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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

#181

Post by zirgs »

tankenmate wrote: post #122
barrkel wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the UK follows EU regulations anyway, by not controlling imports (latest climbdown, delayed food checks until 2024, 5th time of delaying) and indefinitely accepting CE certification mark (meant to be superseded in the UK by UKCA).

True, but in this case I suspect that since the UK isn't n the EEA then MS Windows won't honour the user browser settings in the UK (even if the UK voluntarily follows some EEA / EU laws).

Northern Ireland is still de-facto part of the EU.

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

#182

Post by giancarlostoro »

tmpX7dMeXU wrote: post #100
giancarlostoro wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Microsoft, but I hate whoever is controlling all these awful choices for their OS. Lets be real its probably a marketing team trying to sell office and whatever else. I just want a version of Windows for actual professionals with no nonsense on it. Slim it down, make it feel like I'm on a 2023 machine with the minimalism of like idk Windows XP or Windows 7. No nonsense.

You can’t “love Microsoft” as if it is a homogeneous entity whilst carving out sections of it for the purpose of attributing everything you’re against. Not only is this simply a sign that Microsoft is a bloated old tech company like a bunch of others, looking to make more money, but it is also consistent with a pattern of Microsoft’s behaviour over the last few decades.

I can appreciate the good utilities they build can I not?

I love Visual Studio, and I love .NET which went way more open source than I thought it would, I for sure assumed it would be licensed under the MS-PL which is far less demanding than the GPL but not as a free as MIT, but no, they went straight for the MIT license.

https://github.com/dotnet

Every single repo is MIT licensed.

I also appreciate VS Code, I know some people will still find some reason to hate on it, but its blatantly clear that it has taken the industry, the number of times I meet a developer who loves using it for programming is much higher than the number of developers I used to see using literally any other range of editors, it all seems to be uniform towards VS code. If you take away the OS, Microsoft still builds amazing products.

I also enjoy Azure more than I do thinking about what half of AWS services mean or do. I seriously have to google a service every time someone brings one up just to remind myself what its for. I rarely do that with Microsoft services, some of it is I'm used to them, but some services have blatantly obvious names as well.

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

#183

Post by Pannoniae »

jwells89 wrote: post #121
Liquix wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're at the point of tricking your operating system into thinking you're in a different country in order to make it function properly, it may be time to try a new OS. GNU/Linux has excellent compatibility with 95% of windows software through wine

That last 5% is killer, because it’s just enough to make rebooting into Windows a pain in the rear, and much of it is the type of software that refuses to run in VMs due to things like anticheat.

The games with kernel anticheat are exactly the user-hostile games you wouldn't want to play anyway. (PUBG, Valorant, Fortnite, etc.)

Normal, enjoyable games don't have kernel anticheat.

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

#184

Post by kypro »

ndngmfksk wrote: post #169
kypro wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Probably several millions, yes. Considering the EU has 450 inhabitants, that*s increasing my tax bill by cents. Well worth the money to me. But this never ends. Every week there's a new article here about how the EU is forcing electronics makers implement their preferred charger ports, or displaying cookie notices to EU visitors, or making phone batteries replaceable. It's endless crap that adds drag to businesses…

Microsoft want to advertise to users because it makes them money . That money will come from the pockets of the people you're describing, and not as a fraction of their income as with many taxes.

Companies making more money isn't bad?

> That money will come from the pockets of the people you're describing

Very indirectly maybe. Ad spend is a cost to businesses, not consumers.

I'll also add that making ad spend less inefficient (as this regulation will do) will ultimately cost either the business or consumer as someone will need to eat those extra costs. Assuming that those inefficiencies are not passed to the consumer and is instead is a cost to the business, this would still only be a good thing if you believe companies making more money is bad.

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

#185

Post by layer8 »

janandonly wrote: post #83
candiddevmike wrote: post #6

How do I make Windows 11 think I'm in the EU?

When you're at the point of tricking your operating system into thinking you're in a different country to make it function properly, it may be time to try a new OS. macOS has excellent compatibility with 95% of windows software through Parallels, and also respects your choice of browser. I have Firefox, Chrome, Tor Browser and Brave running next to my current browser of preference, Safari. But switching back and fort…

Many people still prefer the Windows UX over the macOS UX (and vice versa, of course). Which of the two is the lesser evil overall remains subjective.

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

#186

Post by throwaway09223 »

adamas wrote: post #167
dantyti wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, they do. On my iPhone, I've: -changed the 'default browser' -'uninstalled' Safari Yet, whenever I want to search for a highlighted word, it opens Safari. This is such an absurd situation where I am browsing a site and want to do a search for something I just read and, instead of just opening a new tab or replacing the active tab with a web search, it opens a different browser app I do not want to use. This is jus…

That's not the behaviour I'm seeing, might be a bug on your phone's end.

It certainly is the behavior you're seeing, in part because Safari is the only web browser on iphones.

Firefox on iphone is just webkit. It is not actually Firefox.

Chrome on iphone is just webkit. It is not actually Chrome.

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

#187

Post by simooooo »

JacobSeated wrote: post #179

This is the expected, most intuitive, and only sensible behavior, and yet Microsoft somehow, for some reason, decides it is okay not to use the default browser? Wait a minute. Are they trying to cause me to have a complete meltdown? This is so irritating. The task bar can also no longer be placed vertically on the left or right. Imo. Microsoft should be forced to open source important parts of Windows so that these p…

The other day, I got an explicit “please use Edge” popup on my desktop. They don’t currently care about the EU

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

#188

Post by giancarlostoro »

toxik wrote: post #110
giancarlostoro wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Microsoft, but I hate whoever is controlling all these awful choices for their OS. Lets be real its probably a marketing team trying to sell office and whatever else. I just want a version of Windows for actual professionals with no nonsense on it. Slim it down, make it feel like I'm on a 2023 machine with the minimalism of like idk Windows XP or Windows 7. No nonsense.

> I hate whoever is controlling all these awful choices for their OS. That’s Microsoft. They control their own software.

I mean, I work for a company that has amazing developers, but its all marketing driving things at the end of the day. So no, it's not as simple as blaming the company. There are people who are literally dreading as they write the code to features we all love to hate.

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

#190

Post by ezfe »

dantyti wrote: post #157
tmpX7dMeXU wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn’t disrespect set user preferences in the same way that Microsoft does. This sort of oversimplified drive-by whataboutism isn’t great for conversation.

Oh, they do. On my iPhone, I've: -changed the 'default browser' -'uninstalled' Safari Yet, whenever I want to search for a highlighted word, it opens Safari. This is such an absurd situation where I am browsing a site and want to do a search for something I just read and, instead of just opening a new tab or replacing the active tab with a web search, it opens a different browser app I do not want to use. This is jus…

Edit: I was looking at something else, Search on Web does in fact always open in Safari. I've filed a bug report for this just now.

---

This is not true, and I've got receipts. Just downloaded Firefox and set it as the default browser, then used the Lookup option on the word "Lettuce."

First section is dictionary, second section is "Siri Suggested Websites." These entries have Firefox logo and open Firefox when clicked.

https://i.imgur.com/uTK14za.png

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