Microsoft is playing dirty in fight to squash Edge browser rivals

Microsoft has taken aggressive steps to drive customers in the direction of its web browser Edge because it seems to be to shut the hole on established rivals.Last month, we reported that members of the Windows 11 early-access program had been discovering the working system would now not permit {links} with a customized Microsoft Edge URI scheme to open in some other browser.

As a part of the final spherical of Patch Tuesday updates of 2021, it seems Microsoft has quietly prolonged this coverage to all Windows 10 and Windows 11 installations.Although the agency has not gone so far as to drive all web {links} to launch in Edge (solely these housed inside its personal providers, just like the Start menu), the transfer is unlikely to show standard with Windows customers, the vast majority of whom use a third-party browser as their day by day driver.

Microsoft Edge backlash

Until now, Windows customers have been in a position to depend on a free service known as EdgeDeflector to counteract the Edge URI scheme, and rival browsers Firefox and Brave function related in-built workarounds. However, following the most recent replace, none of those options stay viable.When hints of a crackdown first emerged, the creator of EdgeDeflector was overtly important of Microsoft, which he believes has strayed the mistaken aspect of antitrust regulation.“These aren’t the actions of an attentive company that cares about its products any more,” he wrote in a weblog put up. “Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. [It’s] prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their own productivity.”“For users, the best action is to complain to their local antitrust regulator or switch to Linux. Your web browser is probably the most important - if not the only - app you regularly use. Microsoft has made it clear that its priorities for Windows don’t align with its users’.”Mozilla, the corporate behind Firefox, additionally voiced its issues in regards to the forcefulness with which Microsoft is pushing its service on Windows customers.“People deserve choice. They should have the ability to and easily set defaults, and their choice of default browser should be respected,” stated a Mozilla spokesperson.“We have worked on code that launches Firefox when the microsoft-edge protocol is used for those users that have already chosen Firefox as their default browser. Following the recent change to Windows 11, this planned implementation will no longer be possible.”However, as reported by ghacks, there stays one viable workaround in the type of an open supply software known as MSEdgeRedirect, which will get across the Edge URI scheme in a special style to EdgeDeflector and Firefox. It stays to be seen whether or not Microsoft will transfer to block this bypass as properly.Via Neowin