10 ms·

Microsoft now demands to know why you won't use Edge when you download Chrome

153 points by josephcsible 3y ago

Dban1 3y ago
its ok, i use Brave
mrobins 3y ago
Not that MS is the poster child for chivalrous competition…but this level of desoerationjust signifies how important the battle for the branded browser is.
deadfece 3y ago
win+x, open Terminal winget install mozilla.firefox Then you don't even have to open Edge! I usually just do that step with chocolatey as part of an ansible playbook, but winget works even better.
- jwells89 3y ago
  winget is the best thing to happen to Windows in years, especially now that it's not a separate download.
  - galangalalgol 3y ago
    How many realistic options are there for a browser if I don't use it for stuff that has an app? Servo seemed to work fine the few places I went, but the UI isn't there yet. Lynx either has some tricks I neglected to read about, or is unusable even on stuff that works fine in reader mode as a plain document. Firefox and chrome have some spinoffs that may get rid of telemetry, maybe that is a decent option, but I'd worry about bug fixes. Thoughts anyone?
    - justinclift 3y ago
      LibreWolf (https://librewolf.net https://librewolf.net) seems ok so far (couple of months), and tracks the Firefox release schedule pretty well.
      - deadfece 3y ago
        also available in winget! winget install LibreWolf.LibreWolf
    - offmycloud 3y ago
      I just use Firefox and maintain a single policies.json [1] to disable features I don't like (Pocket, telemetry, etc) across all of the computers that I use. Mozilla has pretty good documentation [2] available, mostly aimed at Enterprise admins, but it works for me. 1. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-using-policiesjson https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-usi... 2. https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/ https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/
- corbezzoli 3y ago
  Wait till they see this loophole. You’ll get the same questioning.
  - darknavi 3y ago
    Hopefully the winget team are heavily silo'd from the edge team.
- ortusdux 3y ago
  Also ninite.com - you do have to open Edge, but you get a custom installer for a whole host of programs and it won't get flagged by Edge as a competing browser download.
- CTOSian 3y ago
  don't forget to run an edge remover as well (some of them on github)
lnxg33k1 3y ago
Dont worry kids your corporate overlords are just having an argument but they still love you
nitwit005 3y ago
Some executive probably has Edge market share in their compensation goals.
- outside1234 3y ago
  For sure this is the case - would almost question the company if not
  - RankingMember 3y ago
    To not have "without damaging the brand" as a contingency on that goal seems shortsighted but I wouldn't be surprised if the goals omit that judging from watching the way MS operates over the decades.
    - Belopolye 3y ago
      “Without damaging the brand” in the sight of whom? Your average person isn’t going to care about any of this, and tactics like these are making number go up, which is all these executives and shareholders care about.
- upupupandaway 3y ago
  Yes. I gave the name above :)
justinclift 3y ago
Needs another option in the poll: > I don't believe Microsoft are trustworthy At the very least, it'd be a direct option for them to measure their brand damage (thus far). That's something they should add to their exec compensation goals. ;)
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  If you don't believe they're trustworthy, then why are you trusting them with your valuable data by using their OS? I don't think they're trustworthy either: why would I trust a company that forces ads on me right in the OS, tries to force their crappy browser on me, and many more awful things? So, I don't use their OS. It's pretty simple. If you continue to use them despite supposedly not trusting them and being offended by their user-hostile treatment, then you're just rewarding their behavior.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    > If you don't believe they're trustworthy, then why are you trusting them with your valuable data by using their OS? The very, very common reason for this is that it's an employer provided laptop. So the employee has no (reasonable) choice in the matter. --- That also often (but not always) comes with a locked down admin capability. So installing a different browser may not even be possible after the download. But that's a different issue. ;)
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      >The very, very common reason for this is that it's an employer provided laptop. >So the employee has no (reasonable) choice in the matter. In this case, the point is moot: the employee should not be trusting his/her data to Microsoft, not because of MS itself, but because the computer isn't theirs. Even if the computer were running an OS they trusted, they shouldn't be putting their private data on there, because it's not their computer. Clearly, the employer trusts MS, because they selected them as their OS vendor, so the employee's opinion doesn't matter. If the employer's data gets stolen or whatever, that's the employer's problem, not the employee's. If you simply don't like the computing environment your employer provides you, find another employer, or just put up with it like you put up with other annoyances that come with employment. Every job is a compromise.
j-bos 3y ago
This headline reads like an abusive relationship.
upupupandaway 3y ago
