this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024
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Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim (www.techradar.com)
submitted 1 month ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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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[–] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Not to forget than when using bing, if you look for words like Firefox or Chrome, you get a large banner saying to use Edge instead. Super shady stuff

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not to mention that Microsoft forces you to use a Microsoft account when you create your account on your home computer which is then automatically logged in to edge and *bing so that they can track and quantize more of every single thing you do on the internet to monetize you

[–] one_knight_scripting@lemmy.world -5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

No it doesn't. I just reinstalled Windows 11 pro and I'm running without a Microsoft account.

Edit: I was unfamiliar with how different that is from the home experience. I'm still using Windows 7 keys to install Windows 11 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ consider me out of the loop.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Home versions, which most home users have, force the use of MS accounts. They've patched the bypass tricks that people used before.

[–] one_knight_scripting@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Ah. Did not realize this was an issue with home. I can not say I experienced that. Hell, I still use Windows 7 pro keys to activate Windows 11.

Do you know if you could use audit mode to bypass OOBE and get around it? Simply curious.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Apparently they disabled that bypass recently.

I don't know if installing Windows 10 and then upgrading can get around this though.

[–] one_knight_scripting@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Ah. I was unfamiliar with the home version.

[–] horrorslice@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I do a workaround when installing/setting up Windows on others PCs. Use my dummy MS account -> create local user -> change to admin -> delete out the MS account. Boom, then only the local account is on the PC.

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm willing to bet you're still ending up in their database. Unless you are using some sort of VPN to first obfuscate your location and then a brand new account that has not been used before, then there's going to be some record of similarity.

When I'm installing Windows 10 or 11, I use the Rufus installer to create a pre-built admin account that I can sign in with.

[–] horrorslice@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

That's a good point, and a good idea about modifying the installer. I will give this a shot next time I have to do a reinstall. Thanks!

[–] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

Well, it is impossible to install W11 Pro without MS account for normal person. Sure tech people can do it after couple seconds of web search, but your average PC user? Nope. No way.

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh yeah?

Open edge and search for something. Check in the top right corner and tell me you're not signed into some sort of pseudo-created Microsoft account.

[–] Aedis@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

This doesn't make that behavior any less scummy, but have you tried using any Google website on a browser that isn't chrome?

[–] pycorax@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is this blocked by ublock origin coz I've never gotten that at all on Firefox.

[–] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

It's possible, I use Firefox and uBO as well on my main PC, but I remember seeing it when installing Firefox on my windows partition