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posted by martyb on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-touch-that-dial! dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

When you try to install the Firefox pr Chrome web browser on a recent Windows 10 version 1809 Insider build, you may notice that the installation gets interrupted by the operating system.

The intermediary screen that interrupts the installation states that Edge is installed on the device and that it is safer and faster than the browser that the user was about to install on the device.

Options provided are to open Microsoft Edge or install the other browser anyway. There is also an option to disable the warning type in the future but that leads to the Apps listing of the Settings application and no option to do anything about that.

[...] Companies like Google or Microsoft have used their market position in the past to push their own products. Google pushes Chrome on all of its properties when users use different browsers to connect to them, and Microsoft too displayed notifications on the Windows 10 platform to users who used other browsers that Edge was more secure or power friendly.

The intercepting of installers on Windows is a new low, however. A user who initiates the installation of a browser does so on purpose. The prompt that Microsoft displays claims that Edge is safer and faster, and it puts the Open Microsoft Edge button on focus and not the "install anyway" button.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday September 13 2018, @04:51PM (3 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 13 2018, @04:51PM (#734324) Journal

    It's such a loser move to push your products on people like that.

    It's not "pushing", it's just suggesting. Remember when Microsoft was pushing suggesting people upgrade to Windows 10?

    Would you like to install Windows 10?
    [x] Yes
    [_] No

    [OK] [Cancel]

    To install Windows 10, please do any of the following actions:
    1. Click Yes, and OK.
    2. Close the window.
    3. Restart the computer
    4. Abruptly disconnect the computer's electrical power this instant, to have Windows 10 conveniently automatically installed on the next reboot.

    Thank you for choosing Windows 10!

    Coming Soon: this type of pushing suggesting done through web based advertisements, even for Linux and Mac users.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by stretch611 on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:07PM (2 children)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:07PM (#734432)

    No, I do not remember that at all.

    Of course I have been using linux exclusively for the past 10 years. (10 years more with dual boot.)

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:39PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:39PM (#734488) Journal

      I've been running Linux, for personal systems, since June 1999. At work I use Windows, it's provided, and I'm not responsible for maintaining it. And they do a good job.

      As for the "remember", really it is remember all the NEWS articles about the pushy Windows 10 installations. In some cases, users could not opt out even if they clicked NO. Doesn't No mean No?

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:22PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:22PM (#734832)

      You're telling us that, as a linux user, you are smugly ignorant of all the reasons that are supposed to make us envy you?

      You lie! You knew what was going on. That is why you replied and indicated you are smugly ignorant.