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Microsoft Blocks Browser Choice for 1.4 Billion Windows 10/11 Users, Study Finds (research.mozilla.org)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
46 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1264137/microsoft-blocks-browser-choice-for-1-4-billion-windows-10-11-users-page-84-study-finds

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Full Report(PDF).

Note: The number in the headline is the total number of Windows 10 and Windows 11 users mentioned in page 84 notes in the report.

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[–] 52 points 3 months ago (15 children)

i just start with the basic rule of: whatever they want or suggest or default to, the opposite is probably what should be configured or answered instead.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    My work computer had an update yesterday, logged in and my usual browser wasn't the default. Have seen it a few times. So while I usually agree if it is my usual I change it back to that. I hate windows programs asking to be my default, I know what I want, if it's you you'll know otherwise piss off.

    So many windows notifications lately for the stupidest crap. I already set it up how I liked now stop bugging me so I can write code. Also if I wanted backups, to set up a Microsoft account my windows install will be the first to know. Otherwise piss off.

    Not productive when I get distracted and annoyed.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago (13 children)

    I work with a lot of fresh-out-of-box windows PCs. When I don't immediately wipe them completely for a Debian install, the first thing I do in Windows is fire up Edge, download and install chrome and set it as default browser, then delete all Edge shortcuts.

    Several iterations of Windows stubbornly re-install the Edge shortcuts, luckily Google can quickly help you make the deletions stick longer. Of course, if they don't want to respect our choices of how we want our desktop configured, we also have a choice of desktops and OSs.

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  • [–] 28 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    why not firefox though?

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  • [+] -24 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    Personal preference, Chrome has been a more consistent reliable performer for me over the years.

    Yes, Google is evil, but really - everything you interact with on the web is evil, Firefox isn't protecting you - at least Google occasionally makes it more obvious the scope and depth of your personal information that is being harvested by "the system."

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Why not winget install Google.Chrome? That way you don't even need to open Edge

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    • [–] 33 points 3 months ago (8 children)

    These harmful patterns exist all throughout the operating system. They're so incredibly frustrating and obviously anti-user, and it is these intentional design decisions that have pushed me away from windows on all of my devices

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  • [+] -18 points 3 months ago (7 children)

    I find linux is the absolute worst for alway tracking me and shoving ads down my throat.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    I think you misspelled Windows

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  • [+] -8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Windows is great it just works and copilot helps make my life easy.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    Ahem*

    "I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

    Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

    There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!"

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    • [–] 10 points 3 months ago (10 children)

    Welcome back to the year 2000…

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  • [+] -12 points 3 months ago (8 children)

    Eh, Internet Explorer beat out Netscape because the latter was incredibly bloated and could take dozens(plural) of minutes to boot.

    If you wanted something done quick, if you tried IE you'd be done and moved on by the time Netscape loaded; even if once it loaded it was faster at loading pages.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Very hard to take this comment seriously when it doesn't take into account the fact that Internet Explorer was included for free and by default on Windows

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  • [–] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

    The fuck? IE was absolutely dogs hit performance wise not to mention their non standard support of Javascript (JScript) was horrible. To accommodate IE you needed VBScript to perform well so basically a whole different site.

    Netscape was always better but once they shoved IE on everyone you were left with doing 2 sites for a smaller percentage. Most corps flat out wanted IE only and VBScript / ASP and cut out the Javascript. Even then you sometimes had to do things ass backwards to make it work on IE.

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    • [–] 7 points 3 months ago*

    Updates for Windows now off the table for most users.

    Microsoft still in race to end their company. Sony still slightly ahead of them in terms of reputation loss.

    Both companies want to turn you into a renter of their software.

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    [–] 6 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    It's undeniable that Microsoft makes this difficult, but Google Chrome has found its way onto nearly 75% of all desktops while Edge only enjoys around a 10% share.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    youtube, google, gmail. all better platform to market from than your desktop os. plus google spent a ton of money on mainstream ads, and had the perfect place on those aforementioned platforms to peddle their own and at no cost to them. and google is far from innocent here.. they've bullshitted their way to the top of the browser game and pull similar stunts as microsoft does.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    To be sure, Google's market penetration across the web is a huge driver of encouraging people to switch browsers. It costs nothing to advertise on their own website! I just find it interesting that so many people on Windows actually do. If I was forced to choose between Edge and Chrome, I'd probably skip the hassle of installing an extra browser.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    because the average user is kinda dumb, kinda impatient, and some of those ads and banners on google properties peddling chrome were very scary to them.. that they'd lose, or miss-out on something in, youtube or google or their gmail.

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    • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    Windows 10 and 11 webapps like Wikipedia are also designed to use the pre-installed copy of Edge and stop working if Edge is manually uninstalled.

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    [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Left out that oulook has two settings for opening links now... Edge, and Default Browser, and Edge is selected by default, even if you have chosen a different browser as your default.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago

    Teams too.
    New Outlook also really wants you to send files through onedrive. When dragging a file in you get two big fields to drop it into, one for actual attachment, the other for a onedrive link. After you go for the former, it has the gall to add another small banner with "upload to onedrive".

    Fffffuck off

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    • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    There's also a speed test button in the networks tab (windows 11) that does a bing search for "internet speed test". Not sure if it also opens edge even when it's not the default browser, I don't have it installed.

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