The single responsible for this is an executive called Mikhail Parakhin. I was in his org for a while and this kind of shit (ads on windows, forced news pushes, etc) were par for the course in his strategy. He got promoted twice in the last two years due to this crapware actually generating money for the Ads group. I know everybody is in love with Microsoft these days because of Open AI but the dark side of Microsoft is still there. And Satya is rewarding it.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  >And Satya is rewarding it. Where Ballmer was DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS, Nadella is DATA DATA DATA. I miss Ballmer.
  - captainpicktart 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - addicted 3y ago
    lol if you think Ballmer wouldn’t be eating up your data right now as well. Also, arguably, the biggest part of MS’s success under Nadella has been the massively improved dev experience, with the open sourcing of C#/.Net, Powershell, the promotion of Thpescript and VS Code, to name a few larger Dev focused efforts. The MS dev story under Ballmer was dire. Despite C# being a tremendous language and .Net being an excellent framework, Windows’s supremacy under Ballmer’s MS meant it was never allowed to go beyond Windows, and IIS, which meant both the language and framework fared extremely poorly largely due to the underlying Windows Server and IIS dependencies.
- menacingly 3y ago
  My natural reaction to the various Edge tactics is embarrassment that I've been something of an evangelist for MS seemingly making some smart moves
  - upupupandaway 3y ago
    Edge and Bing and Ads are all under the same group, hence same tactics.
menacingly 3y ago
It's like when you're cornered and asked for specific reasons you want out of a bad relationship. It's so they can tell you why your reasons aren't correct. "You are failing to comply with my repeated insistence that you love me"
- PlunderBunny 3y ago
  “Just tell me why. Give me one reason. I just want to know.”
  - justinclift 3y ago
    "But that's not a real reason. Give me a real reason!"
    - willcipriano 3y ago
      "your overreacting, if you had a different mindset you'd be OK with my behavior"
  - salawat 3y ago
    Sacrifice of end user Quality for furtherment of corporate financials. Goodbye, Mikey. You were always a tool.
- mumblemumble 3y ago
  It's really pretty telling that they leave out the most obvious, and, I'm guessing, common answer: "I'm content with my current browser want to stay with the thing I'm used to."
  - menacingly 3y ago
    What's so pitiful is they aren't asking because they want a vibrant, diverse browsing ecosystem. They're asking because they're on the outside looking in to a platform-defining position of market dominance. This roughly translates to "we know damn well why you're downloading Chrome, and we'd really rather Google or Apple be left wondering why you're downloading Edge, but we have no idea how to get there"
pacifika 3y ago
Desperate is not a good look Microsoft.
add-sub-mul-div 3y ago
And Google tells me to use Chrome when I go to Google Maps in Edge. Can we fucking stop with the outrage "journalism"?
- lobstrosity420 3y ago
  No one likes that either you know.
- tomComb 3y ago
  Google Maps is a service - there have always been ads in free services. Microsoft is sticking ads and deceptive practices into the OS and its tools (that you pay for).
  - acomjean 3y ago
    I agree that it’s a service va a tool thing. The google maps web page is checking which browser you are using. The ms edge browser is watching what you are doing when you are using the web. Someone had to add code that said “if trying to download chrome send this system popup. “ which startled me when I saw it. That and my one windows machine seems to open edge when waking from sleep (maybe rebooting?)
- saagarjha 3y ago
  Why not stop adding borderline abusive nags in software instead?
  - add-sub-mul-div 3y ago
    I don't have any control over that, but I can prevent myself from being upset about minor things.
    - baseballdork 3y ago
      Minor things like articles on a website that you can easily ignore?
FormerBandmate 3y ago
> too many ads and pop-ups Going to download chrome multiple times just to pick this. I prefer Edge but this seems morally good
sundvor 3y ago
Because you keep interfering with my work with your never ending notifications starting with the last opened tabs, to the incessant "use Bing it's great" - which I can only mute for a week at a time. WTF already; used to love Edge until all this started. In my case I switched to Firefox. It's working really, really well!
- donmcronald 3y ago
  This is it for me too. It feels like it's jamming something new in my face every single day. I want a web browser, not an endless stream of crap I'm not interested in. There was a point in time where I didn't bother installing another browser on Windows computers. That's far in the past now.
mumblemumble 3y ago
I am not by any means a browser loyalist. Firefox is my daily driver, I regularly use Safari on my Mac (not to mention phone), and at work I normally use Chrome for certain tasks. I would guess that I use all three at least a little bit on most days. And I like to try out alternative browsers too. In fact, just about the only browser I don't like to use is Edge. I used to use it quite a bit, too. But I stopped using it a while back, precisely because of shit like this.
kr0bat 3y ago
Out of curiosity I went to open Edge and try to trigger the poll, instead I found the most shocking avenue of product placement I've ever seen. [1] Yep, Microsoft pushed an update that adds a (completely useless) launch app button to Windows Search results, and that button is being used to promote Edge. [1] https://i.imgur.com/XXi7t45.png https://i.imgur.com/XXi7t45.png
- extraduder_ire 3y ago
