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Vivaldi CEO: Stop Your Anti-Competitive Practices With Edge, Microsoft! (betanews.com)
Reader Mark Wilson writes: Microsoft is no stranger to pissing people off, particularly when it comes to Windows 10. There have been endless cries about forced updates, complaints about ads, moaning about privacy, and now the CEO of Vivaldi has lashed out at the company for its anti-competitive practices with Microsoft Edge. Jon von Tetzchner says that Microsoft has forgotten about the "actual real-life people that use technology in their daily lives." He takes particular umbrage at Windows 10's continued insistence of resetting the default browser to Edge. Indicating that his patience has now run out, von Tetzchner points to a 72-year-old friend who was confused by the change and unable to reverse things. He says that Microsoft is failing to respect the decisions made by users, and this is something that needs to stop.
I've been using win 10 for well over a year and it has never reset my browser. I'm sure his friend opened Edge and clicked yes to the "make this your default browser" dialog. Every browser has these popups. This is a non issue in my opinion.
In the brave new world of Big Data, users are not customers. Users are raw products to be quantified, classified and sold to advertisers and marketers. What users want is not important - it's the ones that actually pay Microsoft that matter.
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
Whining about Microsoft's browser monopoly is very 1998.
You might want to focus on the real competitors in the browser market instead of a minority player that's only even really present on one platform -- the non-Mac PC -- and is basically non-existent everywhere else.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
We won't ever stop! Shut up plebs!
I've had my Win 10 machine for 10 months, I set the default browser to Firefox when I got it and it has NEVER tried to reset to Edge. I am calling shenanigans on this Vivaldi bozo and his friend...
Maybe a case of incompetence of the elderly user?
He says that Microsoft is failing to respect the decisions made by users, and this is something that needs to stop.
At least Apple doesn't do this. Apple always goes with the decisions made by the users....never mind it does this because it makes the choices *for* the users and only offers one plan, but hey...at least the users and company are on the same page?
why must we be wmd on credit cabal poison peddlers?
"Vivaldi Technologies is a Software Development company, most known for its creation of the Vivaldi browser." https://vivaldi.com/
Minor detail the article and summary leave out.
says that Microsoft is failing to respect the decisions made by users, and this is something that needs to stop
So same shit since the 80s.
the top. Or were, Romeo and Juliet then Jordan Huubard
True, but that one choice is what most of their users want or at least is generally one of the better choices one could make. Microsoft is shoving choices down people's throat that very few would want.
I use windows 10 on a couple of computers all set with chrome as the default and have never had an issue with edge somehow being my default. The only time I ever see edge is because I do use one web site that only works with it and if click on some of the default tiles it uses edge but then it covers up and remove much of the UI for the purpose of display just that tile info that you would not recognize it as a regular browser.
Until they're slapped with SIGNIFICANT, ongoing, escalating fines, or the company is seriously threatened with a breakup, not a single fuck will be given.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
On one hand I'm somewhat of a geek, and determining what is happening and fixing it is burnt into me. However, 72 is only 10 years away, and I don't know what will happen to me in terms of strokes, dementia, etc in that time.
Vivaldi to Microsoft: Stop Your Anti-Competitive Practices!
Microsoft to Vivaldi: No.
Seriously, Microsoft barely even listens to governments anymore, you really think they care about about browser that has less market-share than even Firefox?
You can have any color. So long as it's black.
Honestly, is there anyone that does actually use the Edge browser? I don't, since I avoid 10 like the plague that it is. My CO, who did a review of it, just apsolutly hated it. It worked fine out of the proverbial box, but had next to no plug-in support. Like any ab blocks are enhance cookie management for privacy.
People can charge for the service of fixing (re-setting FF/Cr, etc.) the computer again after it broke down. Then they can charge for the same service after the next update. The old person doesn't/isn't able to care, they just want "their" internet program back.
I don't get it reset...but now every time I start up a browser that isn't Edge, it pop ups a little warning saying how Edge is a better and safer browser.
It feels like it's acting like the guy who never gets picked, but keeps trying, hoping that one day he'll be the one who gets out of the dugout, dropping hints to the coach that _he_ could do better than the regulars. "Boy, you wouldn't even be on the team, but you're the owners son, so I can't fire you."
So effin' true.
At a recent meeting of Microsoft top managers, it was noted that, although Google is making progress in being evil, Google is still not as evil as Microsoft.
Microsoft top managers also discussed a recent magazine article that said that the lack of social ability of Microsoft top managers limits Microsoft's ability to deliver evil. The article said that it is easier to deliver evil if the delivery is not so obvious.
Damn that'd be rough, having Alzheimers and remembering how great Firefox was in the day. "Who the devil changed my default browser to Chrome! Dagnabbit, now I've got waste my time changing this infernal contraption back to Firefox!" Then you remember how leaky Firefox was. "Who the devil changed my default browser to Firefox!..."
Not only that, but the fact that seemingly every time there's some kind of Windows update, Windows changes it's default PDF handling application to Edge as well. Like, really? Fix that shit!
