8 years ago
32
Mozilla blasts Microsoft for making it harder to switch to Firefox in Windows 10
Microsoft has altered Windows 10 so that users have to explicitly set a default app for applications like mail, calendar, or web browsers. The change means the setup installers for Chrome and Firefox can no longer set themselves as the default browser during the install process.
Continue Reading
http://www.theverge.com
Join the Discussion
Maybe I'm missing something, but why is Mozilla so upset over this? It takes, like, two more mouse clicks and five seconds. This isn't some scheme by Microsoft to force you to use Edge... When you're setting up Win 10 you can choose your default apps, and it's pretty easy to change them whenever you want to. It looks to me like a security thing, so apps can't force new permissions on a user. I think it's a pretty good change, and does not somehow infringe on "people’s right to choice and control of their online experience."
Exactly my reaction. I do not get Mozilla's reaction at all, it's actually a really good change, unless the dialog option is nested so deep in their control panel it's basically hidden.
The option at set-up time to avoid setting Edge as the default browser is a tiny bit of hard-to-spot (blue text on a slightly different blue background) hypertext on the left side of the screen, while the only large buttons shown are "Back" and "Use Express Settings." The latter sets Edge as the default.
Ha! Well that certainly is useful :/
I don't see how this is a big deal at all... Most people when they want to browse the internet go the application itself. There's very few times that I click on a link in an application of some kind, that even refers to what my default browser is. Besides, most web browsers start with a nag message on if the user wants them as the default browser. It's not particularly hard to change.
Ultimately, it's just not that big of deal, in the actual application of things. While I have a lot of respect for Mozilla, 'blasting Microsoft' seems to be a bit of an overreaction.
I find it hard to believe that nobody saw this coming. Nothing in win10 is easy to set, unless it is the microsoft default.
Frankly, the best thing ms could have done, is offer a choice when installing/upgrading the os, 'would you like to install chrome. firefox, or edge as you main web browser'. hehehe oooo who am i kidding? ms would never do that. Better to make things hard for the user..
Way to go, microsoft! drive more over to apple; or better yet gnu/linux.
Isn't offering a choice of browsers during installation exactly what they did after an anti-competition ruling? Or was that just in Europe.
Just in Europe, as the anti-trust was there.
For the purposes of this snap it took me no more than 30 seconds after finishing the mozilla install to set it as the default browser. Then I uninstalled mozilla firefox because its a little bit shit
Really? I found the settings for it fairly quickly.
But on the other hand, I tend to dick around with my computer settings so I know where most things are.
Hitting windows key and typing what you want to do isn't hard. In this case, "WIN"+"Def(autocompletes)" + enter. Then "Set your default programs.", which is wonderfully clear and easy to use. You can select chrome and then either set it as default for everything you want, or select just the ones you do.
I really want there to be an alternative. I'm lazy, I just want an operating system that works, I will pay money for that. For me, nothing else speaks to the failure of our capitalist system than the current "market" for operating systems.
Linux works! Same with Win 7.
You need a chromebook ;)
Like /u/UnocornCommando says, Linux is now completely easy to use thanks to beginner friendly distros like ubuntu and Linux Mint! Mac OS X is also a good alternative, though you'd be jumping from a walled garden to a prison.
I've tried to switch to Linux as my main OS more than a few times and it just never stuck, BUT, the other week I installed Linux Mint and it's just fantastic. Switching from Windows to Mint was the easiest thing ever. Straight forward GUI based installation and no major driver issues. I second Mint as a viable "just works" operating system.
I think it's worth mentioning ubuntu might not be the best choice anymore since it sends your searches to a third party.
Mint, thought. Mint is fantastic.
It's just publicity, negative or positive, any way you spin it. Think about the tech-unsavvy people. It's not about "taking just 2 more mouse clicks to set a default browser". It's about grandma Edith who can't for the life of her figure out those two clicks.
But that's exactly who Microsoft is trying to protect--if someone who doesn't know a thing about computers accidentally installs a Chrome or Firefox malware clone, it can't trick her into setting it as the default browser through the confirmation window. They might be erring too much on the side of security over ease of use, but's that's always been the Microsoft way.
The current solution is not to make it more difficult to install other browsers. The solution to this would be to make it easy for non tech savvy people to install the correct browser safely. A package manager does this perfectly.
And wouldn't you know that Windows 10 includes a package manager?
https://github.com/OneGet/oneget
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/garretts/archive/2015/01/27/oneget-and-the-windows-10-preview.aspx
While it isn't as nice as Apt or yum, it is a step forward.
Cool didn't know that, do people use it much?
I'll be honest, haven't used it much my self, and don't know of others usages. But it can wrap around the third party chocolaty packages, so it should get some use in the future.
Don't understand the amount of butthurt from Mozilla. I don't see why people think that Firefox automatically setting itself to default is okay in the first place.
Just to clarify, it wasn't setting the default automatically without user input. It was only providing the option to change the default in the installation, with a checkbox if I remember correctly. Browsers (including IE) also have functionality to ask you if you want to change the default on starting the browser up, until you turn off that notification (or say "don't ask me again").
So, if the article is correct, neither of those can no longer work in Windows 10. Although, they will probably make an exception for IE asking you if you want to change it back to the default on startup.
Like in Win 7 it's very, very hard to impossible for most people make google the default search engine in IE. More Microsoft being Microsoft.
If it's hard to click the "more search options" link and choose Google, then you deserve whatever Bing serves you.
I work in IT. I have tried several times and failed. If I can't do it I can't imagine most users would be able to.
Meh, once Edge gets extensions I'll probably just use it, it's amazingly fast.
I can't help thinking that it's probably a good thing that browsers can't just set themselves as default anymore. I hate that dialog that I seem to get whenever I launch an alternate browser - "[Browser] is not your default browser. Would you like to make it the default?" Uh no thanks, same as the last dozen times you showed me this dialog, I'm only launching you to test that my website loads correctly.
Proper browsers have a "do not ask me again" button though.
Couldn't you just use chrome and emulate the other browsers?