  Did you get a screenshot of the poll in the end? That just looks like two searches, one for "fire" and one for "edge".
s_ariga 3y ago
I use firefox anyway.
dhx 3y ago
Coming soon to the next release: > "I can't search Google easily" "Have you heard about Bing, which let's you harness the power of AI to... Click [here] to visit Bing. Otherwise click [here] to find out more about Bing's powerful AI features." > "I can't access my Google documents" "Have you tried Microsoft 365 that harnesses powerful AI to increase your productivity?..." > "I don't have my favorites or passwords here" "Did you know about Microsoft... powerful AI... something something AI..."
- wilkystyle 3y ago
  > "Click [here] to visit Bing. Otherwise click [here] to find out more about Bing's powerful AI features." "Not right now. Remind me again in one week"
- pohuing 3y ago
  Harnessing the power of AI with Windows copilot is amazing. None of the example tasks it ships with work. They just scrape the docs and give you a summary how to turn on dark mode for example. I suspect its because copilot isn't even supposed to be available in Germany, but MS forgot to geofence it.
- no_time 3y ago
  I wonder what will be the reply to my default answer of any and all MS feedback popups: "Kill yourself. Now."
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
WirelessGigabit 3y ago
Because every update of the browser something changes. Like an extra bar here, collections there. Just keep the browser an application to browse the web. If I want split screen I'll open 2 windows. If I want to take a screenshot I'll use the OS' feature. Why are they even paying developers to duplicate these Windows features?
- southwesterly 3y ago
  Because soon your windows computer will just be a browser.
pfdietz 3y ago
Have they considered making Edge run faster than a drugged slug?
runamok 3y ago
"Because I don't trust you @#%$##*^&"! Though I guess I don't trust Google much either these days.
CaptainZapp 3y ago
Microsoft now demands to know why you just won’t use Edge when you inevitably download Chrome using it Why inevitably? I sure as shit would never download or use Chrome unless I don't have a choice. What a strange headline.
rado 3y ago
Meanwhile, over at Edge... multiple popups and a sidebar: https://i.imgur.com/umv5rbT.png https://i.imgur.com/umv5rbT.png
- jannes 3y ago
  I wish their survey had the option to upload an attachment. I would definitely send this screenshot as my answer.
getcrunk 3y ago
Lol the irony! Some one should ask edge why they use chromium and not their own browser!
deafpolygon 3y ago
I feel like I'm in the minority- but I actually kind of like Edge. I understand that it's probably not the best in terms of privacy, but I rarely search for things I shouldn't. The integration with AI (Copilot) is quite nice and have changed how I search now. I also use it for generating ideas and leads on open-ended questions, too... which has helped a lot in my creative endeavors. I know this sounds like a pro-Microsoft comment and post, but I just want to get on my computer - do a few things and get some stuff done. I don't live my entire life on my PC anymore. When Google advertised their browser every time you visited google.com with a non-Google browser, nobody lost their mind. Nobody (yes, I know some people complain) complains when Apple forces Safari on every iOS user (Even if you used a non-Apple browser, it's still Safari under the hood). But when Microsoft does it, people would have you believe the sky is falling.
- zastrowm 3y ago
  I liked Edge originally too - it seemed cleaner than chrome and had some cool features like vertical tabs and the Dev tools that were better than Chrome's. I made it my daily driver. Then they adding a shopping helper; then more ads to the new start-page; then a notification about Microsoft rewards; then popups about how "Bing is better" or that "Bing AI" was there to help - don't forget the "Open links in Edge on Mobile" popup; then they added a side toolbar with a giant B[ing] button that wasn't removable unless you toggled a group policy (now there's an option for it). The damn button was the last straw for me because of the amount of work I needed to do to just disable it. > I just want to get on my computer - do a few things and get some stuff done Yeah, so do I and Edge kept getting in the way to keep telling me about all the new things that Microsoft things I should use. Chrome isn't great - the privacy sandbox/built-in interests stuff is disgusting - but Chrome wasn't as "in your face" so I could just start it and go. Brave avoided the the privacy sandbox and now Firefox works for me everywhere.
Alifatisk 3y ago
Firefox for the win!
karmakaze 3y ago
A correct answer everyone should cite is not wanting to trust using an app made by the company that puts ads (and excessive telemetry) into the operating system. Or more generally treating the user as not the customer.
IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
this is a opportunity to share with other Windows users of the wonderful utility WUB (windows uninstall blocker). Thank you HN for bringing this utility to my attention!
_imnothere 3y ago
At this point M$ is pretty much just another stalker who keeps confessing and doesn't take "No" as the answer
idisagree 3y ago
because it's microsoft's browser and they should never ever be rewarded for what they did to netscape. ever. how about because I said "no", because I can, that's why.
jinushaun 3y ago
Pretty simple. I gave Edge a few weeks. Switched back to Chrome for one reason: ads. Edge is a spammy browser with spammy defaults. It’s a Trojan horse to sell you MS services, instead of being the best possible web browser. And if you think browser innovation is dead… check out Arc