I can't drag and drop bookmarks on the Edge bookmark toolbar, a vital part of how I use a browser, so until that happens, Edge is completely unusable for me.
Hey, now. Some of us LIKE a wide brushed aluminum frame when watching quicktime movies on our Windows pcs.
Never had it revert my default (firefox nightly) and I run the latest windows alpha version updated almost every week.
Also, windows is no longer having the monopoly of desktop operating systems. If google can do it in gmail or google itself (tell people to use chrome) why shouldn't microsoft?
I can tell you that this is done at the product group level. They are goaled with user adoption metrics so you will find many of these things types of anti-competitive 'features' in their releases and updates. Ultimately it is the fault of management for not reigning in this practice.
... why does Microsoft feel it has to resort to such underhanded tactics to get people to use it?
Windows... is... dead...
Windows 7 was the last decent OS they released.
We use Windows 10 at work, due to the fact we have to use Visual Studio and Windows 10 is a sorry excuse for an OS, not only does Edge reset itself constantly, Skype locks up, Visual Studio locks up and crashes constantly, the boot time is HORRIBLE, everything is sluggish, the keyboard ghosts and that's just for starters. This morning my computer decided it would reset itself and all of it settings, for no F'ing reason.
My computer doesn't have any viruses and it doesn't have any kind of hardware problem. I've seen this exact behavior now on three completely separate computers that even have different hardware, so it's not a hardware platform problem either, it's typical Microsoft failing to place nice.
If Microsoft didn't corner the market for certain development channels, everyone would switch to either GNU / Linux or MAC, two operating systems that vastly outrank Windows in almost every possible avenue. In fact I feel completely comfortable in saying that GNU/Linux makes Windows seem like a mentally slow inbred cousin of an operating system in comparison. I would pick Gentoo or Ubuntu over Windows 10 in every possible comparison, even for development, and force Visual Studio to run under Wine, which would still be more stable and outperform it running on Windows 10..
I've already been on the phone with Microsoft several times to try and solve these problem we're having and it's pointless, they can't provide any help, they don't understand the problem and they don't have any kind of actual answer that is suitable. Windows 10 is flat out horse shit, the streaming kind.
Cue Apple's former CEO telling people that they're doing something incorrectly if it's not working the way they expect.
should abandon making apps for ms-windows and focus on making apps for Linux, make them portable so all anyone has to do is unzip them in the users home dir ~/[my_app_name] and run the executable, and when ms-windows starts losing too much userbase because of their anti-competitive methods of conducting themselves they might change their tune,
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
It will default ESPECIALLY after major updates like the anniversary release. It has reset and disabled chrome after certain updates that seem to "refresh" the system and makes users lose a whole bunch of settings. It has happened on at least 10 PC's at work. I work with very specific programs that were running just fine on all computers at work but after some overnight forced updates none of the programs ran. They weren't listed in the start menu or anything so I had to reinstall the programs.
I know what I am doing so I can fix the issue, but a whole lot of people do not know what in the fuck happened after their programs are gone. Sometimes they dont even know their PC randomly updated overnight and fucked them over while they were asleep. Seriously this shit needs to stop. Stop fucking with my computer so much MS. At least INFORM ME that you are about to royally fuck up all my settings and OFFER to skip it so I don't have to fix every ones computer the next day and loose time and money because nobody can get their work done.
Fuck you Microsoft.
November Update (2015) and the Anniversary Update both reset the default browser. Though I think Microsoft patched the Anniversary Update to stop doing this part way through the rollout. I forced updated to Anniversary Update, so my browser preference was reset.
Of course the real elephant in the room is that Windows was updated to ignore your browser preference. Cortana.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
"He says that Microsoft is failing to respect the decisions made by users"
I simply cannot believe that a giant, greedy, faceless, amoral corporation like Microsoft would pay so little attention to what their users want.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I've yet to reset my default browser from Chrome. Win10 hasn't popped up notifications, or reset it itself. Everything people have been having issue with Win10 has yet to affect me. So it seems whatever default Win10 settings affect people who don't personalize their settings.
I don't know why but I just hate their tagline so much I never tried their garbage browser.
Can you keep our UAC settings between updates? I'm really sick of having to disable UAC again every time an update comes down.
Someone correct me but wasn't MS forced to provide the default program option because of just this happening? All the millions of dollars wasted getting a conviction for being a abusive monopoly and here we go again same issues and many more on top of that. It time for a break up people.
Jack of all trades,master of none
While this isn't a option for most people, the Windows 10 LTSB is what Windows 10 should be.
No Edge.
No Store (this can be sideloaded though).
No Cortana.
Control over updates/reboots
Control over telemetry data.
Have you used Vivaldi?
MS is doing you favour by resetting to Edge...
My notion is that when you use Internet Explorer and not Edge, microsoft will deliberatly make IE crash to promote usage of Edge browser.
Complaining about Microsoft is like complaining about partisan politics in the U.S. We'll deride the two-party system just as we will lash out a MS, but when it comes decision making time, most of us get in line like lemmings.
