story
some things I've noticed: Mobil Safari seems to be using the search bar to hijack my google search (Particularly for locations which open in apple maps)
Although I'm mostly linux these days I went to install an alternative browser on a windows machine (using edge to download). I mentioned this in another post, but edge seems to watch for "chrome" or "firefox" downloads and politely reminds you that 'Edge is a great browser with added "trust of microsoft"' (A company who happen to be watching when you download a web browser).
https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/2/22813733/microsoft-window...
Linux seems like an OS that is way more respectful.
Battery throtteling on the iPhone 6s; The sandboxing / sideloading discussion; The no-iCloud experience; The way that regular bluetooth headsets work fine, but AirPods work even better; How unauthorized Apps on MacOS must be opened with a right-click.
Safari suggestions are also a great example: So far, I like them in iOS 17, since they can also provide direct links to useful sites such as Wikipedia. But don't doubt for a second, that taking traffic away from Google was the primary goal here.
Microsoft isn't so smart. Most users, including non-technical, can see through their attempts.
"iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones" -- an actual quote from the SVP of Software Engineering in charge of iOS, revealed in Epic Games v Apple court discovery
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.36...
Of course, if you really cared about green bubbles, you'd switch to Android because there you can adjust outgoing message color to your heart's liking :-)
What do you mean by this? I have an iPhone but don't have airpods, just "regular" BT headphones. Under windows, they're hit or miss (sometimes they don't reconnect), but they work pretty well under iOS and mac os. They work best under linux (!), especially since it's the only one to support LDAC (though I understand some non-sony android phones may support this now).
So, if somehow apple came out with a way of making BT headphones work even better (what do they do better?), I don't see why you'd hold that against them. Should they not innovate just so that the competition doesn't get upset?
I argue that they are blatantly anti-consumer, but have created a brand identity association that causes people to pretend (and argue) they are not. Try using an ipad without handing over your credit card details. Even google is better in this area.
This is one of the ways I can tell what preconceived opinion someone has. The only problem with the battery throttling was PR. The engineering solution was correct and objectively better than not throttling. Should they have told users their battery was failing? Sure. But keeping the phone from crashing was better than letting it.
> unauthorized Apps on MacOS must be opened with a right-click
I've never had to do that.
No I don’t want to install your shit browser on my phone Google. Kindly frick off.
and lack of user profiles on ipads so they cannot be easily shared among family.
> the no-iCloud experience
What?
> The way regular Bluetooth headsets work fine, but AirPods work better.
I… I don’t see how this is apple’s fault. Bluetooth, as a standard, is obviously limiting. Apple, making both headphones and the devices that play audio, had an opportunity to offer a better product to their customers if you use other apple devices. That’s fine, and I would argue, eminently reasonable. I just don’t get what you’re driving at here, would love to hear more.
The reason I like apple is that, in vague general terms, their interests as a company often align with my interests as a consumer.
Yes, you can argue that apple has made changes in safari detrimental to google for business reasons. But shit, I’m happy about that. The less data my phone silently sends off to google, the better.
Maybe I’ve just fallen for their ploy, but I do actually really like the apple products I own (and I often try the non-apple alternatives because I love tech). No company is perfect, and I know they aren’t my friend or don’t care about me. But until I feel apples interests diverge from my own significantly, I’ll find alternatives.
bluetooth headphones work to the best of their ability on Apple devices. Apple invented a better technology for their own headphones to improve problems inherent with bluetooth. I’m struggling to understand how improving upon a flawed technology is anti-consumer? Apple devices still support bluetooth, and Apple headphones work with non-Apple devices over bluetooth.
In the terminal it has a nice "search with Google" option and I can not figure out how to get MacOS to stop opening Safari with that.
Every time I use Apple products I get frustrated at how it blocks me from doing what I want to do.
I think this is one thing a ton of people don't realize. Apple doesn't want to sell you individual devices. They want you to sell an entire electronic ecosystem that serves all of your technology needs and seamlessly integrates all of it for you.
