Posted on 03/20/2018 2:33:47 PM PDT by dayglored
Grab some popcorn: Redmond has asked for feedback
Microsoft’s about to test a new feature of Windows 10 that will force users to employ its Edge browser under some circumstances.
Revealed in the announcement of Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17623 for Skip Ahead, the change means “we will begin testing a change where links clicked on within the Windows Mail app will open in Microsoft Edge”.
Microsoft’s justification for the change is that Edge is the best, most secure browser on Windows 10.
But the change will reportedly override users’ preference for default browser.
While that’s naughty in lots of ways and makes Microsoft’s efforts to boost its browser’s market share pretty lame, this change won’t have a massive effect because Windows Mail isn’t a big deal. A firm named Litmus tracks email client use and in its analysis of the email market in 2017 found Outlook has six per cent of the email client market, Outlook.com has four per cent and Windows Live Mail had one per cent market share. Windows Mail didn't get a mention. That means it is behind even Yahoo! mail’s two per cent market share not in the same postcode as the 28 per cent share for the iPhone’s email client, 26 per cent for Gmail, and even the five per cent market share for Samsung’s mail client.
And of course the change also applies to a Preview, meaning there’s a decent chance this “feature” won’t ever make it into a proper version of Windows 10.
Microsoft’s post is also peppered with calls for feedback: The Register imagines few comments Redmond receives will be positive. ®
It's not -that- Dark............
Okay, so it -is- that Dark. But it does work really well. :-)
Or you could switch to Linux and run that on your existing Windows hardware.
I work for a multi-billion dollar company that spans 23+ states, and has its own telcom company to support its network traffic.
Win 10 is reeking havoc across the entire system. So much so that we’ve started switching to linux as the OS for our critical systems.
I’ve used Edge. It’s actually a surprisingly good browser since every tab run as its own process like Chrome does. And it works a lot smoother than even Firefox 59.0.
I'm old enough to remember the mid-90's when Microsoft decided it would be Really Cool to allow users to click on links in email that would start up a program on their computer. Wow! Major innovation!!
And what could possibly go wrong???
I miss the days of Netscape. They had great tools especially for beginners.
FF and Brave are fast viewers. My own preference is to avoid Adobe, and that alternative viewer - can't even remember the name - became too annoying to tolerate any more.
Libre Office and the one with Calibre can be too slow.
my mom still has AOL
LOL!
“my mom still has AOL
LOL!”
So what!
.
Leftists are innate control freaks - they can’t help themselves
That's the one!
LOL, cats are jerks.
Props to Windows 10 if it can coerce my Win7 and Linux boxes to use a browser other than the one I prefer. Good luck with that.
Edge sucks. When I was using a Windows 10 system I changed the default, but it looks like they’re making that impossible. They will be more able to collect your browsing data, probably.
I finally gave my beautiful laptop away and got a refurbished Windows 7 system. Life is good.
classic shell is easy to find and install. it’s a must on W10 & W8, and I use it on all W7 systems as well.
> Didn't Microsoft attempt to bake their web browser into the operating system without exception once before, almost two decades ago? Wasn't there a massive lawsuit regarding monopolies that forced them to allow other web browsers to co-exist? Didn't Microsoft lose? Have they forgotten?
This move with regard to Edge and Mail is negligible compared to what they did with I.E. to kill Netscape in the mid-90's. No legal action will come of this one, because no other company is likely to be harmed, and few individuals will care.
Yes, MS got in deep trouble about the I.E. browser stuff, but this is not that, not by a long shot.
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