3 ms·

It'd be the overtaking of the century. Let's see. Bing market share in the US = <7% (6.7% this year). Edge market share in the US = <5% (it's only 5% for des

It'd be the overtaking of the century. Let's see. Bing market share in the US = <7% (6.7% this year). Edge market share in the US = <5% (it's only 5% for desktops, and >50% of internet traffic comes from phones). Even if they get 100% of Google searches on Edge-devices to go to Bing (which they'll be lucky if they even get to 50% on their platforms) - it will hardly do anything... The rate at which Edge is becoming irrelevant as people transition traffic to laptops (more likely Macs these days) or phones (0% MSFT) - is likely going to be larger than what Microsoft can chip away via Edge. If they can chip away any meaningful traffic (I doubt it) - it will be a MUCH bigger threat when it comes from Apple. And you can bet it's coming down the pike in a year or two if not sooner. But I'm skeptical this AI search is going to be more than a fad, and I think the queries people like to ask AI search will be new types of searches (i.e. creating a new market, not taking away from the existing).

robertlagrant 4y ago
I disagree, but for totally different reasons. I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. Then with some decent features around work/life separation with bookmarks and password management and it could easily start bleeding back into consumerland.
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  Why wouldn't Google build that into Chrome (and Mozilla into Firefox and Apple into Safari) if users want it? ChatGPT is not special. Any of these companies can develop LLMs that are on par with ChatGPT.
  - visarga 4y ago
    I think the bar was just raised for browsers, it is like the iPhone moment. From now on every browser will have to follow suit or be left behind, can't search like it's 2019. Google could see its position taken over in 2-5 years, if we go by the speed Google itself, the iPhone, Chrome and YouTube won the market.
- DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
  Instead, MS builds Edge with a load of (mind-booggling) functionality that, not-only no-one asked for, but positively put businesses off ever using Edge: things like built-in shopping price-comparisons and price-tracking[1], “Bing Rewards”[2], and most egregiously of all (and quickly back-pedalled…): directly advertising retail finance services to users[3]. All (well, most) of this unwanted functionality can be disabled via Group Policy (and MDM for non-AD computers?) but only businesses with competent/knowledgeable IT people can do that - for everyone else it’s just going to push users away. Microsoft (and Edge, Windows and Bing) so desperately wants to be loved by users - that’s how you maintain market-share, but they can’t stop self-sabotaging everything with the most asinine things like above (…and the Windows 11 Start Menu). I don’t understand it - and I used to work at Microsoft![4] [1]: https://www.howtogeek.com/769820/microsoft-edge-gets-yet-another-shopping-feature/ https://www.howtogeek.com/769820/microsoft-edge-gets-yet-ano... [2]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/rewards/edge-bonus https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/rewards/edge-bonus [3]: https://www.howtogeek.com/769427/microsoft-edge-wants-to-give-you-a-loan/ https://www.howtogeek.com/769427/microsoft-edge-wants-to-giv... [4]: granted, I was in DevDiv, where the only objection I had to the products’ direction was the colour scheme - my friends in OSG (Windows) and Bing had lots of horror stories of orders to implement dumb ideas coming from org heads - rarely was it actual user demand. Arguably what makes Apple a standout is their internal propensity to say “no” - Microsoft needs that.
- donmcronald 4y ago
  > I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. I think they're already trying to do this. If you open up Edge and it's signed into an MS365 account you get a bunch of content for your tenant. It's also the reason I quit using Edge after being a fairly early adopter. Microsoft just can't stop adding stuff. What used to be a nice clean alternative to Chrome with the convenience of always being logged in to my MS account for sync has become a bloated piece of trash that can't even reliably share a tab to another device. It's really the constant bombardment of notifications and distractions that are trying to get me to use features that don't belong in a browser that I hate.
- yunohn 4y ago
  > could easily start bleeding back into consumerland. That simply doesn’t work - people use O365 at work and GSuite at home.
- trelane 4y ago
  > I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. Man, I really don't want another IE. I was around back then, it was miserable.
WillAdams 4y ago
The thing is, the current Edge is just a re-badged Chromium --- I really miss the old version which was kinder to battery life, had a smaller memory footprint, and integrated an e-reader for ePub files.
- NovaPenguin 4y ago
  That and just having a software base that was different from everyone else. It was funny, back when MS announced the change, here I was, a big Free/Libre software guy defending Microsofts proprietary browser with a journalist from Business Insider! Never did figure out if they did anything with that.