It's why they put effort into things like handoff, copy & paste on iPhone/mac, AirDrop, iCloud photo sharing, et al. Sure there's a profit motive in having you use all their stuff, but they really do make a genuine effort to make things work together better than disparate devices, companies or manufacturers do.
I still have to use a private channel in Signal to share things like pics or links from iOS/OSX/Windows because there just isn't a good cross-ecosystem app that I've found. Discord and slack sort of work, but they're not E2E encrypted like Signal is.
Now you get the benefit of Windows power management (and that beautiful laptop battery life) but a web browser Microsoft isn't going to mess with.
This sounds hilarious were it not the way I actually work.
PS: I'll also mention that VSCode from Windows to WSL2 + Debian is a mind-blowingly wonderful thing, I don't know how it works but it's near magical as a dev environment when you need a full Linux but like having battery life.
Is that sarcasm? I never had good battery life on a laptop running Windows. Linux has always been superior to me in that regard (maybe if nvidia optimus is at play?).
What kind of system are you running?
On my thinkpad, arch install squeezes 9 hours after 7 years of use.
On a dell XPS I'd get about 13 hours with the gpu disabled and display set to 1440p instead of 4k. Sure you might say "but I need my GPU and 4k 15'' display" to which I reply eh maybe but I don't.
I got fed up with trying to run Fusion360 on Linux, no longer had a Mac, and reignited my long disused Windows installation recently. Updated and restarted. Looked around for WSL, nothing. Searched online, loads of blog spam of mixed helpfulness, no way of telling (for me, new to it) if they were v1 or v2, no basic information like they're talking about Ubuntu but is that a requirement? What changes if I want x? Looked in the app store, ..stuff yes, including 'Arch WSL' for example, but is this right? It seems to work, but really, I'm supposed to install something third-party?
I assumed it was just something that was there built-in by default, but apparently not? Probably is if I first go start run regedit and set Computer Computer Windows HKLM Software Windows Windows Linux Software WSL enable to '2', right? Easy.
I wish they would label that section of the results (would have given a hint to what it was). The google search results are labeled and appear below those unlabeled suggestions.
It feels a little sneaky to me (like having to go to settings to turn off the a"subscribe to apple music" in the music app..)
> If you stick with safari it will load the site in an internal safari webview, requiring a second tap on the bottom to launch in the real safari
???
Many applications do this, including those from Apple itself. I don't see the refusal here.
"Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that."
Yes, you're missing the fact that the user ALREADY set the default browser to something other than Edge, and Outhouse is now going to ignore your declared preference "for your convenience".
You usually download a browser just once, so turning if off isn't the issue. I suspect some of less technically inclined might abide by it and not download the new broswer.
It almost seems like trial run for stopping the download. I can imagine "clippy" popping up an saying "I see your trying to download a browser, I'm sorry, I can't allow that"
To be fair, you trust Microsoft to be your OS. Installing another browser means that there are now two parties that could be malicious or hacked (distribute a compromised update) rather than one.
FWIW, I run Firefox on Debian Linux and an open source browser on Android as well (so no Safari hijacking going on either), but I can see valid logic in their statement ...even if they might not themselves have considered whether this is true before using it as marketing
Anecdata, I know, but I've never experienced this across any iOS versions.
Though given how shitty Apple's own software has become, I wouldn't be surprised if it's an integration gone awry.
Unless you are referring to the search field on google.com, it is not hijacking’s your google searches. It is suggesting actions based on your input to the url bar.
I was introduced to the following concept[1] some time back, and I can't help but think it gives a very reasonable explanation as to why everything is a subscription these days.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendency_of_the_rate_of_profit...
We need a comeback of antitrust enforcement with teeth to get both Microsoft and Google to do honest competition, instead of backhanded methods.
On Firefox I can stand the suggestion to use Chrome when I use google, I can even block it with uBlock, but haven't really bothered to.
Now, when they keep tweaking my OS settings, and use every upgrade as the excuse to reset my browser settings over and over, then I get mad. When I get ads on my start menu too. That's why I don't use windows anymore.
