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Let's talk about how with iOS you can't change the default web browser, email, or calendar apps? If you remove Mail.app, install something like Airmail, and th

Let's talk about how with iOS you can't change the default web browser, email, or calendar apps? If you remove Mail.app, install something like Airmail, and then click on a mail link, you're prompted to reinstall Mail.app. I don't like this move by Microsoft, but they called out on shit like this more than other tech companies it seems.

rustcharm 8y ago
The alternate browsers allowed on iOS are really just wrappers for their engine. You can’t really have an alternate browser in Apple ‘s iOS
- robin_reala 8y ago
  Sort of true. You can swap out the network stack (and Chrome does).
JustSomeNobody 8y ago
Maybe it has to do with the fact that iOS never gave you that control while Windows is trying to take that control away.
- nailer 8y ago
  iOS never gave you the control, Windows still gives you the control but wants to influence your decision.
scarface74 8y ago
That’s a solvable problem, if anyone cared enough to solve it. Write a 3rd party browser (yes I realize that it would be a shell over WebKit) and allow the user to choose which app handles third party urls like mailto and maps links. Chrome for iOS already does something similar but you only get to choose between gmail and the native mail client.
- soft_dev_person 8y ago
  You really do not know how this works on Android, do you?
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Yes I do. But we weren't talking about Android.....
- 0x0 8y ago
  This would only solve the problem of clicking mailto: links in one particular app (the custom browser), but it wouldn't help for all the other 999.999 apps that try to openURL a mailto:
tolle 8y ago
One slight pro of it is that at least Chrome doesn't have 80% of mobile traffic as well due to iOS users being unable to switch default browser. I mean, that's the only pro.
- bitpush 8y ago
  Shouldnt we call a spade a spade? If what Microsoft is doing is scummy, then what Apple is doing is scummy as well.
enraged_camel 8y ago
Sure, but things are improving on that front. For example, they used to do the same thing with maps. Recently though they changed it so clicking on a map link asks you which map software you want to open it in.
yellowapple 8y ago
For comparison, my Pixelbook lets me switch the default browser from Chrome to the Android version of Firefox. Considering that Chrome is basically the operating system itself, that's impressive.
- seabrookmx 8y ago
  > to the Android version of Firefox Out of curiousity, how well does that work on a bigger screen like that? I recently installed the Android version of Firefox on my Essential Phone and find it pretty snappy and nice to use.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    It works reasonably well, and will expand to a vageuly-desktop-like look and feel (tabs on top, for example) automatically on tablets (or in this case laptop/tablet hybrids). It doesn't integrate quite perfectly with ChromeOS, but that's not surprising. Supposedly Pixelbooks have built-in support for running normal Linux apps, so I might end up trying the desktop version of Firefox at some point.

rustcharm 8y ago

The alternate browsers allowed on iOS are really just wrappers for their engine. You can’t really have an alternate browser in Apple ‘s iOS

robin_reala 8y ago
Sort of true. You can swap out the network stack (and Chrome does).

JustSomeNobody 8y ago

Maybe it has to do with the fact that iOS never gave you that control while Windows is trying to take that control away.

nailer 8y ago
iOS never gave you the control, Windows still gives you the control but wants to influence your decision.

scarface74 8y ago

That’s a solvable problem, if anyone cared enough to solve it. Write a 3rd party browser (yes I realize that it would be a shell over WebKit) and allow the user to choose which app handles third party urls like mailto and maps links. Chrome for iOS already does something similar but you only get to choose between gmail and the native mail client.

soft_dev_person 8y ago
You really do not know how this works on Android, do you?
- scarface74 8y ago
  Yes I do. But we weren't talking about Android.....
0x0 8y ago
This would only solve the problem of clicking mailto: links in one particular app (the custom browser), but it wouldn't help for all the other 999.999 apps that try to openURL a mailto:

tolle 8y ago

One slight pro of it is that at least Chrome doesn't have 80% of mobile traffic as well due to iOS users being unable to switch default browser. I mean, that's the only pro.

bitpush 8y ago
Shouldnt we call a spade a spade? If what Microsoft is doing is scummy, then what Apple is doing is scummy as well.

enraged_camel 8y ago

Sure, but things are improving on that front. For example, they used to do the same thing with maps. Recently though they changed it so clicking on a map link asks you which map software you want to open it in.

yellowapple 8y ago

For comparison, my Pixelbook lets me switch the default browser from Chrome to the Android version of Firefox. Considering that Chrome is basically the operating system itself, that's impressive.

seabrookmx 8y ago
> to the Android version of Firefox Out of curiousity, how well does that work on a bigger screen like that? I recently installed the Android version of Firefox on my Essential Phone and find it pretty snappy and nice to use.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  It works reasonably well, and will expand to a vageuly-desktop-like look and feel (tabs on top, for example) automatically on tablets (or in this case laptop/tablet hybrids). It doesn't integrate quite perfectly with ChromeOS, but that's not surprising. Supposedly Pixelbooks have built-in support for running normal Linux apps, so I might end up trying the desktop version of Firefox at some point.