153 points by josephcsible 3y ago

its ok, i use Brave

Not that MS is the poster child for chivalrous competition…but this level of desoerationjust signifies how important the battle for the branded browser is.

deadfece 3y ago

win+x, open Terminal winget install mozilla.firefox Then you don't even have to open Edge! I usually just do that step with chocolatey as part of an ansible playbook, but winget works even better.

jwells89 3y ago
winget is the best thing to happen to Windows in years, especially now that it's not a separate download.
- galangalalgol 3y ago
  How many realistic options are there for a browser if I don't use it for stuff that has an app? Servo seemed to work fine the few places I went, but the UI isn't there yet. Lynx either has some tricks I neglected to read about, or is unusable even on stuff that works fine in reader mode as a plain document. Firefox and chrome have some spinoffs that may get rid of telemetry, maybe that is a decent option, but I'd worry about bug fixes. Thoughts anyone?
  - justinclift 3y ago
    LibreWolf (https://librewolf.net https://librewolf.net) seems ok so far (couple of months), and tracks the Firefox release schedule pretty well.
    - deadfece 3y ago
      also available in winget! winget install LibreWolf.LibreWolf
  - offmycloud 3y ago
    I just use Firefox and maintain a single policies.json [1] to disable features I don't like (Pocket, telemetry, etc) across all of the computers that I use. Mozilla has pretty good documentation [2] available, mostly aimed at Enterprise admins, but it works for me. 1. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-using-policiesjson https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-usi... 2. https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/ https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/
corbezzoli 3y ago
Wait till they see this loophole. You’ll get the same questioning.
- darknavi 3y ago
  Hopefully the winget team are heavily silo'd from the edge team.
ortusdux 3y ago
Also ninite.com - you do have to open Edge, but you get a custom installer for a whole host of programs and it won't get flagged by Edge as a competing browser download.
CTOSian 3y ago
don't forget to run an edge remover as well (some of them on github)

lnxg33k1 3y ago

Dont worry kids your corporate overlords are just having an argument but they still love you

nitwit005 3y ago

Some executive probably has Edge market share in their compensation goals.

