In 2018, Microsoft announced its was ditching its EDGEHTML web rendering platform and moving Microsoft Edge to Google’s Chromium. Through preview in 2019, the full version of the Chromium-based Edge received a full release in January.
However, it seems the new Microsoft Edge experience may be up to no good on Windows 10. On Reddit, software developers are suggesting Microsoft is forcing Edge onto users and making it harder for them to use Firefox and Google’s Chrome.
According to Redditor krankie, Microsoft is pushing Edge onto users through a pop-up windows that cannot be closed.
“No option to get rid of the window, you cannot close Edge with the mouse and you cannot escape the modal window. The only option if you don’t want to ‘Get started’ is to use task manager to kill it. Even when you do, it pins itself to your task bar. It puts an Edge icon on your desktop. It unsets your default browser, so next time you click a URL from a shortcut, you’ll have to re-choose your default browser. Apparently it ingests data from other browsers without your permission.”
Taking Data?
Furthermore, Edge is taking user’s Firefox and Chrome data without them knowing. Some commenters say the browser took data without permission, destroying any efforts to maintain privacy on Windows 10.
ZDNet reached out to Microsoft for clarification on the matter. According to the company offered the following response:
“We believe browser data belongs to the customer and they have the right to decide what they should do with it. Like other browsers, Microsoft Edge offers people the opportunity to import data during setup.”
That’s a lot of corporate speak to seemingly avoid answering the real question. No-one is doubting or complaining about choosing to pass their data from Firefox or Chrome. The problem seems to be Edge is doing this automatically without asking.
Because Microsoft did not address this accusation, it’s unclear how accurate it is. That said, it seems users must be careful about how you reject Microsoft’s requests for Edge.
