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Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#61

Post by pjc50 »

pavlov wrote: post #18
capableweb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The announcement is talking about EEA rather than EU though, which smells a bit weird. I'm not sure what regulation they're trying to resolve the conflict with that is not EU wide but rather EEA and targets the usage of default browsers.

The EEA is practically “EU + a handful of countries that apply EU rules but don’t get to participate in decision making for historical reasons”. That’s why Britain didn’t even consider joining the EEA after they left the Union. From their point of view, it would still be the regulatory burden of EU membership without most of the benefits they enjoyed as a full member. When they’d decided to take the economic impact o…

The regulatory "burden" is also a benefit, in general, which a lot of people fail to understand and is also the reason Brexit Britain hasn't significantly diverged from EU rules.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#62

Post by baz00 »

AraceliHarker wrote: post #44
djbusby wrote: post #4

Neat! But why not respect the users choice everywhere on earth?

Microsoft is determined to make users use Edge + Bing.

For lack of a better response, as a customer I'd like to tell them to fuck off because both are terrible user experiences. It's like wading through trash.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#63

Post by layer8 »

wistlo wrote: post #38
leshenka wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hopefully the "inside EEA" flag will be stored somewhere in registry

Or better yet, a registry flag to enable browser choice.

That’s what the “default browser” setting is for. Microsoft just deliberately choses to ignore it in some parts of Windows, and instead hardcodes Edge.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#64

Post by Traubenfuchs »

aziaziazi wrote: post #47
Traubenfuchs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afaik to make a program selectable as default browser, one needs to register it as a protocol handler for http and https urls in the registry. https://stackoverflow.com/a/38205984/2306536

Does that mean I can use a headless browser as default ?

You can probably put any cmd-executable command as default, including headless browsers.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#65

Post by baz00 »

cgeier wrote: post #55
FredPret wrote: post #9

My decision to move to Mac when the M1 came out is starting to pay more and more dividends!

What does using a Mac have to do with the article?

Well avoiding the problem to start with is a perfectly good solution.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#66

Post by horsawlarway »

FredPret wrote: post #9

My decision to move to Mac when the M1 came out is starting to pay more and more dividends!

I mean... this is a hugely ironic comment given the topic is discussing respect for the user's desired browser.

Something Apple does considerably worse than Microsoft, intentionally and purposefully - entirely for control and profit, mostly to maintain their app store taxes.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#67

Post by Traubenfuchs »

formerly_proven wrote: post #40
Traubenfuchs wrote: post #10

I wonder how much money Microsoft is making by not respecting user choices in non European countries. I also wonder how much money they invested in the legal handlings of this topic and how many developer/sales hours are and were wasted to make this "split" possible.

Microsoft is clearly playing on Ultra Violence level here in an attempt to force as much Edge market share as technically possible. I guess someone pretty high up has their bonuses tied to those numbers.

It's on the same embarrassing level as putting candy crush in the start menu.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#68

Post by brainwad »

ritzaco wrote: post #25
capableweb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's strange, I wonder why not EU but rather EEA. Probably the smallest target amount compared to EU and aimed at resolving some conflict with a regulation that only affects EEA rather than EU?

Countries in the EEA but not EU (e.g. Switzerland) tend to have bilateral agreements with the EU which cover most EU laws, so I think legally it's often easier to group EEA together E.g. EU enforces free data roaming for cellphone providers, but many providers allow free roaming to Switzerland and the Nordic countries too - not sure if it's just practically easier than trying to geofence those areas into a different…

Switzerland is _not_ in the EEA, it has a sui generis bilateral agreement with the EU that implements some but not all of the EU law that applies to the EEA countries automatically. It's very contentious in EU-Swiss diplomacy, because the EU doesn't like that the agreement with Switzerland keeps needing to be renegotiated to incorporate new EU law, whereas Switzerland sees this as a necessary element of maintaining its sovereignty.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_Europea...

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#69

Post by kevincox »

A huge admission of not respecting the user. If they didn't support this anywhere they could claim that it was because they can't test and support every browser. But if they can support other browsers in the EEA then they have no legs to stand on for why they disable it elsewhere. It is now clearly that they care about their preferences more than respecting the user's preferences.

Re: Windows 11 system components use the default browser to open links in Europe

#70

Post by zb3 »

AraceliHarker wrote: post #44
djbusby wrote: post #4

Neat! But why not respect the users choice everywhere on earth?

Microsoft is determined to make users use Edge + Bing.

This is a very good thing for Linux on desktop. I wish MS was way more aggressive here, hopefully it's just the begining.
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