
Microsoft’s ‘can’t uninstall Microsoft Edge’ support page - fortran77
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/17/21372846/microsoft-cant-uninstall-microsoft-edge-web-browser-editorial
======
horsawlarway
This is a pretty sane move on MS's part...

I find it reasonable that an OS doesn't let you remove what may be the only
browser on the system, for a _lot_ of reasons.

I read this as a push to really ditch IE in the very near future, and don't
really mind at all.

In no particular order

\- Something has to provide a native webview for desktop applications

\- MS has no default package manager for users, and doesn't provide browser
downloads on their "store" (or at least I wasn't able to find any, I may be
missing something). So removing the browser may leave a user unable to
bootstrap another browser onto the system (at least once IE is actually gone)
without outside help or another machine.

\- The browser itself takes up a pretty negligible amount of disk space, there
isn't really any benefit to removing it (unless MS is playing dirty and
starting it behind the scenes, but at least in my usage, I haven't seen this).
So these users don't want it "GONE", they just want to desktop shortcut
removed (and I actually agree, MS shouldn't push as hard here).

\- There are lots of system integrations that expect at least one browser to
exist, removing the only shipped browser may break these, or add a lot of
complexity to some feature implementations.

~~~
moldavi
Cant MS just provide a button somewhere that downloads and installs the
browser? A computer doesn't need a browser to download something from the
internet (such as a browser).

~~~
mc32
Can’t they use the Windows App Store to let users install their browser of
choice?

~~~
lostmsu
I think it has a rule, that prohibits 3rd party browser engines. :/

~~~
harrygeez
I don't think it's that, rather it makes it nigh impossible because the
browsers will have to be rewritten to use UWP APIs, which were quite limited
when they first launched. Also they won't be able to compete with Edge which
had access to restricted APIs

~~~
ripley12
You can install Win32 apps from the store, UWP/WinRT is no longer a
requirement: [https://developer.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows/bridges/deskto...](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows/bridges/desktop/)

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Shorel
I even let Edge be the default browser.

That way, whenever an app opens a link, it opens in a browser I don't use, and
it can't read any important information or browser fingerprint that matters.

I am still using Firefox for my browsing needs.

EDIT: It's more about my browsing habits: Now this browser has been opened. I
can close it before the page loads and before I have read anything I really
don't care about.

~~~
gruez
If you can't trust the apps that you're running on an _unsandboxed system_ ,
getting fingerprinted should be the least of your worries. Since there's no
sandbox, it could very well keylog everything you type, or steal your browsing
history/login cookies directly from your browser.

~~~
Shorel
Well, some applications open a webpage just when the uninstallation finishes.

Basically every single browser window that is open from an application, or its
uninstaller, is an unwanted one.

It's not even about the fingerprinting, now that you make me think about.

It's more about my browsing habits: Now this browser has been opened. I can
close it before the page loads and before I have read anything I really don't
care about.

------
tssva
I'm failing to see the reason for outrage here. Apple won't allow removing
Safari from macOS without turning off system protection and then it will get
reinstalled next OS upgrade. Heck you can't even remove the chess game on
macOS without turning off system protection.

~~~
scarface74
And then once you turn off SIP you could install Chrome and not be able to
boot your computer....

[https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/15235262?hl=en](https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/15235262?hl=en)

Yeah. I know it’s been corrected.

------
slaymaker1907
Maybe I’m in a minority, but it’s really a pretty good browser. I wish it
supported a few more features with the PDF reader (such as text box
annotations). However, it still has way more features in that space than most
competitors.

~~~
caoilte
Isn't it just a re-skinned Chrome?

~~~
ocdtrekkie
Mostly, though they added tracking prevention, which is industry standard on
every browser not made by the same company as DoubleClick.

------
jaclaz
This is IMHO the really fun part (already posted on an earlier thread):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24178631](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24178631)

Interestingly enough, going to that URL with an unsupported browser (QTWeb) I
got:

Your browser is out-of-date

You need to update your browser to use the site.

Update to the latest version of _Internet Explorer_

------
SOLAR_FIELDS
The hidden bigger news here is that IE11 (and legacy Edge) finally have an
official EOL date of August 17, 2021. The true end of an era.

~~~
fortran77
That was my take, too. I really don't mind if the vendor has a standard
browser installed, as long as you can install others and make it the default.
That's way more than Apple does on iOS!

------
ewzimm
The strangest part is that they didn’t fully replace the behavior of the old
version. If you place the OS in kiosk mode when the new Edge is installed and
try to run a browser, it just goes into a loop trying to load the old one and
blocking it. It’s not possible to use the new Edge for a kiosk, probably
because it doesn’t use the Windows store. There is a separate kiosk browser in
the store, but it isn’t integrated with the OS and lacks any simple
configuration options. Maybe they just want people to use Linux kiosks
instead.

------
t0mmyb0y
Browsers became a functional part of an OS a long time ago. What is the real
problem? If you are on windows and worried about bloat? WTF?

~~~
hobs
More like one day you turn on windows and it takes over your boot process, has
a splash screen, walks you through "your newest browser", adds things to your
desktop, changes associations to things.

Sounds good, right?

------
plusCubed
Question: Is it possible to uninstall Safari on macOS? (without shell
commands)

------
KorematsuFred
Reasonable restriction.

Web browsers are so tightly integrated with so many software that they should
be considered an essential part of the OS.

~~~
quenix
It’s possible to provide WebView APIs without doing what MS did with their
browser as a whole.

------
stalkerman
There could certainly be a way to provide Edge via the Store and not force it
on users. Possibly the reason it's not done that way is because there appears
to be hard links to it. Despite setting Firefox as the default things still
open in Edge, like from the Search in the Start Menu and from Settings help
pages etc. Maybe there's a way to fix this but it feels wrong to me. And it
also doesn't need to keep pinning itself to the task bar either.

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intellix
Don't what to transform this to Whataboutism but it really annoys me that I
can't uninstall the apps on OSX which are clearly optional: TV, Podcasts,
Music, Garageband, Safari etc etc. Was actually excited about iTunes splitting
into multiple apps because I was expecting to be able to split up the app size
into optionals that I could remove - nope

~~~
quenix
Actually, you can do this. Disable System Integrity Protection, run ‘mount -uw
/‘, and delete away.

------
em-bee
i suspect that people not so much don't want the browser. they could ignore it
if that were the case, but that they are annoyed by its invasive behavior.

if microsoft would just stop to shove the browser into peoples face after they
have already said that they prefer another, then there wouldn't be so many
complaints

------
zaro
I don't understand why this is an issue. You can't uninstall Safari on OSX(
some people here in the comments say you actually can delete it, but this will
probably leave you broken system) or ios. You can't uninstall Chrome on
Android.

Why MS is so special in this regard?

~~~
anoncake
It's an issue for the same reason not being uninstall Safari or Chrome is an
issue.

------
dec0dedab0de
I can't imagine too many people that actually care about something like this
are using Windows.

------
kyriakos
Can you uninstall safari from macos? If you do what powers webviews after you
do?

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Lammy
Didn't they get, like, sued for this once upon a time?

------
joecool1029
Need to make a heavy criticism on the article but: Maybe don't link the
competitor's trends page as trustworthy information?

Google's been known to artificially demote industries/products they don't like
and promote the crap out of their own. I am not asserting that it's the case
here but it could be the case and non-shit journalism wouldn't ask a biased
party for market data on their competitor.

