Vivaldi CEO accuses Microsoft of being ‘blatantly anti-competitive’ in pushing Edge browser

Vivaldi’s CEO has fired a copious quantity of flak at Microsoft in a contemporary transfer in the browser wars, accusing the software program large of going “back to its old tricks” with selling the Edge browser in Windows.Jon von Tetzchner, chief govt of the rival Vivaldi browser, wrote a prolonged weblog submit which complains about the way it’s “frustrating in 2021 to find Microsoft blatantly engaging in anti-competitive practices once again”.

We have, of course, made loads of feedback in latest occasions about how Microsoft is strolling a skinny line in phrases of pushing too onerous with promotion for Edge inside its desktop working system Windows.Most lately, that has included pop-ups that assault Chrome particularly (‘that browser is so 2008!’) and pushing adverts for different Microsoft companies inside Edge, in addition to making it harder to vary your default browser away from Edge inside Windows 11 (the latter is a course Microsoft is seemingly now reversing, luckily, at the least in preview builds for now).As Tetzchner factors out, when he obtained a brand new Windows laptop computer, the very first thing he did was to make use of Edge (which is the default selection of browser, of course) to seek for Vivaldi in order to put in that, however the OS warned him that ‘there’s no must download a brand new web browser’ as a result of, mainly, Edge is the most effective round.Tetzchner additional factors out that Microsoft asks for affirmation of a change away from Edge to a brand new browser because the default, and even after that, whenever you subsequent use Edge, it’ll pop-up a panel to attempt to reclaim the place of default browser.He additional observes: “Microsoft’s strikes appear determined. And acquainted. It is obvious they don’t need you to make use of different browsers. They even provide to pay you to make use of the browser through their Microsoft Rewards program.“This is not the behavior of a confident company developing a superior browser. It’s the behavior of a company openly abusing its powerful position to push people to use its inferior product, simply because it can.”He urges of us to ask for Microsoft to be investigated for these “obvious anti-competitive practices”.

Analysis: Overzealous pushing of Edge is arguably pointless anyway

We’ll depart any arguments of Edge being an ‘inferior product’ apart, as a result of we don’t agree on that rating. It’s truly a fairly good browser in some ways, and that sort of makes Microsoft’s actions and pushing it in an overzealous method all of the more mystifying (and irritating). Edge ought to actually promote itself, given time, so hey Microsoft, why not do exactly that: play the ready recreation, retaining enhancing the browser, and watch the adoption degree tick up as time rolls on.We do agree that Microsoft must steer clear of all this Edge promotion inside Windows 10 and 11, as if something, it’s prone to backfire and push folks away from the browser, anyway. And actually any underhandedness with regards to attempting to vary default browsers should completely be stopped.The path of popups and countermeasures attempting to cease you switching away from Edge because the default browser shall be nothing new to skilled Windows customers, of course. But these form of dialog containers might confuse the much less tech-savvy, and even trigger them to modify again to Edge by chance, doubtlessly, which actually isn’t on.Windows – or any working system – must be constructed round user-friendliness, and that friendliness extends to permitting the consumer their selection of browser with none catches or ‘reminders’ that they may get confused about or stumble over.