't want to see your "collections". No, I don't want your chat. I want you to show me the pages I want to view. I'll tell you what they are; I don't want you to show me stuff that you think I want.

That's fine - I probably agree with you.

But the author wrote both parts. The author clearly likes those features in a browser, and already thinks Microsoft is doing a good job of making the browser better with more features.

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#67
Edge is my main browser, I like it. I use Chrome and Firefox for certain things, but Edge strikes a good balance between performance and insulation from Google spyware (and trading it for slightly lighter Microsoft spyware) for my needs. Although I think it has been getting gradually worse over time, especially small annoying UI changes and ever growing number of pop ups.

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a Microsoft special. A big, stupid splash page which requires you to wait for it to load, and then the only option to make it go away is to click. (You can’t hit escape, for instance.) Microsoft does this in so many of their products, it must be baked into the company somehow. Often, the screen will come up indefinitely, no matter how many times you click “don’t show me this again.” I can only imagine that the…

"Don't show this again" is a thing of the past it seems. I installed Windows 11 fresh on a new machine not long ago and after refusing all the sign-ins and cloud this or that when installing, I log in and am greeted with "let's finish setting up Windows": a window full of all the OneDrive and other features I already declined and whose only options are "continue" and "remind me tomorrow". And then, after finally figu…

I never made the switch from 10 to 11 and everything I've heard tells me that I made the absolutely correct decision. (I only have Windows at all for my video games.) If MS discontinues support for Windows 10 or tries to force me to go to 11, then I will simply switch to only using Linux, video games be damned.

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a Microsoft special. A big, stupid splash page which requires you to wait for it to load, and then the only option to make it go away is to click. (You can’t hit escape, for instance.) Microsoft does this in so many of their products, it must be baked into the company somehow. Often, the screen will come up indefinitely, no matter how many times you click “don’t show me this again.” I can only imagine that the…

i had this exact thing happen yesterday. the task manager refuses to kill edge

Oh wow. That's bad.

Re: Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge

#70
post #6

Maybe someone should dig out the EU browser bundling anti-trust case Microsoft lost in the early 2000s and enforce it.

There’s a reason why MS is doing this stuff now. The probationary period they were under has now expired. Someone will indeed need to sue them again to make them behave reasonably.

You know, every time I start-up VS Code something inside me bristles, having lived through web development in the late 90s when hole-ridden, M$-only IE ruled supreme and M$ deliberately flaunted web standards to enure all those company intranet apps built on IE would be incompatible with anything else. I never quite bought the Satya Nadella, Linux friendly revolution given how soon it followed a period when MS ruthlessly pursuded Linux companies such as Suse and Red Hat with their bogus patent racket. Then there was their thinly-veiled financing of SCO's gruelling UNIX patent lawsuit which, thankfully, failed. So I'm not surprised to see M$ reverting back to their original game from the Ballmer era. WSL - you all fell for it. It was just another round of good old M$ Embrace and Extend.
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