Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
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Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#2Looks like nothing much has changed on Microsoft's end.
I posted this 2 years ago on HN[1] about how Microsoft goes out of its way to manipulate users when they search for "Firefox" on Bing using Edge:
> Tangentially related, but I recently spun up a Windows VM and used Edge to search Bing for "Firefox" and this is result I got[2].
> It's a giant banner that says, "You're already browsing in Microsoft Edge. Keep using to get world class performance with more privacy, more productivity, and more value."
> That banner is followed by another giant banner image telling me to get "Get Robux using Microsoft Edge. Join Microsoft Rewards and use Microsoft Edge. Get a 100 Robux eGift Card on us when you search with Microsoft Bing on Microsoft Edge for 5 days after you join."
> I had to scroll to even see the relevant search results for my search term. I'm assuming most non-power users won't scroll because they were just assured that they were "already browsing in Microsoft Edge", which is apparently more private, productive and valuable than what they intended to search for.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#3the new version still aggressively prompts you with a captive full-screen experience on start-up
IMHO that is the peak of user-hostile behaviour. The urge to pull the power cord or hit the reset button when I encounter things like that is very hard to resist because of how insulting it feels, but I do wonder if most of the user population have already been beaten into submission and consider it only a minor annoyance and almost trivial.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#4Looks like nothing much has changed on Microsoft's end. I posted this 2 years ago on HN[1] about how Microsoft goes out of its way to manipulate users when they search for "Firefox" on Bing using Edge: > Tangentially related, but I recently spun up a Windows VM and used Edge to search Bing for "Firefox" and this is result I got[2]. > It's a giant banner that says, "You're already browsing in Microsoft Edge. Keep usin…
I installed Windows on a media PC (all other laptops are macOS or Linux) and it was like the entire OS is a web browser without ad block installed. Just endless nags, pop ups, notifications, ads in my start menu, ads in the login screen, holy shit. Who actually likes this? It’s insane!
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#5Glad I switched to ReviOS and don’t have to deal with these shenanigans.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#6Better than Google constantly asking me to switch to Chrome on google.com when I'm in Edge.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#7I gave my old parents the latest hand-me-up laptop and installed ubutntu on it because of windows 11. The install process and default configuration is so user hostile to someone that "just needs to use chrome". My niece & nephew have only known ChromeOS/iOS/Android. They will never use windows until a college course requires some specific software, or they get a desk job. I think they will for sure eventually "learn windows", but I don't think the generation behind them will.
I get the feeling more and more that peak Windows is upon us.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#8Edge is insidious too, from a privacy stand point. There are literally dozens of settings that effectively send "tracking" data to Microsoft from Edge. All of the sync, shopping, points, url protection, etc. settings all effectively send data to Microsoft for evaluation. And they automatically sign you into your Edge profile (from your Windows profile). Ugh.
I get that HTML has taken over the world and that most of Office now is effectively a web app. So Edge is definitely a required piece of library software on any Windows install. But the inability to just open simple hyperlinks in an alternative browser combined with Edge's insistence that every "feature" is basically Microsoft profiling you... I guess it just boggles my mind how they get away with this.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#9Horrible! At least Apple doesn't force Safari on iOS users.
Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users
#10I gave my old parents the latest hand-me-up laptop and installed ubutntu on it because of windows 11. The install process and default configuration is so user hostile to someone that "just needs to use chrome". My niece & nephew have only known ChromeOS/iOS/Android. They will never use windows until a college course requires some specific software, or they get a desk job. I think they will for sure eventually "learn…
Ubuntu is now bundling advertisements for their paid services in apt upgrade output and the GUI software sources manager, in packages which cannot be uninstalled because they're hard dependencies of the `ubuntu-desktop` metapackage. Plus they've replaced Firefox with a package which installs a Snap, which loads so slowly they added a "snap opened" notification.