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Each version of Windows 10 has included a certain amount of built-in promotion for the Microsoft Edge browser. The next major update, scheduled for October, includes a new screen, shown above, that will appear if you are running the installers for Chrome or Firefox. Publishing is enabled by default (although it can be disabled by following the "Open Settings" link) and there are also smaller messages that appear when you run third-party browsers for the first time.
Most users will not see this message (if they are upgrading to an existing Windows 10 computer and have already installed the non-Microsoft browser of their choice) or can see it once (if they are installing a different browser than Microsoft). on a new installation), then, clicking "install anyway" does what you expect; third-party browsers install, can be configured as the default browser, and function normally as they have always done.
Microsoft's decision to promote Edge within the operating system has caused some indignation and anger among some Windows users and segments of the technical press. I find it hard to believe that this is a problem for regular Windows users – it seems to me more likely that they do not notice promotions at all or just click them. reject them without ever really considering what they say – some users point out and are not impressed. Because, of course, these users know that Eden exists; they explicitly choose not to use it. Why is Microsoft so invasive and tells them something they already know and do not care about?
Of course, this type of promotion is not unique to Microsoft. Use Edge with any Google property and you'll be prompted repeatedly to give Google Chrome a boost. As if we lived under a rock and did not know that Chrome existed! YouTube, both on the web and in the Android app, is forever asking me to subscribe to YouTube Red (or another paid service, I do not remember exactly what message, because I'm so used to not reading the message without reading it). I'm pretty sure that even Apple has done some things to try to convince me to use iCloud or its music service.
And these companies will continue to do this kind of thing because, guess what, it works. Sometimes people will subscribe to YouTube Red. Sometimes, they'll think, "OK, I'll give Edge a shot and see if I like it." Sometimes they will be inspired to try Chrome. These companies would not risk the factor of annoyance if they did not return. But that's the case. These companies like nothing more than collecting usage data; you can bet that they only do that because they see a benefit to that.
It's not even surprising that these things work. That's because for a lot of people these promotions are actually tell them something that they do not know. They do not know that the blue "e" is no longer the old Internet Explorer, the one they know they should not use because their much better informed family told them to do not use it. They do not know that YouTube offers subscription services that kill ads and add additional features. Some of them might not even know that the "e" blue is not, in fact, the only way to connect to the internet. They may not know that Chrome or Firefox exist. For other users, what savvy users consider boring is the novelty.
Some things that Microsoft has done in Windows 10 are pretty crude. Promotion candy Crush in the Start menu, for example, feels dirty in the way that the crapware software provided by OEM feels dirty: the money changes hands in a way that does not benefit the user at all final. But pointing out that there is a really decent built-in browser? Tell users that they do not need to install Adobe Reader (and therefore extend their attack surface) to read some PDF files? It's harmless and for many people, it's informative. And until it stops working, power users and the press can complain about everything they like; promotions will not go away.
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