Microsoft Windows U-Turn removes the warning regarding the installation of Chrome, Firefox

Microsoft has apparently reversed the course on a Windows 10 test feature that aimed to warn users of the installation of Chrome, Firefox and other browsers that have challenged Microsoft's own Edge.

A new quick test version of Windows, Insider Preview Build 17760, no longer interrupts the installation of competing browsers, says a CNET test.

Earlier this week, a previous test version of Windows would warn people trying to install Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Vivaldi Web browsers, "You already have Microsoft Edge – the safest and fastest browser for Windows 10." The dialog box had two options: "Open Microsoft Edge" – the default – and "Install anyway".

The feature raised issues and recalled Microsoft's tactics in promoting its old Internet Explorer browser during the first browser wars of twenty years ago. But Microsoft is not the only one to use such tactics: Google is promoting its Chrome browser faster and safer for people who visit its own websites with other browsers.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the change of direction.

The company is struggling to recover even a shadow of the domination it once held with its Internet Explorer browser. For years, Google Chrome has regularly reduced its share of use, according to the analyst firm StatCounter, and Microsoft has not even exceeded IE despite its more modern design.

Years ago, IE domination caused problems to Microsoft, with the US Department of Justice and the European Commission dragging the company through antitrust proceedings. However, the markets for browsers and operating systems are very different now, with Microsoft Windows missing mobile phones and Chrome dominating on personal computers.

Edge accounts for 2% of usage, compared to 3% for Internet Explorer and 60% for Chrome, but its usage share has actually dropped by a few percentage points from a year ago, according to StatCounter.

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