outside1234 3y ago
For sure this is the case - would almost question the company if not
- RankingMember 3y ago
  To not have "without damaging the brand" as a contingency on that goal seems shortsighted but I wouldn't be surprised if the goals omit that judging from watching the way MS operates over the decades.
  - Belopolye 3y ago
    “Without damaging the brand” in the sight of whom? Your average person isn’t going to care about any of this, and tactics like these are making number go up, which is all these executives and shareholders care about.
upupupandaway 3y ago
Yes. I gave the name above :)

justinclift 3y ago

Needs another option in the poll: > I don't believe Microsoft are trustworthy At the very least, it'd be a direct option for them to measure their brand damage (thus far). That's something they should add to their exec compensation goals. ;)

shiroiuma 3y ago
If you don't believe they're trustworthy, then why are you trusting them with your valuable data by using their OS? I don't think they're trustworthy either: why would I trust a company that forces ads on me right in the OS, tries to force their crappy browser on me, and many more awful things? So, I don't use their OS. It's pretty simple. If you continue to use them despite supposedly not trusting them and being offended by their user-hostile treatment, then you're just rewarding their behavior.
- justinclift 3y ago
  > If you don't believe they're trustworthy, then why are you trusting them with your valuable data by using their OS? The very, very common reason for this is that it's an employer provided laptop. So the employee has no (reasonable) choice in the matter. --- That also often (but not always) comes with a locked down admin capability. So installing a different browser may not even be possible after the download. But that's a different issue. ;)
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    >The very, very common reason for this is that it's an employer provided laptop. >So the employee has no (reasonable) choice in the matter. In this case, the point is moot: the employee should not be trusting his/her data to Microsoft, not because of MS itself, but because the computer isn't theirs. Even if the computer were running an OS they trusted, they shouldn't be putting their private data on there, because it's not their computer. Clearly, the employer trusts MS, because they selected them as their OS vendor, so the employee's opinion doesn't matter. If the employer's data gets stolen or whatever, that's the employer's problem, not the employee's. If you simply don't like the computing environment your employer provides you, find another employer, or just put up with it like you put up with other annoyances that come with employment. Every job is a compromise.

j-bos 3y ago

This headline reads like an abusive relationship.

upupupandaway 3y ago

The single responsible for this is an executive called Mikhail Parakhin. I was in his org for a while and this kind of shit (ads on windows, forced news pushes, etc) were par for the course in his strategy. He got promoted twice in the last two years due to this crapware actually generating money for the Ads group. I know everybody is in love with Microsoft these days because of Open AI but the dark side of Microsoft is still there. And Satya is rewarding it.

Dalewyn 3y ago
>And Satya is rewarding it. Where Ballmer was DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS, Nadella is DATA DATA DATA. I miss Ballmer.
- captainpicktart 3y ago
  [flagged]
- addicted 3y ago
  lol if you think Ballmer wouldn’t be eating up your data right now as well. Also, arguably, the biggest part of MS’s success under Nadella has been the massively improved dev experience, with the open sourcing of C#/.Net, Powershell, the promotion of Thpescript and VS Code, to name a few larger Dev focused efforts. The MS dev story under Ballmer was dire. Despite C# being a tremendous language and .Net being an excellent framework, Windows’s supremacy under Ballmer’s MS meant it was never allowed to go beyond Windows, and IIS, which meant both the language and framework fared extremely poorly largely due to the underlying Windows Server and IIS dependencies.
menacingly 3y ago
My natural reaction to the various Edge tactics is embarrassment that I've been something of an evangelist for MS seemingly making some smart moves
- upupupandaway 3y ago
  Edge and Bing and Ads are all under the same group, hence same tactics.

menacingly 3y ago

It's like when you're cornered and asked for specific reasons you want out of a bad relationship. It's so they can tell you why your reasons aren't correct. "You are failing to comply with my repeated insistence that you love me"