robertlagrant 4y ago

I disagree, but for totally different reasons. I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. Then with some decent features around work/life separation with bookmarks and password management and it could easily start bleeding back into consumerland.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
Why wouldn't Google build that into Chrome (and Mozilla into Firefox and Apple into Safari) if users want it? ChatGPT is not special. Any of these companies can develop LLMs that are on par with ChatGPT.
- visarga 4y ago
  I think the bar was just raised for browsers, it is like the iPhone moment. From now on every browser will have to follow suit or be left behind, can't search like it's 2019. Google could see its position taken over in 2-5 years, if we go by the speed Google itself, the iPhone, Chrome and YouTube won the market.
DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
Instead, MS builds Edge with a load of (mind-booggling) functionality that, not-only no-one asked for, but positively put businesses off ever using Edge: things like built-in shopping price-comparisons and price-tracking[1], “Bing Rewards”[2], and most egregiously of all (and quickly back-pedalled…): directly advertising retail finance services to users[3]. All (well, most) of this unwanted functionality can be disabled via Group Policy (and MDM for non-AD computers?) but only businesses with competent/knowledgeable IT people can do that - for everyone else it’s just going to push users away. Microsoft (and Edge, Windows and Bing) so desperately wants to be loved by users - that’s how you maintain market-share, but they can’t stop self-sabotaging everything with the most asinine things like above (…and the Windows 11 Start Menu). I don’t understand it - and I used to work at Microsoft![4] [1]: https://www.howtogeek.com/769820/microsoft-edge-gets-yet-another-shopping-feature/ https://www.howtogeek.com/769820/microsoft-edge-gets-yet-ano... [2]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/rewards/edge-bonus https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/rewards/edge-bonus [3]: https://www.howtogeek.com/769427/microsoft-edge-wants-to-give-you-a-loan/ https://www.howtogeek.com/769427/microsoft-edge-wants-to-giv... [4]: granted, I was in DevDiv, where the only objection I had to the products’ direction was the colour scheme - my friends in OSG (Windows) and Bing had lots of horror stories of orders to implement dumb ideas coming from org heads - rarely was it actual user demand. Arguably what makes Apple a standout is their internal propensity to say “no” - Microsoft needs that.
donmcronald 4y ago
> I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. I think they're already trying to do this. If you open up Edge and it's signed into an MS365 account you get a bunch of content for your tenant. It's also the reason I quit using Edge after being a fairly early adopter. Microsoft just can't stop adding stuff. What used to be a nice clean alternative to Chrome with the convenience of always being logged in to my MS account for sync has become a bloated piece of trash that can't even reliably share a tab to another device. It's really the constant bombardment of notifications and distractions that are trying to get me to use features that don't belong in a browser that I hate.
yunohn 4y ago
> could easily start bleeding back into consumerland. That simply doesn’t work - people use O365 at work and GSuite at home.
trelane 4y ago
> I think Edge's advantage is MS could build a load of corporately validated plugins and service in it for employees, making it the de facto corporate browser. Man, I really don't want another IE. I was around back then, it was miserable.

WillAdams 4y ago

The thing is, the current Edge is just a re-badged Chromium --- I really miss the old version which was kinder to battery life, had a smaller memory footprint, and integrated an e-reader for ePub files.

NovaPenguin 4y ago
That and just having a software base that was different from everyone else. It was funny, back when MS announced the change, here I was, a big Free/Libre software guy defending Microsofts proprietary browser with a journalist from Business Insider! Never did figure out if they did anything with that.