3 ms·

What's sad is that it's a good browser behind all of this. But it takes a fair amount of work getting all the settings right to turn it all off.

by bmitc 3y ago

RajT88 3y ago
Agreed. One of the most egregious things is the insistence on using the Bing start page. You have to install an extension to have your own start page (in fairness most browsers are like this these days). However, lately Edge just magically stopped letting new tab redirect work. At least it loads a blank page, but it is annoying. Microsoft seems hell bent on preventing user control all over their client ecosystem. The same extension works fine in Brave and Chrome - so it is definitely something they did.
- bmitc 3y ago
  Yea, and when the browser updates they often switch settings back, such as the default search engine. I still use it but am aggressive about tightening up the settings.
  - evilduck 3y ago
    Why? What does it bring to the table over Chromium once you disable all the Microsoft nonsense?
    - bmitc 3y ago
      Because I don't like Firefox and dislike anything to do with Google. Google also plays all sorts of dirty tricks to try and get you to download Chrome. I primarily use Windows because I get Windows plus Linux. For example, I have Ubuntu and Nix running through WSL. Apple also plays dirty tricks and has all sorts of nonsense, they're just better at getting away with it. In general, I just use the browser that's "native" to the platform. On Windows I use Edge, on macOS and iOS I use Safari, and on Linux I use whatever I feel like at the time (Edge, Firefox, or Chrome). At the end of the day, features are effectively in parity, so I just don't care that much, and right now I use Edge on Windows and Android. Edge does have some nice features though. It doesn't keep me wanting.
      - evilduck 3y ago
        Ok… lots of soapboxing and tangents without answering anything. > Edge does have some nice features Such as? This is what I want to know. What value to you as an end user does Edge provide that makes it worth tolerating the nonsense?
        bmitc 3y ago
        Okay ... sorry? I was just talking. You can go read the Edge feature list if you're bothered by it. For one, I don't tolerate the nonsense. It can all be disabled, so I disable it. Secondly, I don't think Edge is the "best" browser. I don't think there is such a thing, and I didn't compare it to others. Things that I like are the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen for checking downloads and websites (which has caught me, e.g., because Imgur packaged malware when I downloaded an image I had uploaded to my own profile) in addition to the built-in Microsoft Defender, collections, the web capture feature which makes it nice to be able to capture a screenshot of an entire page, the tab grouping, browser casting to another device, workspaces, and the syncing that actually works. My password manager also integrates quite nicely. Now, before people respond with "but Chrome/Firefox does this" or god forbid "you can do all that in Emacs", I never made a comparison. They probably have similar and also features that separate themselves. I just said Edge is a good browser, which it is, underneath all the marketing and advertising shenanigans that Microsoft is idiotically throwing around within Edge. The default Edge is indeed a very annoying browser. But, like I already said, underneath all that is a quite good, professional browser that makes it easy to do real work., and it's not all that much work to disable all of that.
    - shortsunblack 3y ago
      It has specific security mitigations that apply on Windows. It has Super Duper Secure Mode (JIT disabler per-website). It has better battery life than Chrome. It looks nicer than Chrome and it has much better vertical tabs than Brave or Firefox.
  - RajT88 3y ago
    I generally like the Microsoft stack but I cannot wait for them to be hauled back in front of congress over these shenanigans. They will have earned it.
- yakz 3y ago
  setting it to load about:blank seems to kinda work
  - RajT88 3y ago
    Yeah, my problem is on my devices I set a custom start page to something hosted on my NAS device's internal web server. Nothing fancy, just a simple HTML page with some links and a little javascript. It's surprising how much time such a little thing saves me, compared to trying to wrangle the default browser start pages into something usable.
pyrophane 3y ago
What makes Edge a good browser among the several other Chrome-based browsers out there?
- djfdat 3y ago
  Workspaces is the first instance of synced tabs in a browser that actually works for me. A lot of nice features are included in the browser, that maybe they are in other browsers now, but that hasn't always been the case. I was a Vivaldi user prior to switching to Edge, but here are some things I like: - Tab groups. Vivaldi has this also, and has better tools for collapsing tabs by host - Some of the built-in features are nice. QR code, send to other devices, split view, capture & markup, easier profiles. - Bookmark bar has a per-bookmark option to hide title. Doesn't delete the title, so you can still use it for search. But this makes a really handy app bar. - Probably not true, but I expect it to be better optimized for Windows vs other browsers - Cross-platform w/ workspaces is great. I use a mac for personal and windows for work. Can't use Safari on Windows, and Vivaldi wouldn't sync tabs (at the time) - I expect Microsoft to integrate AI features in early and well, and I want to be on the cutting-edge to see what AI has to offer. I agree, I hate all the tracking BS also, but I turned a bunch of things off and the rest is probably a wash with everything else tracking me anyways. I really recommend you fire it up and give it a try. You're sure to be surprised, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Edit: Feature that I'm missing most from Vivaldi - the speed dial page was just amazing, running through bookmarks. I've mostly supplanted by using the bookmarks bar, but it's still not a perfect replacement for me.
- wintermutestwin 3y ago
  Native Vertical tabs. Google Chrome doesn’t even have viable extensions for this (and yet brave and edge have it native). (My oft spoken rant) Horizontal tabs are useless if you have more than 8 tabs open at once. Or if you are one of the very few that has a monitor with more vertical pixels than horizontal. Also, Safari’s vertical tabs implementation is weak whereas Orion’s is workable.
blibble 3y ago
but it's not significantly better like the competition (like Chrome vs IE6) so they're resorting to their usual dirty tricks

What's sad is that it's a good browser behind all of this. But it takes a fair amount of work getting all the settings right to turn it all off.

by bmitc 3y ago

What's sad is that it's a good browser behind all of this. But it takes a fair amount of work getting all the settings right to turn it all off.

