Microsoft is playing dirty in fight to squash Edge browser rivals
Windows 11 update leaves you little choice but to use Microsoft Edge
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Microsofthas taken aggressive steps to drive users towards itsweb browserEdge as it looks to close the gap on established rivals.
Last month, we reported that members of theWindows 11early-access program were finding theoperating systemwould no longer allow links with acustom Microsoft Edge URI schemeto open in any other browser.
As part of the last round of Patch Tuesday updates of 2021, it appears Microsoft has quietly extended this policy to allWindows 10andWindows 11installations.
Although the firm has not gone as far as to force allweblinks to launch in Edge (only those housed within its own services, like the Start menu), the move is unlikely to prove popular with Windows users, the majority of whom use a third-party browser as their daily driver.
Microsoft Edge backlash
Until now, Windows users have been able to rely on a free service called EdgeDeflector to counteract the Edge URI scheme, and rival browsers Firefox and Brave feature similar in-built workarounds. However, following the latest update, none of these solutions remain viable.
When hints of a crackdown first emerged, the creator of EdgeDeflector was openly critical of Microsoft, which he believes has strayed the wrong side of antitrust law.
“These aren’t the actions of an attentive company that cares about its products any more,” he wrote in ablog post. “Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. [It’s] prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their own productivity.”
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“For users, the best action is to complain to their local antitrust regulator or switch toLinux. Your web browser is probably the most important - if not the only - app you regularly use. Microsoft has made it clear that its priorities for Windows don’t align with its users’.”
Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, also voiced its concerns about the forcefulness with which Microsoft is pushing its service on Windows users.
“People deserve choice. They should have the ability to and easily set defaults, and their choice of default browser should be respected,” said a Mozilla spokesperson.
“We have worked on code that launches Firefox when the microsoft-edge protocol is used for those users that have already chosen Firefox as their default browser. Following the recent change to Windows 11, this planned implementation will no longer be possible.”
However, asreported by ghacks, there remains one viable workaround in the form of anopen sourcetool called MSEdgeRedirect, which gets around the Edge URI scheme in a different fashion to EdgeDeflector and Firefox.
It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will move to block this bypass as well.
ViaNeowin
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He’s responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.
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