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'Microslop' is heading for Edge – major browser redesign is inspired by Copilot, and it's already seriously unpopular (www.techradar.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 165 points 10 months ago (38 children)

How will this one be called? Also Copilot? Slopilot?

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  • [–] 140 points 10 months ago* (29 children)

    Microsoft 365 Copilot Edge Pro Express Home Edition with Teams for Friends and Family 2027.

    People will still use it once to download another browser.

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  • [–] 40 points 10 months ago (17 children) 
    winget install Mozilla.Firefox
winget install Google.Chrome
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  • [–] 48 points 10 months ago (16 children)

    curl -L -o ubuntu.iso https://releases.ubuntu.com/22.04/ubuntu-22.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso

    Yeah. This is better.

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  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    I have a USB-bootable thumbdrive with Ubuntu 24 on it. Two home systems down, two to go.

    My chief concern is that this wave of enshitifiation will eventually make it to Microsoft's security support. Historically, at least recently, the weekly updates and response to critical vulnerabilities and virus scanning have been pretty good. But now that they're attacking their own flagship products - Office and Windows itself - I think it's only a matter of time before they fumble Windows security in a big way.

    I'll also predict that Non-pro Windows will eventually be "free" (as in beer), but will be useless without a live internet connection and cloud services. So now really is the time to switch. IMO, all the money points in that direction.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    My chief concern is that this wave of enshitifiation will eventually make it to Microsoft’s security support.

    That and their general quality control. It's already been happening. Their updates and new products have been having some serious issues with a lot more frequency over the last year. At least that's the strong impression I have. Oh, here's an article also calling this out: https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/08/microsoft_lacks_quality_control/ - apparently they may have started going down this path over a decade ago, but it seems to have accelerated since they started using Gen AI.

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

    Newest post from Cory Doctorow is about exactly this https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (1 child)

    Dude, that was a GOOD read. It's been a growing problem, before AI and entirely due to the infinite growth forced on companies by shareholder value.

    I code, usually for utility or personal projects. I'm surprised how many software devs have shit code. It's not that their code doesn't work, they wouldn't have a job without it. No, it works well for now, until it needs to be maintained or updated, usually after the sloppy author is gone, and then it's a shit show. Suddenly all the corners the last guy cut need to be added in somehow, with the whole thing expanded to scope, and the code becomes unworkable, at worst, requiring a complete rewrite, or at best turns into spaghetti code that leads to the shit we have in our aging early adopters.

    My biggest fear, and one that is not talked about in the article, is that we won't have any asbestos removers in the future. Generative AI is being fed it's own excrement and that's being leveraged as working code to new coders. When this really becomes a liability we won't have many left that can fix or figure out the fix cause it will have obfuscated all the usable info.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    My biggest fear, and one that is not talked about in the article, is that we won’t have any asbestos removers in the future. Generative AI is being fed it’s own excrement and that’s being leveraged as working code to new coders. When this really becomes a liability we won’t have many left that can fix or figure out the fix cause it will have obfuscated all the usable info.

    I think it's going to be a complete shit show. Here's the confluence of factors:

    • From what little I've seen of AI code, it seems to write code that's even more shit than human devs. I'm not in software dev, but I'm in IT operations and also studying CS. What I've seen of AI code in IT (PowerShell scripts) looked like it wrote 10+ lines where one or two would have done the job. In other words, it's a form of obfuscation like you said.
    • I strongly expect that fewer people are studying CS because they're getting the message that AI is taking all the dev jobs. That's true for the moment.
    • Fewer coders are being hired, so there will be even fewer experienced devs in the future.

    I think that this will all add up to a "dark ages" of software development in the not too distant future. There just won't be enough people to fix all the AI junk, and the AI junk will essentially need to be ripped out altogether. Software quality and security will go down the drain, and it will take forever to fix it, if it even gets fixed at all. I think it really will be equivalent to the "dark ages" (I know that this term is not considered accurate nowadays, but I think it applies even more to this situation).

    I'm hopeful for one thing though: that this phenomenon will strengthen free open source software relative to commercial software. If there are a bunch of devs who can't get dev jobs, hopefully they will spend at least some of their time contributing to open source. On top of that, it appears to me that open source projects have been more resistant to accepting AI code. Let's hope that this is a silver lining here.

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Out of curiosity, why does everyone always go for Ubuntu in posts like this? I've always hated that distro; all my machines run Fedora instead. IMO Fedora with KDE is way better than Ubuntu with Gnome in terms of usability for people switching over from Windows, but maybe I'm just biased since I'm already super familiar with Linux

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    It took me way more than a decade of using Ubuntu before I got to a point of preferring Fedora, in spite of frequent distro hopping in periods when I was bored.

