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Microsoft Edge Is Trying To Forcefully Get Your Chrome Tabs Again (theverge.com)

(Tuesday November 12, 2024 @10:30PM (BeauHD) from the thanks-but-no-thanks dept.)


A new update is rolling out that automatically starts Microsoft's Edge browser and [1]prompts users to import their Chrome tabs -- a move that has sparked criticism over its invasive tactics to encourage Edge adoption. The Verge's Tom Warren reports:

> My colleague Richard Lawler noticed that Edge started automatically on his PC last week at boot and offered up a new prompt to "enhance your browsing experience." The pop-up has a "bring over your data from other browsers regularly" option ticked by default, and encourages people to confirm and continue with a big blue button. If you want to dismiss this prompt there's a tiny white X button that looks similar to the sparkles Microsoft is using in the background of the prompt.

>

> If you simply hit confirm and continue then Microsoft Edge will import your Chrome data and continually import your tabs if you have Chrome set as default. The prompt seems to mainly appear on PCs with Chrome installed, suggesting that Microsoft is once again targeting Chrome users. Microsoft confirmed the new "feature" to The Verge. "This is a notification giving people the choice to import data from other browsers," explains Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston. "There is an option to turn it off."



[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/12/24294454/microsoft-edge-chrome-tabs-prompt-trick


that would be a problem... (Score:5, Insightful)

by mr.dreadful ( 758768 )

if I used Windows...

Re: (Score:2)

by KiloByte ( 825081 )

At this time, it's nothing but malware. And I'm not just maliciously joking:

Back in the '00s, malware was usually defined as "adware or spyware". When you had "utilities" like Bonzi Buddy send your data to the mothership, display ads, and annoy you with tacky images as well, it was something considered by users to be a major problem. Today, Windows, Apple, and Android have such functionality baked into the very OS...

Dark Patterns again from Microsoft (Score:2)

by will4 ( 7250692 )

And do the bookmarks 'imported' from Chrome get stored in Microsoft's cloud for AI training purposes?

Option (Score:5, Insightful)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

> "This is a notification giving people the choice to import data from other browsers," explains Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston. "There is an option to turn it off."

The option can be found in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.”

Re: (Score:2)

by az-saguaro ( 1231754 )

Bing is always number 2.

So now, when we go that bathroom, it is because "I have to take a bing."

Again? (Score:2)

by GigaplexNZ ( 1233886 )

Isn't this a violation of their antitrust settlement?

Re: (Score:2)

by gweihir ( 88907 )

It very much is. Time for a huge fine. These criminal fucks need to be put in their place.

Re: (Score:3)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

No. That agreement expired in 2011.

Edge and Windows (Score:1)

by PhrostyMcByte ( 589271 )

These products are increasingly feeling like 90's Microsoft. Dark patterns, advertisements, and stuff like this are really making me consider switching to Linux.

I just imagine they are struggling when Azure has 4x the revenue and Windows/Edge have no consumer relevance beyond being "the default" or "i need games" -- that nobody wants to engage with their new features ( even when they're not bad ) so they resort to stuff like this.

Take control of your OS and browser (Score:3)

by markdavis ( 642305 )

All the machines I use are and have been Linux for decades, so my OS doesn't fight to take control over my decisions/life/privacy. If I were forced to use MS-Windows, I would already be angry, and stunts like that would make me even angrier.

But one thing to try might be to install and use Firefox? I bet MS will ignore that (at least for now). And it has the added bonus of not giving anywhere near as much power to MS and Google (Edge) or just Google (Chrom*).

Cancel (Score:2)

by PPH ( 736903 )

> If you want to dismiss this prompt there's a tiny white X button

Can you kill Edge using the Windows Process Explorer? I think I'd trust that a lot more than the options Microsoft presented me with.

Windows is spyware. (Score:3)

by PubJeezy ( 10299395 )

Windows is spyware.

Meanwhile their tabs are stupid (Score:3)

by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

The tabs are in the title bar and don't go all the way to the top of the screen, so what works great in Chrome or Firefox (just slapping the pointer to the very top) causes problems with accidentally moving the browser window in Edge.

Microsoft is bad at everything including copying Chrome . Their one and only talent is antitrust .

Re: (Score:2)

by Your.Master ( 1088569 )

I'm a little confused in that you seem to be saying the opposite of what's true: on my Windows machine, fully updated, Edge and Firefox tabs go to the very top (firefox visually doesn't look like it but from a click perspective they do), while Chrome does not. If you intend to drag a window, then that's easier on Chrome and harder on Firefox and Edge where you might accidentally drag a tab. If you intend to drag a tab, then that's easier on Edge and Firefox and harder on CHrome where you might accidental

You are becoming the product (Score:2)

by khchung ( 462899 )

In case you haven't noticed yet, Microsoft is slowing turning their customers into products, while at the same time milking them dry with subscriptions.

Solution (Score:2)

by brokenin2 ( 103006 )

apt remove ms-edge-browser

I don't use either (Score:2)

by rossdee ( 243626 )

I mostly use Firefox, and the default browser is set to Basilisk

IV. The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or
equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to
spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.
Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it
inevitably unsuccessful.
V. All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel
them directly away from the earth's surface. A spooky noise or an
adversary's signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to
the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole.
The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding
auto need never touch the ground, especially when in flight.
VI. As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.
This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a
character's head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of
altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common
as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A "wacky"
character has the option of self-replication only at manic high
speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required.
-- Esquire, "O'Donnell's Laws of Cartoon Motion", June 1980