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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. ®
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MS can’t help but try to control its users... they can talk about being more open all they want. Same old song and dance
Some users may take issue with that assessment.
That's not the point. I don't want Microsoft dictating which browser I use.
I’ve had Windows everything from the start.
10 included. It never forced me to do anything.
Hey, are you also one of those nuts that thinks Facebook forces you to provide personal info?
Do you also think the Earth is flat?
Doesn’t think violate the Justice Department consent decree against Microsoft from way back in the day? Back in the early 00’s (I think), they were forcing users to use their browser.
I don’t care for the browser.
Just never use the their mail feature.
I always check my email in FireFox.
Autocorrect kills.
So the 3 people in the world that use Windows Mail will have links go to Edge. Which they were probably doing anyway because people who use Windows Mail are not the kind of download other browsers. Not really much there there.
Software should do what the people who buy it want it to do, not what the people who sold it want to force the people who buy it to do.
They didn’t learn a damned thing when Netscape sued them twenty years ago.
I'd been using Macs almost exclusively since '06 or so and found myself a few months back in a position where I needed a cheap laptop. I purchased the first Windows machine I've had in a long time and I'm impressed!
Nah, can't be flat. If it was, the cats would have knocked everything over the edge.
I’m so freakin’ old I still have a hotmail account. (Not my only one but at least I don’t have AOL.)
right now I have edge, chrome, and firefox open at the same time. I use each one for different things. No biggie.
Edge sucks mightily.
I am used to a windowed interface and DESPISE the full screen/tiled interface.
This might force me to the Dark Side — Apple.
Seriously.
Win 10 is a fine, high performance operating system, which (IMO) is hobbled by an inadequate and childish GUI and a tendency towards over-control. But when it comes to user interfaces, to each their own.
I prefer Win7 for everyday work, and on Win10 I have to install Classic Shell to keep my sanity. But under the hood I think Win10 wins big, it's a real step forward.
Now, if you could get Win7's GUI to run on Win10....
Is “classic shell” something to be found in Win 10?
If not, is it easily foundand installed?
Windows 10 is an uninvited virus. I minimize it and use Chrome.
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