These have dark patterns, but freedom still. (Not M$ anymore, they restore defaults with each update)
The both the browser and OS actively advise against it.
You make it out as if this is only done by Google. The same company that tries everything it can to make you use Edge on Windows also tries to make you switch to Edge on their site. Google is perfectly entitled to do what they want on their site, Microsoft however takes it to a whole new level - which is par for the course with Microsoft.
"Experience AI-powered browsing with the new Bing built-in. Get comprehensive answers and summarized information side-by-side in Microsoft Edge"
It worked first try.
I don't think they explicitly broke it in ff, just that they don't test on anything that isn't chrome, which results in these nice side effects.
What doesn't negate anything you said, it's just a detail worth adding.
How about enforcing direct control about Microsoft business? Not just another “low” fine in the ten to twenty billion range. Just stopping Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Enforcing AT&T to not enter any new business worked well. In consequence we got UNIX, C, open-source and documentation and finally the TCP/IP-stack of BSD, GNU and Linux. This had a positive effect for the complete computing industry and society. Reagan relaxed all rules, allowed AT&T to split up - the results were bad. No IT company had to fear any regulation afterwards, either politics didn’t want regulate or didn’t understand computing at all.
We don’t need this companies with too much power using incompatibility, vendor lock-in and storing away our data (the newest approach).
Chances for regulation Europe seem a little better? Less lobbyists and less tax money involved and people don’t believe in capitalism. Too late (10xtimes) and too little but at least they react.
Microsoft already lost this case twenty years ago? Repeat offenders do not get the mercy of the courts.
About the Windows gaming machine, you can surely build one just for gaming; just never put any personal data on it, never use it for surfing or doing anything that is not gaming, never give it any unfiltered access to your LAN, assume it contains malicious software then put it on dedicated Ethernet port on the firewall, setting up rules that allow only very restricted storage sharing so that it can't read or write anywhere but directories set up to contain exclusively what one would want to be readable/writeable by that machine.
Yes, it's a nightmare, but I don't see alternatives, save for giving Windows the middle finger for good also wrt gaming, which might end up easier than expected given the recent development with Proton and DXVK.
Personally I use Linux unless forced to use something else by my employer.
The one thing you will need to do occasionally is experiment with different Wine distributions. This means you will need to right click on your game and select the distribution from a drop-down box. Exhausting, I know.
None of the games I've played recently even are on Steam, so no, your answer is misleading at best.
And no, I've not tried it recently on my main machine but I've tried it often enough that my summary is still: Feel free to try it, but many (or most) of us still have to stick with Windows even if we don't like it.
And yes there are also ways to stop data collection if you're concerned about giving that to them.
Bill Gates said so himself in 2007: "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not,"[1]
I'm not pretending that the intervening 16 years hasn't changed things; I am happily gaming exclusively on Linux after all, something most people didn't truly expect back then. But that statement remains true regardless.
[1]https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007...
What makes you think the crack you apply to your official ISO isn't compromising your OS?
> even if it were questionable on the security front it's not like you're doing anything that really needs that sort of security
If you're going to install steam on your PC, then you'd be giving an attacker access to your steam account and if you ever install or use a platform that doesn't already have your credit card info stored then the attacker gets your credit card data.
> And yes there are also ways to stop data collection if you're concerned about giving that to them.
This isn't true. There is no way to stop windows from collecting data. No version of windows is capable of disabling all data collection, and there's no setting you can configure that can't be undone by MS at any time, and without any notice at all to you.
At best, you can install a copy of windows on a machine that is left offline 100% of the time, but i think most gamers would find that unacceptable since even if you don't care about MMOs or multiplayer, steam is still pretty popular.
I don't object to the idea of pirating software you don't like, don't want, but feel "forced" to use, but the idea that there are no real risks to your security or your privacy by doing it is just plain wrong.
Just use linux. It can play plenty of games.
Alternatively, a Windows box locked down to LTSC.
Shouldn't it all, good or bad, be attributed to Satya Nadella at this point?
Or does the great CEO lack agency?
Even weirder, for some reason people have no issues blaming Google's sorry state directly on Sundar Pichai.
shrug
Enjoy!