PlunderBunny 3y ago
“Just tell me why. Give me one reason. I just want to know.”
- justinclift 3y ago
  "But that's not a real reason. Give me a real reason!"
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    "your overreacting, if you had a different mindset you'd be OK with my behavior"
- salawat 3y ago
  Sacrifice of end user Quality for furtherment of corporate financials. Goodbye, Mikey. You were always a tool.
mumblemumble 3y ago
It's really pretty telling that they leave out the most obvious, and, I'm guessing, common answer: "I'm content with my current browser want to stay with the thing I'm used to."
- menacingly 3y ago
  What's so pitiful is they aren't asking because they want a vibrant, diverse browsing ecosystem. They're asking because they're on the outside looking in to a platform-defining position of market dominance. This roughly translates to "we know damn well why you're downloading Chrome, and we'd really rather Google or Apple be left wondering why you're downloading Edge, but we have no idea how to get there"

pacifika 3y ago

Desperate is not a good look Microsoft.

add-sub-mul-div 3y ago

And Google tells me to use Chrome when I go to Google Maps in Edge. Can we fucking stop with the outrage "journalism"?

lobstrosity420 3y ago
No one likes that either you know.
tomComb 3y ago
Google Maps is a service - there have always been ads in free services. Microsoft is sticking ads and deceptive practices into the OS and its tools (that you pay for).
- acomjean 3y ago
  I agree that it’s a service va a tool thing. The google maps web page is checking which browser you are using. The ms edge browser is watching what you are doing when you are using the web. Someone had to add code that said “if trying to download chrome send this system popup. “ which startled me when I saw it. That and my one windows machine seems to open edge when waking from sleep (maybe rebooting?)
saagarjha 3y ago
Why not stop adding borderline abusive nags in software instead?
- add-sub-mul-div 3y ago
  I don't have any control over that, but I can prevent myself from being upset about minor things.
  - baseballdork 3y ago
    Minor things like articles on a website that you can easily ignore?

FormerBandmate 3y ago

> too many ads and pop-ups Going to download chrome multiple times just to pick this. I prefer Edge but this seems morally good

sundvor 3y ago

Because you keep interfering with my work with your never ending notifications starting with the last opened tabs, to the incessant "use Bing it's great" - which I can only mute for a week at a time. WTF already; used to love Edge until all this started. In my case I switched to Firefox. It's working really, really well!

donmcronald 3y ago
This is it for me too. It feels like it's jamming something new in my face every single day. I want a web browser, not an endless stream of crap I'm not interested in. There was a point in time where I didn't bother installing another browser on Windows computers. That's far in the past now.

mumblemumble 3y ago

I am not by any means a browser loyalist. Firefox is my daily driver, I regularly use Safari on my Mac (not to mention phone), and at work I normally use Chrome for certain tasks. I would guess that I use all three at least a little bit on most days. And I like to try out alternative browsers too. In fact, just about the only browser I don't like to use is Edge. I used to use it quite a bit, too. But I stopped using it a while back, precisely because of shit like this.

kr0bat 3y ago

Out of curiosity I went to open Edge and try to trigger the poll, instead I found the most shocking avenue of product placement I've ever seen. [1] Yep, Microsoft pushed an update that adds a (completely useless) launch app button to Windows Search results, and that button is being used to promote Edge. [1] https://i.imgur.com/XXi7t45.png https://i.imgur.com/XXi7t45.png

extraduder_ire 3y ago
Did you get a screenshot of the poll in the end? That just looks like two searches, one for "fire" and one for "edge".

s_ariga 3y ago

I use firefox anyway.

dhx 3y ago

Coming soon to the next release: > "I can't search Google easily" "Have you heard about Bing, which let's you harness the power of AI to... Click [here] to visit Bing. Otherwise click [here] to find out more about Bing's powerful AI features." > "I can't access my Google documents" "Have you tried Microsoft 365 that harnesses powerful AI to increase your productivity?..." > "I don't have my favorites or passwords here" "Did you know about Microsoft... powerful AI... something something AI..."

wilkystyle 3y ago
> "Click [here] to visit Bing. Otherwise click [here] to find out more about Bing's powerful AI features." "Not right now. Remind me again in one week"
pohuing 3y ago
Harnessing the power of AI with Windows copilot is amazing. None of the example tasks it ships with work. They just scrape the docs and give you a summary how to turn on dark mode for example. I suspect its because copilot isn't even supposed to be available in Germany, but MS forgot to geofence it.
no_time 3y ago
I wonder what will be the reply to my default answer of any and all MS feedback popups: "Kill yourself. Now."

