[ad_1]
A test version of Windows 10 tries to move users away from other web browsers and into Microsoft.
Screenshot of Stephen Shankland / CNET
Microsoft has launched a new tactic to entice users to use its Web Edge browser: a warning dialog that interrupts the installation of other web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
"You already have Microsoft Edge – the safest and fastest browser for Windows 10," reads after launching an installation program for another browser. The box has two options: "Open Microsoft Edge" – the default – and "Install anyway". The dialog includes a link to the Windows Configuration Tool if you want to remove the warning in the future, but you will not know immediately how to change the behavior.
The developer Sean Hoffman has detected the problem during the installation of Firefox, he said on Twitter Tuesday. Another Twitter user reported the same behavior with Chrome, Vivaldi, Opera and Firefox browsers. Both used the test version of Windows 10 "fast track". CNET has confirmed the dialog box with several attempts to install the browser using Windows 10 version 1809, version 17758.1, released Tuesday.
Hoffman was not happy. "What kind of tricky marketing crap is this Microsoft?" he tweeted. "If I wanted to use your browser, I would do it."
The move is a new, more intrusive phase in Microsoft's attempt to get people to use its browser. The company also tried to make the Edge the only way to open links in the Windows messaging application and, more recently, to make Edge the default viewer for PDF files. Great motivation for pushing Edge: its default search engine is Microsoft Bing, which provides the company with search revenue.
"We are currently testing this feature only with insiders," Microsoft said in a statement, referring to its Windows test program. "The Windows Insider program allows Microsoft to test various features and features and gather feedback before deploying them on a large scale, giving customers the control and choice of the browser of their choice."
Strong tactics for promoting the browser
Microsoft is far from being the only one to arm users with its browser. Google is promoting its Chrome browser with pop-ups on its search pages, Gmail and Google Docs. And even if Apple allows browser applications other than its own Safari on iPhone and iPad, these browsers must use the Safari engine to display websites.
The more non-Google Chrome browsers you use on Google's Web sites, the more promotions you make to change. If you click "No thanks", the pop-up window is closed until your next visit.
Screenshot of Stephen Shankland / CNET
Mozilla, Google, Vivaldi and Opera have also not immediately responded.
Microsoft is struggling to recover even a shadow of the dominance it once held with its Internet Explorer browser. Google Chrome has regularly gnawed at the share of IE usage for years, according to the StatCounter analytics company, and Microsoft Edge has not even surpassed IE despite its more modern design.
Years ago, this domination of IE caused problems for Microsoft, the United States 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.
Hoffman said that he had recently reinstalled Windows about a month ago and that he did not see the message when he installed the Opera browser. Now, things have changed.
"It was when launching the Firefox installation program that I received the message," he said. "Ironically, it was a Twitterverse suggestion that I install Firefox as a cure for the growing number of sites that are looking to install desktop notifications."
First published Sept. 12 at 9:56 Pacific Time.
Updated 10:34 AM: Add a Microsoft comment.
Windows Update October 10, 2018: The 7 best new features.
The biggest challenge of Google Chrome: It could be his own success
[ad_2]
Source link