I wonder since the initial "free" W10 upgrade, where the hell are the regulators? The browser selection window happen these years ago and seems they call job well done both for themselves and MS.
We have standards wars, a stale browser that just woke-up and became a bit less stale (but no promises for the future), anticompetitive practices all around. We are right inside a browser war.
to help you stay engaged in conversations as you browse the web.
I wonder if the people who write this sort of BS-filled prose really believe in what they're writing. To be completely honest, the style almost sounds like LLM output.
Edge is pretty OK, good even compared to Firefox's speed issues and Chrome being Chrome.
I use different browsers for different things: let me fucking chose which browser to use.
I am currently wondering how easy it would be to build a "shim browser" that you can set as default but does not actually open the page, it only list the urls apps tried to open and lets you copy them to whichever browser you prefer.
Properly implemented such prompts would be great though. Someone else in the thread mentioned how location search results on mobile Safari always launch Apple Maps - it would be great to have the option to choose from whatever I have installed.
Hamburger > Settings > Default Apps (in "General" at the bottom)
- Chrome
- Google (?)
- Safari
- Default browser app
I don't know what "google" is, but I don't even have chrome installed. If I click it, it sends me to the app store.
It's a bare-minimum version of chromium that comes with Android. It's not chrome either.
FirefoxPWA gets it right and opens in the default browser (but it is a bit janky for other reasons).
Then an update replaced my work.
It wasnt some 'uninstall program', but a multi-step process that involved registry editing.
I don't feel like I have control over Windows.
My friends would be like "do you want to play games?" and I'd be like "yeah hang on while I make some boot media so I can recover afterwards."
If Windows is removing another OS's entries from the boot list (displayed when you run 'efibootmgr -v' in Linux) then that's 100% deliberate anticompetitive behaviour from Microsoft; this list is where the entires like Windows, Fedora, and so on appear in the list of boot entries your firmware shows you.
I worked around this by installing Ubuntu on a second SSD, then I can use my bios menu to change the boot device.
Today I can't get rid of ads/news/cortana/edge.
* O&O ShutUp10++ – Free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11 | https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
* StevenBlack/hosts: Consolidating and extending hosts files from several well-curated sources. Optionally pick extensions for porn, social media, and other categories. | https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts
Not everyone can just jump to Linux when they work in a company.
However I still have Teams. And Teams occasionally opens up a webpage for oidc authentication. Unlike Slack this isn't my default browser (firefox), it's some embedded browser in teams, which has no access to my password store. It's terrible, but it's microsoft, what do you expect?
https://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/windows/archive/aard/ind...
> The code in question has become known widely as the AARD code, named after initials that are found within.
From your link, for those not in the know
They weren't logged-out, they just didn't notice that the link was opened in the wrong browser. Doesn't help that most browsers kind of all look the same.
However, we are power users and the big masses won't care about an ever increasing misalignment between the users' needs and Microsoft's. We cannot vote with our wallets, e.g. by using Linux instead. It won't matter.
What we could maybe do is contribute to projects like ReactOS[0] and make it easier for the layperson to migrate to it if modern Windows finally annoys them. Just food for thought.
Now, if only I could convince my dad, he might allow me trying to put it on my mom's computer as well... he insists on buying Microsoft Office for everyone under his roof so that I don't have an excuse to install LibreOffice
Sometimes it seems like old-ish white men is why we can't have nice things (I'm gonna be one of those :/)
I'm sorry, I LOVE building products and I LOVE design... but these fields have become grift central. No disrespect to folks in these fields, but remember how you came into this field talking about usability, cooperation, beautiful typography, color theory?
Bring those back.
Why not? You can absolutely call people out for using Nuremberg defense. Just because someone ordered you to intentionally mistreat people doesn't mean that you did not intentionally mistreat people.
But VSCode is okay, for now!
How about you don't decide that for everyone, Microsoft?
