7 ms·

> Google should be forced to open the system settings panel that allows users to change the default browser, not do it for them. Why is it not enough that the

> Google should be forced to open the system settings panel that allows users to change the default browser, not do it for them. Why is it not enough that the user clicked on the button to change the default browser? > If this window unfairly favours one browser over another, I'd say that would be anti-competitive, but requiring to go through said window is not Making it harder for users to switch from the default browser to another browser unfairly favours the default browser over non-default browsers.

fwlr 3y ago
> Why is it not enough that the user clicked on the button to change the default browser? It’s a button in Chrome, intuitively it should only be able to affect things inside Chrome. If you want to affect system-wide (user-wide…) defaults, that should be done in System, not Chrome. A analogy might be “turning your house lights’ dimmers to maximum brightness shouldn’t also set your car’s headlights to high-beam”.
- 015a 3y ago
  I agree with this take, at a theoretical, hypothetical, utopian level. But I think its only the right path when we can trust that the vendors of the operating system are neutral stewards; when they act to at least a useful degree in the service of their customers, both the users and the application developers, versus their own network effect self-interests. Unfortunately, the majority of operating system developers out there are everything except neutral. In the absence of this utopia, you have to ask if its a better world that Microsoft retains unilateral control over its users' ability to set a default browser (or, any other decision of a similar caliber). I'd rather no one have control; that it just be some file content on the disk that any program can edit, and I'll adopt the responsibility of trying to make sure the programs I install can be trusted with that power. The alternative smells more like Apple's Security Dystopia than a utopia. Microsoft has already proven to be a bad steward of this functionality: there was a time (which may still be the case, I don't know) where changing the default browser would prompt you to "give Edge another shot" no short of three times. There was a time when even Googling "Chrome" in the Edge browser would re-write the HTML to list the Edge website first (I'm pretty sure they've removed this). Click on a link in any of Windows 11's useless widgets will always open Edge, even if you've overridden the default browser. The better analogy is possibly: Turning your house's lights to maximum brightness maybe should also set your car's headlights to high beams, if the car manufacturer prompts you to install their own more expensive, worse headlights every time you adjust their brightness in the car.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    >In the absence of this utopia, you have to ask if its a better world that Microsoft retains unilateral control over its users' ability to set a default browser You are running on Microsoft's operating system, they will always outrank you in decision making. Even if they expose an API for you to use, nothing can stop them from perverting that API if they want to harm you. You can only hope that the users prefer that they have final say, which at least used to be Microsoft's policy.
  - int_19h 3y ago
    It used to be possible for apps to just say "I'm gonna be the default for this, kthxbye" on Windows in the past. It did not go well in practice. Most users aren't going to be able to muck around ACLs on some config file; they'll just have their defaults silently hijacked, in the worst case by outright malware. The sensible approach here is 1) a stable API to allow the app to request this, 2) a sane UX provided by the OS that makes it clear to the user what's going on and requires their explicit and definite consent, and 3) a legal crackdown on all abuse of market-dominant position - such as those injected Edge banners.
madeofpalk 3y ago
You can give browser vendors an API to throw up system UI to make it "just as easy".
- iforgotpassword 3y ago
  That's literally how you're supposed to do it, Google just doesn't and instead fumbles with Windows internals directly.

fwlr 3y ago

> Why is it not enough that the user clicked on the button to change the default browser? It’s a button in Chrome, intuitively it should only be able to affect things inside Chrome. If you want to affect system-wide (user-wide…) defaults, that should be done in System, not Chrome. A analogy might be “turning your house lights’ dimmers to maximum brightness shouldn’t also set your car’s headlights to high-beam”.

015a 3y ago
I agree with this take, at a theoretical, hypothetical, utopian level. But I think its only the right path when we can trust that the vendors of the operating system are neutral stewards; when they act to at least a useful degree in the service of their customers, both the users and the application developers, versus their own network effect self-interests. Unfortunately, the majority of operating system developers out there are everything except neutral. In the absence of this utopia, you have to ask if its a better world that Microsoft retains unilateral control over its users' ability to set a default browser (or, any other decision of a similar caliber). I'd rather no one have control; that it just be some file content on the disk that any program can edit, and I'll adopt the responsibility of trying to make sure the programs I install can be trusted with that power. The alternative smells more like Apple's Security Dystopia than a utopia. Microsoft has already proven to be a bad steward of this functionality: there was a time (which may still be the case, I don't know) where changing the default browser would prompt you to "give Edge another shot" no short of three times. There was a time when even Googling "Chrome" in the Edge browser would re-write the HTML to list the Edge website first (I'm pretty sure they've removed this). Click on a link in any of Windows 11's useless widgets will always open Edge, even if you've overridden the default browser. The better analogy is possibly: Turning your house's lights to maximum brightness maybe should also set your car's headlights to high beams, if the car manufacturer prompts you to install their own more expensive, worse headlights every time you adjust their brightness in the car.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  >In the absence of this utopia, you have to ask if its a better world that Microsoft retains unilateral control over its users' ability to set a default browser You are running on Microsoft's operating system, they will always outrank you in decision making. Even if they expose an API for you to use, nothing can stop them from perverting that API if they want to harm you. You can only hope that the users prefer that they have final say, which at least used to be Microsoft's policy.
- int_19h 3y ago
  It used to be possible for apps to just say "I'm gonna be the default for this, kthxbye" on Windows in the past. It did not go well in practice. Most users aren't going to be able to muck around ACLs on some config file; they'll just have their defaults silently hijacked, in the worst case by outright malware. The sensible approach here is 1) a stable API to allow the app to request this, 2) a sane UX provided by the OS that makes it clear to the user what's going on and requires their explicit and definite consent, and 3) a legal crackdown on all abuse of market-dominant position - such as those injected Edge banners.

madeofpalk 3y ago

You can give browser vendors an API to throw up system UI to make it "just as easy".

iforgotpassword 3y ago
That's literally how you're supposed to do it, Google just doesn't and instead fumbles with Windows internals directly.