Microsoft likes Windows 10 so much, it makes Edge the default browser in Windows 10, even when you’re updating from a system that previously used Chrome or Firefox as the default. However, Beard complains that “it now takes more than twice the number of mouse clicks”, and that it’s “confusing, hard to navigate and easy to get lost”.
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The company has been working hard in promoting their own brand across platforms and the marketing team in Microsoft gets full marks for these efforts. The company has also released a video of the entire process which involves more than double the clicks and scrolls to confirm the default browser. Your default browser is the one that opens when you click in a link in your email, in the Windows searchbox or in other apps such as your instant messenger so it’s very important. In a blog post accompanying the letter, the Mozilla CEO said it was “bewildering” that Microsoft made that choice, especially after the company’s antitrust troubles. It involves opening their favorite browser and then taking some technical steps to inform Windows 10, rather than merely clicking on a button.
“Mozilla CEO, Chris Beard, has gone on to voice his concerns in an open letter to Microsoft Head Satya Nadella which states, “…the update experience appears to have been designed to throw away the choice your customers have made about the Internet experience they want, and replace it with the Internet experience Microsoft wants them to have”.
According to Ars Technica, the Windows 10 upgrade routine does allow you to keep your default applications, but that’s not the default behavior. “You remain in full control of your default experiences, while reducing some of the unwanted noise that multiple prompts can bring”. Users that have changed their default browser to any other one will have to go into the settings of their Windows 10 PCs to change back to another browser.
ScreenshotThe Edge browser on Windows 10.
“These changes aren’t unsettling to us because we’re the organisation that makes Firefox“.
“We strongly urge you to reconsider your business tactic here and again respect people’s right to choice and control of their online experience”.
So rather than using this for sending notes from meetings, it’s more about imparting key facts or asking quick questions such as “I’m running 10 minutes late” or “Where is the meeting being held?”
A Microsoft spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Microsoft deliberately limited consumer choice to give itself an unfair advantage, Beard suggested.
