
Ask HN: Why is Microsoft pushing Edge so hard? - Wazzymandias
I just got a new Windows Update that revolved around pushing me to use the new Edge Browser. The update also removed my default setting for browser and when a new URL opens, there&#x27;s small text under Edge that tries to persuade you to use it over the other choices.<p>This level of insidious marketing is a pain, but more than that I&#x27;m struggling to understand why Microsoft wants me to use their browser so badly.<p>What&#x27;s the motivation?
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WheelsAtLarge
Power. A huge amount of work is done in the browser. If you control what
browser people use then you control how they use it and how developers program
for it.

In the late 90's and early 2000's Internet Explore basically defined web
standards. Once Microsoft decided on a new feature it became a strong
candidate to be a new standard. It didn't always become a standard but
developers were force to adapt their web pages to make sure they worked
properly on IE. They want that power back.

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ksaj
I was annoyed that it presents as just part of installing the new patches. If
you don't cancel out of it, you'll end up with Edge instead of
Chrome/Chromium. And of course, the procedure neglects to tell you that. I can
imagine a lot of people falling for it.

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curiousmindz
I think the motivation is rather mundane: Software gets updated regularly
(even if only for security fixes), so Microsoft prefers that people move to
the "current" version as much as possible. Still, they also supported Windows
7 for over ten years...

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thesuperbigfrog
The motivation is money.

If you don't use Edge they won't be able to track the web sites you visit so
they can sell your data to advertisers.

Google does it too with Chrome. That's why if you visit Google sites with a
non-Chrome browser they will push you to use Chrome.

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Wazzymandias
Apologies if these are naive questions, but why does Microsoft require use of
Edge to track user data? Can't they obtain data from the DNS requests any
browser makes to access websites?

And are there any ways to mitigate the amount of data they obtain when using
Edge (e.g. Ublock)?

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discocrisco
And Microsoft Edge gets rid of Internet Explorer. IE sucks except for one
thing: built-in browser-based RSS support. THat alone is worth keeping it.

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t0mmyb0y
Edge is IE. It is mostly just a different name with exact same issues.

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quattrofan
Is it? I thought it was based on Chromium now?

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mdorazio
It is based on Chromium. From the support article:
[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501095/download-
th...](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501095/download-the-new-
microsoft-edge-based-on-chromium)

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t0mmyb0y
They are tired of losing the browser wars? They are looking for more anti-
trust charges? Using their browser gives them the data to sell?