    I think Fedora has gotten better in the last few years, but for me it also feels a bit more cold and unwelcoming maybe? Dunno, but I was always happy with Ubuntu until some really obscure dependencies got into conflict and I had to change things up. Canonical might not be the absolute best, but neither are Red Hat.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    I'm also a Fedora KDE user and I agree with you. The only real gripe I have with it is that if you don't know about the full version of RPM Fusion, you'll get frustrated that certain things are missing or don't work right, and the GUI button to enable third-party repos after installation isn't enough. I personally just skip that button and enable the full version following the directions on their site and then use Discover to enable Flathub.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago*

    Ubuntu doesn't respect the spirit of free open-source software. They keep jamming stuff into their distro to increase their control. There are plenty of alternatives. (E.g. Debian, OpenSUSE, Fedora or Mint for general-purpose distros.)

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It’ll just be called Microsoft Copilot.

    None of you are in an abusive relationship with the cruel mistress that is Windows and her accursed family and it shows.

    Personally I’m excited for when they rerelease regedit as Windows Copilot, MFS as (Co)Pilot, and Purble Place as Copilot Kids Demo.

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    & Knuckles

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    • [–] 74 points 10 months ago (41 children)

    Step One: Install literally any other browser
    Step Two: Make new browser the default
    Step Three: Forget that Edge exists

    Peace.

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  • [–] 65 points 10 months ago (35 children)
    1. Repeat step two forever when Microsoft decides there was a problem that can be solved by resetting your default browser.
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  • [–] 104 points 10 months ago (31 children)

    You know what the true Step One is.

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

    Absolutely.

    Just need a way to admin Active Directory from Linux and I’m set…

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

    This makes me think about the hospital I used to work at that had an old 386 parked in the shop running the HVAC system. They had it completely off the network and had to keep it because it was the only way to run the proprietary HVAC control software and would cost an absurd amount of money to upgrade to be compatible with modern systems and it still did its job.

    I imagine a future where there is a computer like that running windows 11 in some basement and new employees are trained "don't even think about touching this thing, its doing its job."

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    We still have handful of those around at work. 2000, XP and maybe some embedded variant of 98 too still somewhere. They are controlling some non-critical but still useful industrial stuff with stupidly large price tag to replace.

    Specially XP is still going to be around for quite a while in industrial settings where the production line is controlled via single computer and replacing it would mean replacing the whole line with price tag potentially in millions. And those aren't even that old machines, their planning and manufacturing just takes "a while" due to certifications and everything.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

    Just need a way to admin Active Directory from Linux and I’m set…

    What's wrong with Active Directory Web Services? It's installed on every DC by default since WS2008R2.

    You could also install PowerShell on your Penguin box and do tasks via command line.

    @RedstoneValley@RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    Honest question, is the ActiveDirectory PowerShell module available for Linux PowerShell? I can't seem to find a clear answer from a brief search.

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (18 children)

    I wish I wasn't such a coward about this.

    Three questions for you:

    • Will I be able to run Blender without issue?
    • Can I run Steam/Steam games easily?
    • Will Discord work?
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  • [–] 29 points 10 months ago* (12 children)

    Will I be able to run Blender without issue?

    The free and open source 3D creation software developed on Linux and primarily run on Linux? Yeah, you should be fine.

    Can I run Steam/Steam games easily?

    Absolutely. Games that have a problem running on linux are mostly contained to this with anti-cheat. You can verify your game's compatibility with protondb.com.

    Will Discord work?

    Of course. Discord has a linux native client.

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  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    Thanks

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    FYI: You are already on Lemmy, the most Linux friendly place on the Internet. If you ever run into trouble, just ask around. People here will love to help you.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Will do. Thanks again!

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

    One last thing. Since you are completely new, are coming from a Windows background, and do more than just game, I'd suggest starting with Linux Mint (Cinnamon). You do not have to stick with that distribution forever, but it is probably the most painless introduction since it is Debian/Ubuntu based and most of the help/articles you'll find on the Internet are focused on Debian/Ubuntu/Mint. Debian based distributions are more of a "set it and forget it" experience. Nice and boring.

    Other major core distributions that are different from Debian/Ubuntu include Red Hat (Fedora), Arch, and OpenSuSe. Red Hat (Fedora) is a good choice for corporate users since Red Hat is the defacto Linux distribution for the corporate world. Arch is great if you REALLY want to learn Linux and truly get into tinkering with its guts. OpenSuSe is the European option and what some European governments are ditching Windows for.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    That's very helpful. Thank you, again. I think I'm going to set up a partition and play with it so I can sort of have one foot in and one foot out to not disrupt my workflow too much while I figure things out. Wish me luck.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Everybody and their mother will have recommendations on their favorite flavor of Linux, but as somebody else about to make the switch with similar priorities as you, I'd suggest also taking a look at Bazzite. It's built on the same distro as the SteamOS and comes in at least two flavors for what your use case is. One of its selling points is that it's an "immutable" version of Linux, which means that it's a lot harder to accidentally break it as a new user.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    To top that off, you can dip your toes in by running a live image off a USB thumb drive to check if your hardware is recognized and supported out of the box. I have used Linux for 10-15 years, but never for gaming. This year I made the final jump, the one thing I had kept windows for. I don't play competitive games with anticheat, and everything is running great. I anticipated more bullshit, because 15 years ago, Linux was not so polished. At this point I'm fine with running Linux on elderly folks PCs. It's finally "good enough" to do just about everything and legitimately excels at most things.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago*

    Man, this comment made me feel old :)

    So much fun anti-nostalgia for trying to game on Debian fifteen years ago. This game doesn’t really run in WINE, but if you feed the Konami code into launch arguments then you might get working except upside down and in black and white. Oh, you wanted sound with that? Let me introduce you to my main man, ALSA. He’s a dick.

