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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

#111
post #80

I’m using Windows 11 and nothing forces open Edge on my machine. Every link opens in Brave like I told it to.

The windows spotlight links from the landscape photos on my windows lock screen always open edge. I haven't dug in enough to find if there is a way to change that.

I dug through a bit (in mid 2022) and there isn't a native way to do this. You will have to use edge deflector or something like that. I am not sure if the brave/firefox intercepts added more recently work.

This drove me so mad I bought a Mac mini to replace my surface pro (which I wasn't using as a tablet anyway). Good job MS!

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#112

I’m using Windows 11 and nothing forces open Edge on my machine. Every link opens in Brave like I told it to.

What happens when you press Win, type a query, then press enter, quickly? In Win 10 that opens a Bing search in Edge for me, no matter what settings I try. Very annoying when I type "(Win)chr(enter)" to open Chrome and get a search instead. If I do it slow it will sometimes work. I haven't tried it on Win 11 because that was what caused me to drop Windows altogether. (Everyone has their straw).

I have the same issue but even worse: If I do it too fast it works! Somehow it takes longer to find the app than it does to suggest a websearch, so I need to wait 1-2 seconds after typing not to open edge...

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it’s not about it shipping edge by default.

Yeah, it's not. That's why I said it is "like" complaining about shipping safari as default. Because it is not exactly the same thing, but comparable.

No it isn't. Its like you ordering sushi and the restaurant gives you shoes because they know better.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#114

I'm surprised no one has brought up United States v. Microsoft yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor... . They were successfully sued for favoring their browser over others, and faced being broken up. Though their actions now are not as egregious as those actions 25 years ago, it's obvious that no lesson has been learned.

Microsoft successfully appealed it.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#115
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, I thought people around these parts knew better than to trust some hacked up Windows “distribution.” At that point you might as well just use an illegitimately-activated copy of LTSC — at least you can be sure it wasn’t tampered with. Especially since installing Windows using customized install media is explicitly prohibited by the EULA of almost all Windows editions. You have to have the same sort of enterprise…

Interestingly, they seem to address this on their legal page[0]. Despite this, it does seem like just installing Windows and then attemting to debloat post-install is the least risky option than just trusting a third party Windows installer. [0] https://revi.cc/legal

I used to like Blackbird for this, but after breaking updates and the Store enough times I’ve learned my lesson. O&O ShutUp10++ is all I used to debloat now, in addition to MassGrave activation. NTLite is the nuclear option if you’re prepared to invest a few hours crafting your “perfect” image.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#117
post #81
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad you didn't see Linux as a better alternative to OSX. I credit it with making me at least 10% more productive over the twenty years I've used it, partly because it is stable and fast, but mostly because it isn't trying to sell me stuff while I work.

My experience is the opposite. I spent 15 years on Linux desktops until finally switching to Windows for the sake of my producivity. I've seen promoted links in Win10/11, but never anything that harmed my productivity. Most importantly, the OS just fades into the background. I never think about it. Linux required almost-daily googling and opening up a terminal to fix or change something. It became maddening eventuall…

> Linux required almost-daily googling and opening up a terminal to fix or change something. It became maddening eventually.

Really? What kind of things do you have to google for Linux to work these days? The opposite is true for me in Windows, I am not about to relearn how to use the Windows terminal.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#118
post #81
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad you didn't see Linux as a better alternative to OSX. I credit it with making me at least 10% more productive over the twenty years I've used it, partly because it is stable and fast, but mostly because it isn't trying to sell me stuff while I work.

My experience is the opposite. I spent 15 years on Linux desktops until finally switching to Windows for the sake of my producivity. I've seen promoted links in Win10/11, but never anything that harmed my productivity. Most importantly, the OS just fades into the background. I never think about it. Linux required almost-daily googling and opening up a terminal to fix or change something. It became maddening eventuall…

> [Windows 10/11] fades into the background

I strongly disagree with this. When I am forced to use windows, I am constantly fighting with it to not be obnoxious. It takes many seconds to do something as simple as bring up an explorer window. I can't count the number of times I have had to dig into menus to disable this or that ad panel or other bloatware. In linux, I occasionally have to figure out how something works and fix it, but there are generally many months between those events, when everything just works and gets out of my way.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#119
post #37

I don't care for edge for the most part, but there is actually one integration with edge that I have come to like. When I click on an email link inside outlook, edge opens the link, and also displays a sidebar which displays the email. Super handy IMO. Somehow we need to find a balance that allows vendors to tightly integrate their apps but prevent abusing this. MS is everyone's favorite whipping boy, but I fear what…

> I fear what kind of ads Google while shove through if they ever get a dominant market share in desktop OSs

Microsoft already forces ads on Windows users so I guess it'd be something like the current situation.

Re: Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users

#120
post #37

I don't care for edge for the most part, but there is actually one integration with edge that I have come to like. When I click on an email link inside outlook, edge opens the link, and also displays a sidebar which displays the email. Super handy IMO. Somehow we need to find a balance that allows vendors to tightly integrate their apps but prevent abusing this. MS is everyone's favorite whipping boy, but I fear what…

Yeah, I've been using all kinds of browsers (Chrome, Brave, Edge, now Firefox) on Windows old and new (now on 11), never had any real issues. I don't even remember nudges to use Edge, to be honest, may be there was one after an OS update. Edge is actually really good now, with tight Bing chat integration, but the last dev version has been sluggish on occasion.
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