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Microsoft Wants To Force Windows 10 Mail Users To Use Edge For Email Links (theverge.com)
Microsoft has revealed today that "we will begin testing a change where links clicked on within the Windows Mail app will open in Microsoft Edge." What this means is that if you have Chrome or Firefox set as your default browser in Windows 10, Microsoft will simply ignore that and force you into Edge when you click a link within the Mail app. The Verge reports: "As always, we look forward to feedback from our WIP community," says Microsoft's Dona Sarkar in a blog post today. I'm sure Microsoft will receive a lot of feedback over this unnecessary change, and we can only hope the company doesn't ignore it.
Use a different mail app ... problem solved.
(1) View webmail in a different browser
(2) Install Outlook, which will remain configurable for business reasons
(3) Install Thunderbird or another 3rd party email app
Microsoft Mail is the new Outlook Express, without the charm of a built-in NNTP client...
I use a desktop email app, because I can respond to stuff when I'm offline and get notifications on my laptop. Thunderbird is still awesome. Plus I host my own IMAP server and don't feel like giving all my personal info to Google/M$/Yahoo/Apple.
Seriously, the only thing I am going to trust Win10 with (somewhat) when win7 goes out of service will be gaming. No email, no web-browsing, nada. They can f*** their creepy selves. Instead I will have a clean, trustworthy Linux box for anything non-gaming and a win10 box for gaming only.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Or just keep running Win 7 -- just don't be stupid and click on links from spy32545434warecle4ner.ru. Some computers are perfectly fine running XP in 2018 as long as they're not used by numpties.
Instead they can look forward to feedback from the EU, in the form of another hefty fine for anti-competitive practises.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Wow, really? Let me check spy32545434warecle4ner.ru real qui{#`%${%&`+'${`%&NO CARRIER
#DeleteFacebook
Or just keep running Win 7 -- just don't be stupid and click on links from spy32545434warecle4ner.ru.
Even when Win 7 goes out of support, it's only support for client programs that really matters. As long as the TCP/IP stack has no holes that can't be firewalled against, there's no reason for Windows updates.
Some computers are perfectly fine running XP in 2018
Alas, Firefox stops support for XP and Vista in June 2018, leaving you with no usable browser. That makes the computer no good for a typical user, although it'd still be useful for that Windows-only $1M medical device.
And, it looks like Windows is rapidly stopping to be the problem. IOT crap, on the other hand...
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
They already did this with Cortana. Remember her? No, probably because anyone who was using her stopped when it started ignoring your default browser and always opens Edge instead.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
Even for games....
I understand that for AAA games Windows is the way to go.
But if you are into the indie game scene, most indie games on Steam also work on Linux.
I also have Windows for gaming only, but currently all the games that I am palying work on Linux.
Thanks Steam.
*bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark*
*BLAM* *BLAM*
NO TERRIER
.. nor your preferences.
Fuck them. Use software that does.
None of those reasons they cite are specific to email. They're valid reasons why one might want to use Edge as the default browser for everything in Windows 10, but if a user has nonetheless chosen to use a different browser, the mail app -- just like other apps -- ought to respect that preference.
This is marketing-speak. It seems pretty clear that the purpose of this change is basically to advertise Edge: Microsoft is dissatisfied with how many people are choosing different browsers, Microsoft thinks that people would prefer Edge if only they'd give it a try, so Microsoft is basically railroading people into trying Edge whether they want to or not. Same sort of thinking that gave us GWX.
You could try replacing the executable from another Windows instance, or Safe Mode maybe. Except the binary (like Cortana among others) is a monitored file, whose hash-sum is checked, and will be replaced by the OS if it is found to of been tampered with.
You rename the folder Cortania is located in, works for me.
I don't use Windows 10 mail, Live Mail, or anything with the words "mail" and "windows" or "microsoft" in the same title. Previously it was because I happen to like the mailer I've been using (in various versions) since the nineties, but now I have an even better reason -- currently, when I click on a link, it opens in Firefox. Or Chrome, whatever one has one's default browser set to.
I understand Microsoft wanting people to use all Microsoft products whenever possible, but I have to wonder -- is this a sign that Edge isn't reaching estimated levels of popularity?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
If you're actually using the Windows Store Mail app, Edge is what you deserve for a browser.
[...] It seems pretty clear that the purpose of this change is basically to advertise Edge: Microsoft is dissatisfied with how many people are choosing different browsers, [...]
But what do I know? I see the OS as a framework to manage resources and load the programs *I* want to use, and *not* as some kind of interconnected environment of programs that the OS manufacturer wants me to use. Besides, Microsoft never did get how to do "seamless environments". "Seamless" to them has always been "you will be forced to use this set of apps no matter how craptastic they are or how badly they work together".
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Why would anyone click a link in an email?
That is the fast track to spyware.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
That's all nice reasoning and I'm sure something like it showed up in a presentation at Microsoft when they pitched this.
But the real reason is of course that top executives are demanding improvements in Edge's usage numbers. They've tried PR, they've done the battery life "Pepsi challenge", they've reset preferences during major updates, they have nag screens reminding you that entire villages in India rely on Edge for clean water and medicine, they even made it better at searching for porn.
But still nothing moves the needle quite like algorithmically jamming it down people's throats with no other option. Microsoft badly wants to close the door on Windows, forcing users into a closed system of rented (or ad supported) desktop operating systems, email, cloud services, and so on. They want to be Apple but they consistently play to their own internal needs (backstopping failing internal projects or money hoses like Office) with Windows when they could be enhancing the user experience.
The DOJ should have broken MS up. An operating system company and an applications company. Both would have had much better incentives to improve for the sake of users.