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

WirelessGigabit 3y ago

Because every update of the browser something changes. Like an extra bar here, collections there. Just keep the browser an application to browse the web. If I want split screen I'll open 2 windows. If I want to take a screenshot I'll use the OS' feature. Why are they even paying developers to duplicate these Windows features?

southwesterly 3y ago
Because soon your windows computer will just be a browser.

pfdietz 3y ago

Have they considered making Edge run faster than a drugged slug?

runamok 3y ago

"Because I don't trust you @#%$##*^&"! Though I guess I don't trust Google much either these days.

CaptainZapp 3y ago

Microsoft now demands to know why you just won’t use Edge when you inevitably download Chrome using it Why inevitably? I sure as shit would never download or use Chrome unless I don't have a choice. What a strange headline.

rado 3y ago

Meanwhile, over at Edge... multiple popups and a sidebar: https://i.imgur.com/umv5rbT.png https://i.imgur.com/umv5rbT.png

jannes 3y ago
I wish their survey had the option to upload an attachment. I would definitely send this screenshot as my answer.

getcrunk 3y ago

Lol the irony! Some one should ask edge why they use chromium and not their own browser!

deafpolygon 3y ago

I feel like I'm in the minority- but I actually kind of like Edge. I understand that it's probably not the best in terms of privacy, but I rarely search for things I shouldn't. The integration with AI (Copilot) is quite nice and have changed how I search now. I also use it for generating ideas and leads on open-ended questions, too... which has helped a lot in my creative endeavors. I know this sounds like a pro-Microsoft comment and post, but I just want to get on my computer - do a few things and get some stuff done. I don't live my entire life on my PC anymore. When Google advertised their browser every time you visited google.com with a non-Google browser, nobody lost their mind. Nobody (yes, I know some people complain) complains when Apple forces Safari on every iOS user (Even if you used a non-Apple browser, it's still Safari under the hood). But when Microsoft does it, people would have you believe the sky is falling.

zastrowm 3y ago
I liked Edge originally too - it seemed cleaner than chrome and had some cool features like vertical tabs and the Dev tools that were better than Chrome's. I made it my daily driver. Then they adding a shopping helper; then more ads to the new start-page; then a notification about Microsoft rewards; then popups about how "Bing is better" or that "Bing AI" was there to help - don't forget the "Open links in Edge on Mobile" popup; then they added a side toolbar with a giant B[ing] button that wasn't removable unless you toggled a group policy (now there's an option for it). The damn button was the last straw for me because of the amount of work I needed to do to just disable it. > I just want to get on my computer - do a few things and get some stuff done Yeah, so do I and Edge kept getting in the way to keep telling me about all the new things that Microsoft things I should use. Chrome isn't great - the privacy sandbox/built-in interests stuff is disgusting - but Chrome wasn't as "in your face" so I could just start it and go. Brave avoided the the privacy sandbox and now Firefox works for me everywhere.

Alifatisk 3y ago

Firefox for the win!

karmakaze 3y ago

A correct answer everyone should cite is not wanting to trust using an app made by the company that puts ads (and excessive telemetry) into the operating system. Or more generally treating the user as not the customer.

IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago

this is a opportunity to share with other Windows users of the wonderful utility WUB (windows uninstall blocker). Thank you HN for bringing this utility to my attention!

_imnothere 3y ago

At this point M$ is pretty much just another stalker who keeps confessing and doesn't take "No" as the answer

idisagree 3y ago

because it's microsoft's browser and they should never ever be rewarded for what they did to netscape. ever. how about because I said "no", because I can, that's why.

jinushaun 3y ago

Pretty simple. I gave Edge a few weeks. Switched back to Chrome for one reason: ads. Edge is a spammy browser with spammy defaults. It’s a Trojan horse to sell you MS services, instead of being the best possible web browser. And if you think browser innovation is dead… check out Arc