Windows 10 Is Forcing Users To Edge

Even If It Isn’t Their Default Browser Even if it isn’t their default browser.

Microsoft looks for ‘feedback’ regarding new change that will open all email links in the much maligned Edge Browsers, regardless of users personal choice.

Microsoft has revealed that it’s to trial another attempt to get its Windows 10 users to use its Edge Browser. The move was announced in the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17623 for Skip Ahead, where the company states that there are to test a change “where links clicked on within the Windows Mail app will open in Microsoft Edge”.

It’s not Edge is a bad browser, it’s just that others do it better…

Expect fireworks

The change will initially only be available to ‘Windows Insiders’. Microsoft argues in its notes that only Edge “provides the best, most secure and consistent experience on Windows 10 and across your devices,” add that with all its built-in features for “reading, note-taking, Cortana integration, and easy access to services such as SharePoint and OneDrive, Microsoft Edge enables you to be more productive, organized and creative without sacrificing your battery life or security. As always, we look forward to feedback from our WIP community”.

As has been noted by several other tech news websites, it’s that bit about ‘feedback’ that is likely to give Microsoft something of a headache. Within hours of the announcement, many users responded with annoyance and severe criticism, and not all of it constructive. Several even went as far to raise concerns about whether Microsoft should even be in the browser market at all, especially at what many have sighted as the conflict of interest inherent in running both a browser and an operating system, and using one to force the other on users.

Just a trial…

Of course, as with all preview builds for Windows Insiders, it is just that, a preview. And what that means is that there’s a good chance that assuming the current unrest among Windows Insiders continues, the ‘feature’ will not make it into the final update version of Windows 10. Time will tell.

It’s easy to see why Microsoft would want this change. According to the Guardian newspaper’s coverage on this story, “despite Windows 10 being installed on 36% of desktop computers globally, according to data from StatCounter, Edge is only used by 4% of desktop computer users, behind Internet Explorer with 6.9%, Firefox with 11.5% and Google’s Chrome with a market-leading 67.5% share of users”.

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