All the monopoly regulations on them expired and with Apple and Linux where they are now, you'd have a lot of trouble convincing a court MS is a monopoly. In the desktop market they are still the big dog, but Apple is a major competitor. Macs are all over the place. In the server market MS is a big player, but so is Linux. I don't know what the split is, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out Linux is on top. In the mobile arena MS is a nothing. Linux (in the form of Android) is by far the biggest with iOS coming in #2.
Thus there's no argument to be made for a monopoly position. When there's very real competition out there in all segments of your market, you aren't a monopoly. Well if you aren't a monopoly, then anti-competition laws don't apply. Companies are free to lock-in their own solution. Again for a great example see Apple, who (tried to) lock their software to their hardware and puts everything in their own controlled ecosystem.
Sorry, but the MS monopoly ship has sailed. Unless the market changes significantly, they are just another player, which means they can do this kind of thing.
... nobody would care. How can they build browsers for 20+ years and STILL fuck it up?
The problem is bigger than you.
This is why we use either Linux or OS X. :)
What most users want, yeah, like taking away standard ports and replacing them with $25 dongles
Someone needs to create a Windows 10 ONLY mutation engine virus - one that completely wipes Windows 10 off the users system, then downloads and installs Linux!
Just remember "Windows isn't a virus, viruses do something!"
Bring back Opera 12.18 series - everyone KNOWS it's better than the advertising machines browsers out here now (script heavy dependence) - please... do it!
* You'll do great @ it man!
Why?
Hey, to this VERY day it's the ONLY real high-performance super-flexible browser out there that to this very day is MORE flexible & powerful natively w/ no addons required to be great unlike other browsers, that there is (bar-none even though you abandoned it).
I understand "$" talks - but it can work AGAINST you & this whole "ChOpera" thing IS working against you, badly (this 'new hotness' Chrome based CRAP is bullshit slow crap, not 'better' - far from it!)
APK
P.S.=> I heard the code leaked - that, sux... why? Google Chrome EFast is what will happen (I bet your current employers did it IF anyone did so that WOULD happen & so any "newly released" browsers based on said 'leaked' code surface will NOT be trusted - that is, UNLESS they come from you, straight from the horses-mouth so to speak)... apk
Well, technically it is a violation of the federal anti-hacking laws to alter, view or delete data on someones computer without permission. Now, I am sure that MS lawyers would argue that by installing windows updates you are granting them just that permission, but it seems to me that any impartial judge would agree with an argument to the effect that this implicit permission has limits and that MS doesn't have Cart Blanche to do anything to your system that they want during an update.
perhaps a quick trip down to the local Federal Court would settle this matter.
HAHA, I USED THE WORD QUICK IN A DESCRIPTION OF A LEGAL PROCESS.....
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Between the 5 or so computers I use on a regular basis...all with Win 10....I use FF or Chrome as the default browser...never once has Win 10 changed it on its own.
Sounds like the article writer of vivaldi's bitchfest's friend clicked on it.
After having a remote machine running Win10 go into an eternal reboot loop after forcing us to run win update to install a driver for a Roland USB MIDI dongle, not being able to boot into safe mode, and having to drive over there on very short notice to fix it, I have now had it with MS. After all the telemetry crap, the forced updates, f-ing ads in the start menu (!), etc etc My next laptop will be a mac book pro, and every where else i will be running either debian linux or OS X. I am a professional developer for 15+ years, targeting mainly the windows platform, but now i'm willing to go the extra length to finally learn some cross platform frameworks and dev on linux only.
(N/T)
Microsoft and other companies have demonstrated for decades that complaints do not affect them. I don't understand why people keep trying. Companies do not have moral compasses. They speak only one language: money. The very definition of a corporation is a machine; a printing press that prints money for its shareholders and employees, and it can sue and be sued just like a person. That's it. People are acting like they can point fingers at the printing press and say, "Bad Corporation!!" and that will somehow make a difference. Microsoft (and most other companies) will always be shameless and that will never, ever change.
If you want a company to change, you must speak to it in the only language it understands: money. Stop whining about the behavior Microsoft has displayed for decades. If you want things to change, STOP GIVING MICROSOFT YOUR MONEY.
To whose who hate Microsoft, I agree. You're right. They're evil, they're bad, whatever. But it's been DECADES. Shut the fuck up and switch to another operating system already.
How many more years of Microsoft ignoring complaints from hundreds of millions of people across the globe does it take before people finally realize complaining, bad press, protests, and lawsuits don't work? STOP GIVING MICROSOFT YOUR MONEY.
STOP GIVING MICROSOFT YOUR MONEY. Is there any part of that you neophytes don't understand? STOP GIVING MICROSOFT YOUR MONEY. Now get the hell off my lawn.
Zero fucks were given in Redmond that day.
Regarding my note from earlier this morning... So I just received a brand new win10pro PC from dell to set up for work today.
The "use color on title bar" option was turned off by default, and all the windows looked exactly the same.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.