this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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I know it's cool to hate on it, but Edge is legit my favorite browser. All the tools and functionality of chrome and it's extensions, with all the office and student tools that come in Edge.
Stuff like the Immersive Reader, Cite Tools, Collections, and a bunch of other stuff make it my favorite browser for now.
Nothing against people liking Edge, but not being able to uninstall it by normal means made me dump Windows entirely. I mean, wtf? Not being able to uninstall a browser? Like, what?
You dumped an OS over not being able to uninstall the default browser? Wat
In the same vein, I change roms on my phone when I can't remove default preinstalled apps.
You should be able to do so via ADB if you know the package name
Yes. Because I don't want that software so why can't I uninstall it. Same goes for basically every default program on windows. It's like not being able remove the ugly lights from the previous owner in your flat even though you got some new nice ones.
For Edge, it's probably at least partially because Microsoft doesn't want you to end up in a situation where you have no browsers on your computer. You can't expect the average user to not be stupid enough to uninstall Edge without having another browser installed, nor can you expect them to figure out how to install a browser without one.
The same goes for things like an image viewer or video player; you can install alternatives, but Microsoft doesn't want you to end up in a situation where you lose core functionality on your computer. They have no guarantees that whatever alternative you install has the same capabilities as what's bundled by default.
I'm pretty sure you could install edge through the windows store, which is another thing they seem to push a lot lately.
While this is valid from a user-friendliness standpoint, if someone is to uninstall Edge, even if they are an average user who just doesn't want edge, they have a risk of breaking the system in its entirety just by uninstalling it. It doesn't even matter if the person has something like firefox or even google chrome. Causing this much breakage over something as simple as a browser that can easily be replaced shouldn't be the norm
To me it's about the direction Microsoft is going. Having that much away and bias over edge and OneDrive. And getting increasingly more aggressive at cloud computing while wanting you to pay more money too them. All that makes for a really sour experience especially with windows 11. I've dumped windows too
You can't uninstall Safari from Mac either, but I haven't seen a single cry for that.
Forcefully setting Edge as default browser is definitely a bad behaviour by Microsoft,, but thankfully there are one-click solution for that.
You don't hear people complain about Apple (anymore) because it's accepted that you are buying into a walled-garden ecosystem when you buy Apple. That's kinda its whole thing.
There are a few issues with Edge on Windows, one being set as the default out of the box, another being it's inability to be uninstalled, another being it's the only option when using windows built-on search, and yet another being it's anything-but-one-click solution depending on the version of Windows in question. In some versions, you have to still go into default apps, find the browser you want, set it as default, click around the popup begging you to try Edge anyway, then go down the list of file extensions and select your browser for all the ones it doesn't change on its own when you make it the default, some of which may popup again begging you to try Edge first. And when that's done, you still can't uninstall it or make it not open when using windows search.
For a product marketed as the opposite of a walled garden, it really is frustrating. Especially considering older versions of Windows had a built-in browser that could be uninstalled and could set another browser as default with one click from inside the new browser.
You need a browser.. lol
I guess thats why
What if grandmother uninstalls it by accident?
Theyre too dumb to fix it
Are you sure you can’t uninstall it?!?
You can but the process is a bit painful and it'll re-install itself the next day when windows forces an update
It’s not the worst tbh, Revo Uninstall or BloatyNosy make it easy enough to remove it without having to do some manual Powershell bs
I feel like, to an extent, the privacy ship left port a long time ago, and that bitch is nuclear powered. Without social media (other than this/reddit) I don't feel like I'm giving any more info than I would be otherwise.
Don't take that as a disregard for my privacy though, I do take steps to protect myself within reason and budget (read: free/open).
I'm just not convinced that spending extra energy and time to lock things down further will see the returns, real or imagined, that justifies the effort. I'm open to new ideas though!
I hope I'm not wrong down the road, but considering I'm a literal nobody on the grand scale without aspirations for political office, I think I'll be ok.... I think.
Edge has really good PDF editing features built in.
This is the one thing that I love Edge for / dislike Firefox for. Editing PDFs, especially in university, is just too valuable of a tool that works perfectly fine in Edge.
Yeah I forgot all about that
Edge has gotten light years better. I still hate some of things Microsoft tries to throw in my face but I agree it’s getting higher up on my list.
I used to like Edge but as each version releases its becoming more and more annoying. It's constantly trying to set itself as the default browser. It imported stuff over from my main browser without asking. It pushes Bing hard! Outlook also has now been set to open URLs in edge completely ignoring the default browser option. You have to reconfigure Outlook.
Fuck off Microsoft
I only used it to muck about with Bing Chat. But now Vivaldi can fake being Edge so you can access it without needing another browser.
I'm not really planning to use it. But Edge has given me an excuse to uninstall Chrome and use it as a Firefox backup instead.
Does it have Containers like Firefox? Can’t live without containers.
I like it's pdf markup and reading, and it's llm integration.
Same, and the built in vertical tabs are amazing.
Edge has been my favorite for awhile, but I have always wanted to look at something less intrusive. I just tried Brave out today because someone mentioned it stole the Edge vertical tab implementation, which is one of my must-have features from Edge. So far I'm liking it and it supports all the extensions I was using. I can't speak to the cite tools or collections as I didn't use them, but Brave seems to have an immersive reader mode called Speedreader though.
EDIT: Okay fine, I removed Brave after a day with all this information below. I would love to switch back to Firefox at some point so hopefully they steal the vertical tabs soon.
Brave has a lot of its own intrusive stuff, I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole
Can you elaborate? I was not aware.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/brave-browser-under-fire-for-alleged-sale-of-copyrighted-data/491854/#:~:text=Brave%20is%20alleged%20to%20sell,transparency%20in%20the%20tech%20industry.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
https://www.lifewire.com/brave-browser-falls-short-of-its-promises-of-privacy-5206799
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3284076/brave-browser-begins-controversial-ad-repeal-and-replace-tests.amp.html
They keep pulling a bunch of shady stuff, I would seriously avoid that browser
The first time I heard about Brave it sounded sketchy. They replaced ads on websites with their own ads. That doesn't seem ethical to me since they aren't in the normal advertising chain of relationships where the website owner has an agreement with that specific advertising firm to display ads. Brave gets the revenue instead of the website owner, while the website displays content that they didn't agree to. And the user has no say.
Very sketch.
And that they say they are sooo focused on privacy when everything that they do seems to indicate otherwise.
Brave's business model is essentially a protection racket wrapped in a crypto scam.
Brave is a shitty browser. Lol
Its one thing is built in adblocker
But how hard is it to install ublock origin in edge? (Answer: it isnt)
Librewolf has it preinstalled too. Nobody talks about that. (Its basically privacy focused firefox)
Agree. I use it on my work pc and it works seamlessly with all the Office apps and I love the look and feel of it. It feels more versatile than the Firefox browser I use on my personal laptop, thought admittedly I probably just don’t utilise most of its functionality