<rant>
This is the same BS that pushes 'conditional acces' based on what browser you happen to be using, or their idea of SSO where your console login also dictates all other logins... and it happens that you must use Edge. Turns out people don't give a shit if they have to pick an account more than once. That used to be a big point of friction on LanMan networks and when there was no Kerberos, but the same principles simply do not transfer to the web.
Just like Teams and all their other packaged nonsense (Intune): they are creating a fake ecosystem where usage isn't based on requirements or best tool for the job, but on 'what else happens to come with the package', making the UX worse for everyone. Entry-level admins and middlemen don't actually need (or want) to know how any of it works, delegate responsibility and defects to the vendor (Microsoft) and then essentially stall all local wants and needs because they cannot actually fulfil anything themselves.
Please understand that I understand the reasons behind Wayland, that the Wayland Devs are also behind X, and that X is an awful mess. I know and I believe, but Wayland is still the worst solution for the problem X created, in my humble view.
Please also accept that this is not a criticism of the awesomeness of Wayland/X devs. They are awesome. But they also were tired of X, and the result is, Wayland is undercomplex by at least a gut-factor of 10. And anything accessiibility-related is part of that.
Just like what happened before Firefox saved us from the Internet Explorer 6 monoculture.
Whether you talk about Microsoft-the-firm or Microsoft-the-shareholders when asking about "what's in it for them": that's the same thing because it's a for-profit business, so that's an irrelevant thing to post as well.
I’ll need to reconsider Chrome or Firefox, which is a shame since I really liked some Edge’s features.
Why should microsoft respect anyone if they don't have the self respect to use literally any other OS? They keep getting away with this shit, because people keep letting them.
If you choose to use Windows then I have no pity for you.
Skype similarly gets worse and worse each update. They removed the ability to have multiple windows, they made links open in some kind of in-Skype browser I can’t find a setting a to turn off, they added a weather widget which is dumb.
Thankfully the weather widget exists, though, because their new in app browser doesn’t have any way to close the in app “window” it opens - no x, nowhere to click to close it. The only way I’ve found to close it is to click the weather widget which loads into the same space and that has an x to close it. I bet they’re getting tons of positive numbers about weather widget use from users just looking to close the shitty in app browser. I don’t know if it even counts as a dark pattern - I can’t tell if the Skype designers are this incompetent or actually hate the few users left still on that shitty platform. Maybe they’re purposely trying to get Microsoft to shut it down by making it worse every update?
Every second I use skype I want to get away from it, I just have to convince a handful of people to move as well, or I guess let them know they won’t be able to reach me through there and give up talking to them.
I noticed the outlook link handling thing on my personal machine and figured out how to turn it off but damn that was annoying. I’m not going to be annoyed into using edge - I won’t be tricked into it either. Every time this happens my willingness to go along with this gets smaller and smaller. I have a bunch of paid Microsoft licenses - windows, office365, etc. Once gaming off windows matures a little more I think its time to move away from this abusive shit.
“ Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that. ”
Having said that, Microsoft seem to be entering another phase of baiting antitrust regulators.
And this is similar. There is no non-malicious use case for this setting that I can see.
On iOS, it's mandatory, because Apple says so.
Users don't pay attention to this stuff. And then when you have to go back and switch it to the correct behavior of using the default browser, they've buried the option in Outlook (Options > Advanced > Link Handling).
What kind of post-Orwellian shitfuckery is this? It really grinds my gears when a prompt puts words in your mouth (e.g. "Yes, please" or "No thanks, maybe later") but this reaches a new level by trying to reframe something as simple as wilfully ignoring a stated preference. It sounds like a modern car ad in that it's all about catering to you the "main character" writing your own story and presenting themselves as the facilitators of your perfect customised destiny.
But they're just trying to change your browser and hope you have enough to worry about that you won't notice and their metric will tick up.
On the "FedEx Accused of Largest Odometer Rollback Fraud" post, llimos says "When did we move to a "do whatever you think you can get away with" model of society?" [0].
Like light_hue_1 says in response, "Because the cost of fraud is far too low and it's now factored into business plans." That seems to be exactly what is happening here too. It's honestly disheartening.