    The kids of today will never know the pain. Proton is a game changer.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Discord didn't play nice with Linux for me. It wouldn't update and then discord wouldn't let me sign in. Had to go thru a multi step process each update to fix it. Only discord did this.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    I want to reenforce the other response you got with yes to all of you questions. I use steam and discord daily on my Linux install. I don't use blender, but as mentioned is was developed for Linux, so should have no issues. If you have an old laptop or something around, try flashing on a distro and give it a whirl. Otherwise you may be able to get something dirt cheap on Craigslist if you want to have a lengthy try without configuring a dual boot, running off the install drive, or nuking your current setup.

    I went all in on mine fairly blind and it's one of the best decisions I've made in a couple of years. Go with something more stable if you're hesitant or not well versed in computers and terminal. I went Arch because I wanted to force myself to learn more about how Linux is built and operates. It took me a full day to get loaded to a desktop mostly reading the wiki and deciding what items I wanted and how I wanted them configured. Linux 10 years ago is so different from the current versions, so if you've tried it before with issue, forget that experience and treat it as a first time experience.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Games run easily, but there are some that won't run at all. Mainly those that use anti cheat and kernel level shit. Discord does work, but i remember that maintaining it updated was a pain in the ass. In any case, I didnt use it that much so..

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

    I've been using my Steam Deck as my PC, which is Arch Linux. Blender's only issue for my casual use is that GPU rendering isn't supported, so for any big rendering job, cloud would be necessary. Otherwise, a more powerful machine would be better, but as for the OS, it's totally fine.

    Adobe is another issue. Substance is available on Steam, but I think it's not updatable.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Better to link to the main page rather than the download page that immediately tries to download the app.

    https://www.sordum.org/9312/edge-blocker-v2-0/

    Sadly I doubt my employer would take kindly to me using this tool.

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago

    Step Three: Forget that Edge exists

    Open a PDF on Windows 11 - Edge is the default app.

    Use the search bar for search, click on a result, even though it's not your default browser Edge opens the result.

    And there are many other examples. Setting a default on Windows 11 is now extremely obnoxious and requires that you set many file types manually.

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    [–] 74 points 10 months ago (19 children)

    I hate Microsoft edge with a burning passion, and Microslop tries to force me to use it when I click any link from Outlook

    Your tools actively make my job HARDER

    It is so obnoxious. Fuck Microsoft, fuck Edge, and fuck Outlook.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    It does this from Outlook on android too. It's horrid

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  • [–] 28 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Settings > Open links in

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (12 children)

    Edge was fine, i use it at work to further separate personal use from work use further. It's vertical tabs are top tier and being able to have the dev tools have vertical tabs is also a massive plots for productivity. However the latter is getting removed for seemingly no reason and once that's gone there's no boon to using edge anymore and I'll just use a separate Firefox profile or use some chromium browser for work.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Firefox vertical tabs are better IMO. At least you can close them when minimized, which Edge cannot.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    Firefox has tree style tabs add-on. Gamechanger

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    Edge was fine

    When? it always sucked monkey balls.. when MS finally gave up and turned Edge into basically chrome with an ugly theme, it was a leap forward... but they soon enshitified it so bad it quickly became a complete bloated mess

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    As a base browser. I think edge is better than standard Chrome if you want Chromium.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    why? (if you don't mind me asking)

    I find it slower than chromium with a ton of oddly organized settings

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

    Its developers tools, as is is better than chromes.

    And like i said in my original comment it's vertical tabs are one of the best implementations out there at the moment.

    It has sensible tab folder features which I usually don't use in other browsers but in edge they're great.

    It also has what they call workspaces that keeps the exact state of your tabs across signed in instances if the browser irregardless of device (it even syncs in real-time - which has helped me in times at work when i can remote into multiple different devices on our network).

    Granted i can understand on personal devices the signed in workspaces may sound awful to most but on a device where i already have to be signed in to a Microsoft account for work anyway, it's a moot point for me. My work laptop is the only windows device i have in the house if that's worth any merit. Windows is awful, getting worse by the way and edge will soon be following suit so even though I'm praising it in its current state, I can't see me continuing to do so for much longer.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    Are the vertical tabs better than Vivaldi? If tabs are the metric, Vivaldi is better.

    My primary is Firefox because fuck chrome, but if I had to compare Edge to other chromium implementations I would go with Vivaldi.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago*

    Vivaldi is unusable for me because you can't have the bookmarks bar only show on the new tab screen, and they seem unwilling to add that in to save face in a few discussions they've had about that feature, it's weird.

    My primary is Firefox too by the way.

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