RajT88 3y ago

Agreed. One of the most egregious things is the insistence on using the Bing start page. You have to install an extension to have your own start page (in fairness most browsers are like this these days). However, lately Edge just magically stopped letting new tab redirect work. At least it loads a blank page, but it is annoying. Microsoft seems hell bent on preventing user control all over their client ecosystem. The same extension works fine in Brave and Chrome - so it is definitely something they did.

bmitc 3y ago
Yea, and when the browser updates they often switch settings back, such as the default search engine. I still use it but am aggressive about tightening up the settings.
- evilduck 3y ago
  Why? What does it bring to the table over Chromium once you disable all the Microsoft nonsense?
  - bmitc 3y ago
    Because I don't like Firefox and dislike anything to do with Google. Google also plays all sorts of dirty tricks to try and get you to download Chrome. I primarily use Windows because I get Windows plus Linux. For example, I have Ubuntu and Nix running through WSL. Apple also plays dirty tricks and has all sorts of nonsense, they're just better at getting away with it. In general, I just use the browser that's "native" to the platform. On Windows I use Edge, on macOS and iOS I use Safari, and on Linux I use whatever I feel like at the time (Edge, Firefox, or Chrome). At the end of the day, features are effectively in parity, so I just don't care that much, and right now I use Edge on Windows and Android. Edge does have some nice features though. It doesn't keep me wanting.
    - evilduck 3y ago
      Ok… lots of soapboxing and tangents without answering anything. > Edge does have some nice features Such as? This is what I want to know. What value to you as an end user does Edge provide that makes it worth tolerating the nonsense?
      - bmitc 3y ago
        Okay ... sorry? I was just talking. You can go read the Edge feature list if you're bothered by it. For one, I don't tolerate the nonsense. It can all be disabled, so I disable it. Secondly, I don't think Edge is the "best" browser. I don't think there is such a thing, and I didn't compare it to others. Things that I like are the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen for checking downloads and websites (which has caught me, e.g., because Imgur packaged malware when I downloaded an image I had uploaded to my own profile) in addition to the built-in Microsoft Defender, collections, the web capture feature which makes it nice to be able to capture a screenshot of an entire page, the tab grouping, browser casting to another device, workspaces, and the syncing that actually works. My password manager also integrates quite nicely. Now, before people respond with "but Chrome/Firefox does this" or god forbid "you can do all that in Emacs", I never made a comparison. They probably have similar and also features that separate themselves. I just said Edge is a good browser, which it is, underneath all the marketing and advertising shenanigans that Microsoft is idiotically throwing around within Edge. The default Edge is indeed a very annoying browser. But, like I already said, underneath all that is a quite good, professional browser that makes it easy to do real work., and it's not all that much work to disable all of that.
  - shortsunblack 3y ago
    It has specific security mitigations that apply on Windows. It has Super Duper Secure Mode (JIT disabler per-website). It has better battery life than Chrome. It looks nicer than Chrome and it has much better vertical tabs than Brave or Firefox.
- RajT88 3y ago
  I generally like the Microsoft stack but I cannot wait for them to be hauled back in front of congress over these shenanigans. They will have earned it.
yakz 3y ago
setting it to load about:blank seems to kinda work
- RajT88 3y ago
  Yeah, my problem is on my devices I set a custom start page to something hosted on my NAS device's internal web server. Nothing fancy, just a simple HTML page with some links and a little javascript. It's surprising how much time such a little thing saves me, compared to trying to wrangle the default browser start pages into something usable.

pyrophane 3y ago

What makes Edge a good browser among the several other Chrome-based browsers out there?

djfdat 3y ago
Workspaces is the first instance of synced tabs in a browser that actually works for me. A lot of nice features are included in the browser, that maybe they are in other browsers now, but that hasn't always been the case. I was a Vivaldi user prior to switching to Edge, but here are some things I like: - Tab groups. Vivaldi has this also, and has better tools for collapsing tabs by host - Some of the built-in features are nice. QR code, send to other devices, split view, capture & markup, easier profiles. - Bookmark bar has a per-bookmark option to hide title. Doesn't delete the title, so you can still use it for search. But this makes a really handy app bar. - Probably not true, but I expect it to be better optimized for Windows vs other browsers - Cross-platform w/ workspaces is great. I use a mac for personal and windows for work. Can't use Safari on Windows, and Vivaldi wouldn't sync tabs (at the time) - I expect Microsoft to integrate AI features in early and well, and I want to be on the cutting-edge to see what AI has to offer. I agree, I hate all the tracking BS also, but I turned a bunch of things off and the rest is probably a wash with everything else tracking me anyways. I really recommend you fire it up and give it a try. You're sure to be surprised, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Edit: Feature that I'm missing most from Vivaldi - the speed dial page was just amazing, running through bookmarks. I've mostly supplanted by using the bookmarks bar, but it's still not a perfect replacement for me.
wintermutestwin 3y ago
Native Vertical tabs. Google Chrome doesn’t even have viable extensions for this (and yet brave and edge have it native). (My oft spoken rant) Horizontal tabs are useless if you have more than 8 tabs open at once. Or if you are one of the very few that has a monitor with more vertical pixels than horizontal. Also, Safari’s vertical tabs implementation is weak whereas Orion’s is workable.

blibble 3y ago

but it's not significantly better like the competition (like Chrome vs IE6) so they're resorting to their usual dirty tricks