If we want to live in a society that's not supported by tech that's weaponized against its users, we need to find better ways to fight back than smugly switching to Linux.
Walking away while they prey on our friends is insufficient. Whatever it is, it has to be costly. Bonus points if it's legal.
Edge has another funny behavior where if you go to a Chrome extension page, it says you can install the extension. However, Chrome puts a web-page warning over the install button to block it and try to get you to install Chrome again.
It's clear companies value being your default browser.
I would recommend Fedora if you want the bleeding edge or Debian if you want a super stable system (Or NixOS stable, but NixOS is kind of hard to get started using).
The ads for Ubuntu Pro every time I open a terminal or update my computer aren't very welcoming either. If Ubuntu had a browser of their own, it would be as worse as Windows.
Tried again maybe 4 (?) years ago and have stuck with it - everything is pretty smooth for my purposes now. I do run into some random issues sometimes - like display drivers randomly resetting. That seems to be the biggest one.
Turns out I now have a related problem in Windows, with the integrated GPU spinning at full throttle despite not doing anything important.
I've somewhat improved battery life(and CPU temperature) by setting the system to prefer the discrete GPU, which is a ridiculous solution to a problem which I shouldn't have had in the first place.
At this point I think I can live with selecting one of the GPUs and sticking to it for a given session, like I did in Linux on my previous machine. Even if I have to restart the system each time.
My USB wireless mouse randomly disconnects on Linux. Unplugging and replugging fixes it.
My sound is flaky on windows + Microsoft dark patterns.
Maybe I'll find a hardware solution to the mouse thing.
I dislike Microsoft as much as the next person, but AFAICT this is about opening the link inside Outlook, in a sidepane:
> ... browser links from the Outlook app will open in Microsoft Edge by default, right alongside the email they’re from in the Microsoft Edge sidebar pane.
Also the title has been editorialized here, the original title describes what is actually happening:
> Outlook emails open next to web links in Microsoft Edge
You can also turn it off:
> Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that.
Note on (a): some will argue a difference between Google advertising Chrome on Google’s property (something they could do when bootstrapping Chrome) and advertising Chrome on other people’s property (something they could not do). But here, Windows and Edge are Microsoft’s property, like it or not.
This isn't about advertising, it's about not following system defaults.
On my iphone the GMail app seems to frequently "forget" that Safari exists and I'm prompted to install Chrome when I tap a link.
https://i.redd.it/tg2yj98o5ao51.jpg (Obtenir means Get/Install).
Side A is fighting side B, and therefore has to take these measures that harm bystander C. Nope, their fight, their problem, don't mess with my computer. I can happily say MS is wrong and Google is wrong
A few days ago on fresh windows install I couldnt watch netflix on ff/edge, but on chrome it worked. Player error.
I guess it was related to some missing drivers?
The links don't "open in Edge". That would suggest they launch the Edge app (instead of the default browser) and open the link in that. Instead the links open in a pane in Outlook that embeds Edge (presumably with the same settings and session context as the actual app). This also only affects the desktop Outlook app, not the far more modern and less clunky web version. I genuinely wonder how many HN users commenting on this story actually use desktop Outlook app or know someone who does and doesn't also use Edge (or their IT department's mandated out-of-date copy of Firefox ESR).
Now, bear in mind I'm saying this from a position that is in favor of splitting up Microsoft (and Google and maybe Apple). The feature is certainly useful if viewed in isolation, but it is in effect anti-competitive behavior because even if they wanted, they couldn't provide generic integration of your browser of choice the same way and the new behavior is opt-out rather than opt-in. It's bad, but let's not pretend it's worse and more deceitful than it truly is, just because you already don't like Microsoft (and presumably don't use their products).
This is probably a genuine usability improvement. It's also anti-competitive. Both of these things can be true at the same time.
There are not many alternatives, are there?
Lol. Euphemism for "we want to take away all choice from the user".
fucking lmao, linux since years ago don't care
For those who were too young at the time, Microsoft lost the first instance of that trial and eventually reached a settlement.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_C....
