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Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

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Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#111

I have a feeling that MS is playing with fire again.... That every request made through the edge browser for a non local user is associated to his/her live ID is pure coincidence ;) Sometimes when I look into my dns logs, I cry a little bit inside too.

That's the moment you fire up Firefox without prefetch nor studies and enjoy the peaceful DNS logs without the constant telemetry calls to LinkedIn and to all interested 3rd parties, five eyes etc

i thought that too!

but firefox has different dns requests going to their servers as well.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#112
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alder Lake needed a new scheduler. So any 12th generation Intel build will greatly benefit from Win11 scheduler over Win10.

This is my first PC build, out of about 15-20 or so in the last 30 years going back to the 386sx16, that does not have an intel processor. I'm very happy with the price/performance of the 5950x.

Eventually, AMD's architecture is going to change and the OS will need a shift with it.

Intel just had a major change between gen11 and gen12, so its the most obvious technical reason that warrants an update. But AMD Zen4 (or whatever happens for Zen5) could also need a similar scheduler update... or if not, maybe some other I/O change.

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If your hardware never changes, you can keep using the OS from years and years ago.

But as hardware details change, it only makes sense to update the OS with the hardware. Just as Linux 5.x has all sorts of updates over Linux 4 or Linux 3, so too does Windows need to change to keep up with the pace of hardware changes.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That gives me four years for the tools that lock me to Windows to decide to port to literally any other OS.

I'm not old and I have lived to see this sentiment come and go at least twice before. We're still on Windows.

I’m not. Linux been main driver for years … even for gaming now (although wine and proton have a big part here).

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#114
post #22

So far in the last year or so, I've heard 0 reasons why I'd even need, want or benefit from Win11 over Win10. Tons of reasons in the negative column though. There isn't even anything to salivate over that might make you think it might be worth it to deal with the other tradeoffs. Hard pass.

I updated to 11 on my laptop but kept 10 on my main machine. I see zero reason to update my main computer to 11. I was willing to give centered start button a try but the fact that you can't turn off grouping of applications in the taskbar is a deal breaker. If I have two firefox windows open I want to know it and to be able to pick which one I want without having to hover my mouse over the icon for a second while the picture of the windows pops up.

So I installed Explorer patcher to get the old taskbar back https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

Other than that the only feature of 11 that I have used is the snap zones. And I guess if I want that I can install the power toy it is based on.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#115
Is this something that could have been forced on the desktop team by the management of the Edge team? I'm sure the people actually making the OS care about their users, or at least the product itself. Meanwhile, the Edge team don't care. Anyway everybody uses Chrome, (and if they don't they are still using Chrome).

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#116
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pedantic musing: > Shill > One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle. Is it "shilling" if you're a project manager recommending your product? He doesn't appear to be posing as anything other than a Microsoft employee working on the Edge team.

You've missed the 2nd definition of shill: shill verb: 2 : to act as a spokesperson or promoter "the eminent Shakespearean producer … is now shilling for a brokerage house" — Andy Rooney shill noun: 1b : one who makes a sales pitch or serves as a promoter https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shill If you're going to choose to be pedantic, it helps to read the entire definition, and not just paste in the top res…

Pretty sure that to be a shill, your relationship to the thing being promoted has to be hidden. We don't refer to marketing folks as shills. Parasites maybe, badum-ching.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got XP, skipped Vista, got 7, skipped 8, got 10...I think I will skip 11

What makes you think that, say, the Edge link issue will be solved in Windows 12? It looks like Microsoft has run out of ideas and does not have enough innovation to genuinely offer anything interesting in an operating system. Besides, an OS has become a commodity, something you expect to just work, not to be excited about like in the old days of Windows 95 when people literally queued to buy their copy.

I mean, they could get rid of legacy designs (e.g., control panel and screen saver windows), but instead, they've focused on offering yet another design layer on top of the previous ones, which has much overlap in functionality with the previous design (e.g., you could control your bluetooth both in Control Panel and in the new settings app). You'd think MS would be able to unify all this mess and consolidate Windows settings, but no.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not old and I have lived to see this sentiment come and go at least twice before. We're still on Windows.

Then why wait? Programs like Photoshop and Ableton Live work just fine through WINE. I have a hard time imagining what kind of software you can't replace on modern Linux...

Even LabView runs natively on Linux now, so my reason for the last fifteen years may draw to a close soon. Microsoft decided to put Office in the cloud, so don't need Windows for that anymore... VMware is also quite good if WINE isn't good enough for some reason.

There's some rare expensive equipment that doesn't have Linux support (I'm talking $100k mechanical testing equipment and CNC machines) but those only need one computer each. Of course those probably won't support Windows 11 either, they barely supported Windows 10.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#120
post #76

Ok I’ll take the contrarian view. Why is it a big deal that a specialized url scheme is specifically intended to launch a Microsoft browser? Only apps built by Microsoft will use that scheme.

You go to your system settings, and set your "default Web browser".

You use any feature of the OS that would open a Web page, like Start menu searches, "help" links (that nowadays are just links to Bing searches, another shitshow I won't get into), or dynamic wallpaper info bites.

The system says "fuck you" and opens the browser that is more convenient to their economic goals rather than your explicit choice.

Is it illegal? Thank god no. Is it subversive and a complete dick move? Definitely.

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