Bad tongues (criticism of Microsoft) say that installing Chrome from Edge is the only action many users take with Microsoft’s web browser. Whenever possible, because the Redmond company does not make it easy for users who want to use alternatives.

The strategy is known. Microsoft is taking advantage of Windows’ huge desktop market share promote your applications and services against competitors. In all types of software and in all possible ways. Installing Windows 11, which comes by default, means you have to deal with dozens of pre-installed Microsoft apps. And to them we must add the hateful ones Bloatwareunsolicited or unwanted applications that unnecessarily take up storage or memory resources, reduce performance and stability.

Install Chrome from Edge, now with exploration

Go ahead and – in my opinion – the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is the best web browser in the software giant’s history and it has nothing to envy its other competitors in terms of performance, compatibility with standards, resource consumption, stability or security. But we are not talking about features, but the freedom the user should have to use it or not.

This is where Microsoft fails miserably and insists on artificially promoting it, using the Windows monopoly and worse, without respecting the choice of users or complicating the choice through well-known “dark patterns” or other techniques that, by their actions or omissions, make it difficult to use alternatives from third-party providers.

Microsoft Edge is the only browser that comes pre-installed on Windows, and that requires you to use it — at the very least — to install alternatives like Chrome, Firefox, or others. To start, just downloading alternatives is a nightmare. This is not a problem for users accustomed to Microsoft’s tactics, but many ordinary consumers will reject it due to the complications. This is what Microsoft is looking for to artificially increase its browser market share, which is otherwise very low.

A simple search for “chrome” in Edge’s Bing search engine returns a good-sized advertising billboard warning against using alternatives.

And when you download it, you’ll see that Microsoft describes the downloaded executable as potential malware. Some users simply uninstall out of fear of malware, which is untrue in this case.

Behind them you will see a large number of banners and posters discouraging you from using alternatives. And especially on the Chrome site, you’ll see a full-sized inline ad along the same lines. You can turn off news and forget about its existence, but pop-up banners They will test your patience to the limit: “Try Dall-E image builder, try another new tab page layout, try Bing Chat instead of Bard, download Edge for mobile, enable shopping, share your browsing data with us to improve your experience, don’t download Chrome, enable Microsoft Rewards , switching to Bing and much more ».

A user who manages to install an alternate browser will not complete the odyssey. In Windows 11 Microsoft artificially complicated the ability to set it to use by default as this must be done for each extension and protocol associated with the browser. Something few of us do.

And even then, the operating system forces you to use the Edge browser for various actions, such as links in the news widget, Bing search, Outlook, chats in Teams, and more.

And now the survey

As if all that wasn’t enough, last weekend the guys from Redmond implemented one more annoyance. It’s the least offensive of the other questionable practices Microsoft uses to keep you on Edge: surveying.

Trying to install Chrome from Edge open its questionnaire sidebar to explain to Microsoft “how dare you download another browser”. The The exact wording based on the questions is easier, but you get the idea… Use the browser you want. Edge is a great browser, but there are others just as good and better that you should try. You choose; Don’t let Microsoft force it on you.

And to be fair… The problem of Edge on Windows is repeated on other platforms when there is a provider that monopolizes that market. Google includes Chrome with Android (and a bunch of pre-installed apps) and doesn’t like it when you install a competing solution. More of the same with Apple and Safari. iOS is a walled garden where alternatives are not easy to use.