Microsoft Edge has slowly crept its way up as one of the more popular web browsers people use every day, especially on Windows 11. In 2022, it even overtook Safari as the second-most-popular browser in the world behind Chrome (although it has since dropped back to third). Despite running on Chromium, the same engine as Chrome, it has a lot of features even Chrome lacks, like collections and shopping features that can help you save money. And, of course, there's the recent rise of Bing Chat. There's a reason why I use it every day on some of the best laptops I review,
And even with all this popularity, it still feels like Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge. The company has gotten way too aggressive with its web browser recently, and it's very concerning to see this behavior. Microsoft really wants you to try the browser no matter what, so it puts it in so many areas of Windows 11.
The first area I want to focus on is Windows 11's widgets feature. They're great because they provide a quick glance at the things I care about most, like my New York Mets baseball score or the weather and traffic in my area,
But there's one glaring issue. Any time you click on a widget, it'll force you to open it in Microsoft Edge. This is despite the fact that there are dedicated apps that could've powered them, like MSN Sports.
Making matters worse, you could have already swapped out your default web browser to something else (more on this later), but Microsoft will still force you to see that widget's information in Edge. You have to use a third-party app just to redirect things to Chrome or another browser. That takes too much effort and can be dangerous.
Edge is in Windows Copilot, too
Credit: Microsoft
And how about Windows' newest feature? While Windows Copilot seems like it's separate from Edge, it's actually just another extension of the browser (currently available to Windows Insiders). Similar to widgets, Microsoft will try to get you to use Edge.
This makes sense, though, because Copilot was built on top of Edge, which allows it to use plug-ins like ChatGPT. IT can then, in turn, leverage AI assistance with features like how it can summarize a page. It can also use Bing Chat and make it easier to access. Still, it's always alarming to see when operating system features like this one get coupled to a browser. This is monopoly behavior.
Edge is in so many other places
I just talked about Edge in Widgets and Copilot, but there are so many other places where Microsoft forces Edge on you. Again, even if you switch out your default browser to something other than Edge, you're still forced to use Edge when running searches in the Taskbar. Speaking of, if you have Search highlights turned on, you'll be forced into using Edge if you just so happen to click the cool icons in the search box that change every day. In the past, Microsoft even tested a search bar on the desktop powered by Edge, though it's since been removed.
Heck, Microsoft even forces Edge down your throat when you go to download Chrome. Open Edge to get to Chrome after a clean Windows install, and the browser will prompt you with a small popup and remind you that Edge is the default browser on Windows.
Microsoft needs to make Edge better instead
I'm worried that Microsoft could be taking a page out of Google's book. Could Windows 11 become EdgeOS? On the best Chromebooks, for example, you're limited to running just the Chrome web browser unless you enable Linux apps. In the past, it was also quite difficult to switch out your default web browser on Windows 11 since there wasn't one single button to switch away from Edge, and you were forced to change file extension defaults instead.
Facing criticism, Microsoft eventually made it easier by allowing you to search for your browser, then set it as default for all types of files with fewer clicks. I'm hoping that one day, this applies to the rest of Windows, too.
Microsoft needs to stop bundling Windows features together with Edge, forcing people to use it and focus on making Edge a better browser instead. After all, Edge itself is becoming nothing but bloat for Microsoft services. Every inch of the browser these days promotes something from Microsoft. The sidebar? It links to Microsoft products like Office. The browser? It promotes Microsoft Rewards by including badging for it on your new tab page.
Microsoft, it's time to get your priorities straight and fix the issues we care about and not bundle the browser everywhere. Fix the issues like the lack of a tablet mode, the buggy menus, and all the other problems first.
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