This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1264137/microsoft-blocks-browser-choice-for-1-4-billion-windows-10-11-users-page-84-study-finds
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Lobsters
Full Report(PDF).
Note: The number in the headline is the total number of Windows 10 and Windows 11 users mentioned in page 84 notes in the report.
i just start with the basic rule of: whatever they want or suggest or default to, the opposite is probably what should be configured or answered instead.
My work computer had an update yesterday, logged in and my usual browser wasn't the default. Have seen it a few times. So while I usually agree if it is my usual I change it back to that. I hate windows programs asking to be my default, I know what I want, if it's you you'll know otherwise piss off.
So many windows notifications lately for the stupidest crap. I already set it up how I liked now stop bugging me so I can write code. Also if I wanted backups, to set up a Microsoft account my windows install will be the first to know. Otherwise piss off.
Not productive when I get distracted and annoyed.
I work with a lot of fresh-out-of-box windows PCs. When I don't immediately wipe them completely for a Debian install, the first thing I do in Windows is fire up Edge, download and install chrome and set it as default browser, then delete all Edge shortcuts.
Several iterations of Windows stubbornly re-install the Edge shortcuts, luckily Google can quickly help you make the deletions stick longer. Of course, if they don't want to respect our choices of how we want our desktop configured, we also have a choice of desktops and OSs.
If you are going to install chrome anyway just stick with edge, it's the same privacy invading slop with a different coat of paint.
why not firefox though?
Why not winget install Google.Chrome? That way you don't even need to open Edge
Is winget pre-installed?
Too nerdy, doesn't send the same message as "ordinary people hate Edge THIS MUCH!"
Edge is just a better, way more feature rich but still leaner, more W3C compliant version of chrome though.
These harmful patterns exist all throughout the operating system. They're so incredibly frustrating and obviously anti-user, and it is these intentional design decisions that have pushed me away from windows on all of my devices
Welcome back to the year 2000…
Updates for Windows now off the table for most users.
Microsoft still in race to end their company. Sony still slightly ahead of them in terms of reputation loss.
It's undeniable that Microsoft makes this difficult, but Google Chrome has found its way onto nearly 75% of all desktops while Edge only enjoys around a 10% share.
youtube, google, gmail. all better platform to market from than your desktop os. plus google spent a ton of money on mainstream ads, and had the perfect place on those aforementioned platforms to peddle their own and at no cost to them. and google is far from innocent here.. they've bullshitted their way to the top of the browser game and pull similar stunts as microsoft does.
To be sure, Google's market penetration across the web is a huge driver of encouraging people to switch browsers. It costs nothing to advertise on their own website! I just find it interesting that so many people on Windows actually do. If I was forced to choose between Edge and Chrome, I'd probably skip the hassle of installing an extra browser.
because the average user is kinda dumb, kinda impatient, and some of those ads and banners on google properties peddling chrome were very scary to them.. that they'd lose, or miss-out on something in, youtube or google or their gmail.
I assume Apple does the same with Safari and Google with Chrome on ChromeOS.
Windows 10 and 11 webapps like Wikipedia are also designed to use the pre-installed copy of Edge and stop working if Edge is manually uninstalled.
Left out that oulook has two settings for opening links now... Edge, and Default Browser, and Edge is selected by default, even if you have chosen a different browser as your default.
Teams too.
New Outlook also really wants you to send files through onedrive. When dragging a file in you get two big fields to drop it into, one for actual attachment, the other for a onedrive link. After you go for the former, it has the gall to add another small banner with "upload to onedrive".
Fffffuck off
There's also a speed test button in the networks tab (windows 11) that does a bing search for "internet speed test". Not sure if it also opens edge even when it's not the default browser, I don't have it installed.