> To provide a unique experience — at Microsoft, we strive to create the best customer experience across our products.
... they straight up admit using windows dominance to push other products.
That should fix it, right?
I use it for quite a long time now and it works with the search bar in the startmenu.
How painful is the Steam on Linux/Proton experience on average?
Its way better than 2,3 years ago and at this time is was already useable. Give it a try.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....
Also definitely not in the best interest of users, which isn't the Satya Nadella way of operating, at least not as demonstrated in the developer tools side of the business.
Oh yes, good tsar, bad boyars.
Whenever Microsoft does something good, like open-sourcing some dev tool, it's because of Nadella. But he isn't responsible for the state of Windows. If only someone told him about the forced telemetry, forced updates, forced Microsoft account login, pushing Edge down users' throats, and so on... I'm sure he would fix all those problems, but sadly, he doesn't know. And it's just a coincidence that all this stuff intensified when he became the CEO.
I even saw a comment on HN saying that it's "Ballmer loyalists" who are truly at fault for the current state of Windows.
"Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that."
Then what it the point of having system-wide settings in the first place?
Nobody wants Edge. Not now. Not ever.
Here's a graphic showing for the many uses for Edge.
This is as bad as Facebooks legendary QP abuse in metrics season that everyone used to win their PSC because we are talking about 300$ product here, Win11 PRO that is as crammed with adware - tiktok, instagram, office, onedrive, blah blah blah as in the worst days of steve balmer now.
I haven't touched Windows in a decade and don't miss a single thing. Every computer literate user should make the switch.
Years ago, I developed the muscle memory of copying links from outlook and pasting them into a browser rather than clicking on them directly. This was to avoid various "helpful" things Microsoft insists of doing. Now, that habit will pay off in spades.
The nice thing about the web versions of office is that they're powerless on the local machine.
I think apps should work in the general way an OS is designed. This change may lead to the same mobile app horrors where every app is also a browser that breaks common user flows.
And this reflects on other tech giants. They understand that they're in an era of near-zero regulation and can get away with seemingly anything.
For example, when you 'accidentally' click the help question mark instead of the exit cross, it will open Microsoft Edge with a search on Bing for "help with paint in windows".
I use Outlook for work only, and I segregate my browsing so that work browsing is done in Edge and personal is not. I could do (and have done) Chrome or Firefox profiles, but moving completely to Edge hasn't been terrible. (Hello vertical tab bar on my widescreen laptop).
I agree the pattern is bad if someone is using Outlook for their personal email, but I suspect the Venn diagram of people who use Outlook for personal email and people who install a different browser is probably small.
As always this should be an option!
On my Linux desktop and laptops I have my default browser set to firefox --profilemanager %u so that every link I click in Slack, Teams, Thunderbird etc I can select the correct profile to open it in.
The Windows Start menu is already so broken though.
Wow.
And it's always a 100% complete lie, and abusing their monopoly position.
Ready for a 15 minute long process that will restore itself in the future, not to mention trusting some random website for a guide.
Edge makes a lot more sense as a smarter 365 client than it does as a browser, but it's not a bad browser either.
We're looking at building a monster Davinci Resolve workstation and we might use Linux. He certainly wants to.
But between our mobile devices (all iOS etc) and laptops -- we'd have a very mixed and heterogenous environment. I'm tired of maintaining all the different incompatibilities. I'm inclined to go all Apple, just to keep things clean.
But the Distrowatch situation showed me how much Linux missed its "year of the desktop" window, so many years ago, and how having optimal hardware experiences across form-factors doesn't include Linux as a default, or obvious, or user-friendly option.. the way it does for servers and cloud ops.
That said, be responsible where you put your money. My wife no longer uses iOS. I no longer use iOS or Android. Raspberry is a media server for TV.
God I hope we get another anti competitive lawsuit over shit like this in my lifetime.
There may be many who does not care but growing number of people on the grid - who they ask advice from - will spread the dirtball reputation of Microsoft, reaching a lot of people, fortunately.
This type of thing doesn't come for free, IMO. There's a cost to this, even if they don't pay it in the short term.
