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Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim (www.techradar.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

153 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Some of the top browser makers around have issued a letter to the European Commission (EC) alleging that Microsoft gives the Edge browser an unfair advantage and should be subject to EU tech rules.

A letter seen by Reuters, sent by Vivaldi, Waterfox, and Wavebox, and supported by a group of web developers, also supports Opera’s move to take the EC to court over its decision to exclude Microsoft Edge from being subject to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

As Edge comes pre-installed by default on Windows machines, users must navigate the Microsoft offering in order to download their browser of choice. The letter states that, “No platform independent browser can aspire to match Edge's unparalleled distribution advantage on Windows. Edge is, moreover, the most important gateway for consumers to download an independent browser on Windows PCs.”

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 month ago (18 children)

As Edge comes pre-installed by default on Windows machines, users must navigate the Microsoft offering in order to download their browser of choice.

What's the actual alternative they want here? That users look up download URLs on other devices and download their browser of choice via command line using ~~cURL~~ Invoke-WebRequest? That ISPs provide browser installers on USB sticks?

Also, it's not like MS is cornering the market on browser share here. Even with this "unfair advantage" they've only scraped together a 5% slice of browser usage.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 month ago (2 children)

For a while when you installed Windows, the first time user setup gave you a choice of popular browsers and it handled the download and install.

Now Microsoft is actively trying to sabotage other browsers with popups and office apps bypassing the default browser setting.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

When was that?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/memo_09_558/MEMO_09_558_EN.pdf

They were forced to as the result of an antitrust settlement in 2009, and then the "remedy" expired 5 years later and they ripped it out

https://www.pcworld.com/article/430914/microsoft-kills-eu-browser-choice-screen.html

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Oh man, I had no idea this was a thing!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I agree with you completely on their over-pushiness. They could do without that.

But the first time choice thing doesn't sound tenable long-term to me.

Welcome to SuperOS! What would you like to use as your web browser? E-mail reader? Calendar app? PDF viewer? Image viewer? File explorer? Porn viewer? Weather app? VPN?

I can think of distros/OSes that, depending on the use case, people really appreciate having something pre-installed for them. And yes, other times people would prefer their own. But imagine amateur users making a pick from that constant stream of questions, not to mention having weird incompatibilities if they make bad choices.

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