Rival browsers cry foul after Microsoft Edge slips through EU gatekeeper cracks

The European Commission's decision not to designate Microsoft Edge as a core platform service has rival browser makers and engineers up in arms. Competitors and an advocacy group have sent a letter to the Commission in support of Opera's July request to officials to reconsider the exemption of Microsoft Edge as a gatekeeper …

[captain veg]

browser choice

The fact that Microsoft's attempts to foist Edge on to Windows users have largely failed does not in any way detract from their blatant disregard for, at the very least, the spirit of the law.

Still, I'm more concerned about the lack of choice in rendering engines. Opera would have a better case, in my view, if they had either continued with Presto or open-sourced it (or both). Microsoft ought to be forced to do likewise with Trident/EdgeHTML.

-A.

[bigtimehustler]

Re: browser choice

As a developer working in the Web sphere, I'm really happy at the reduction in rendering engines, they are never implemented perfectly, which is understandable, but that means various workarounds for each browser when a customer reports a bug. They don't want the browser maker to fix it, they want you to fix it now.

[dangerous race]

One wonders if Microsoft and the European Commission have some sort of business arrangement where Microsoft might supply software and support to the European Commission. There would no way that some sort of 'arrangement' was arranged between the parties so that Edge was exempted from these DMA regulations. /s

[zimzam]

Clippy

It looks like you're trying to write some regulations.

Would you like help with that?

[milliemoo83]

Re: Clippy

It looks like you're trying to write some regulations.

Would you like help with that?

It looks like you're trying to dodge some regulations.

Would you like help with that?

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

I found a way to get rid of Edge

And no, it doesn't involve Linux, smartass. My Windows installation had gone through a long series of upgrades and modifications, so I decided to run the Refresh process and get it back to something closer to a pristine state while retaining my user profiles. Following that process, Edge was just ... gone. Hilariously, there seems to be no way to get it back, either. All of the Edge repair documentation I can find starts with "First, launch Edge," leaving me with an Edge-free deployment.

The only problem is that some of the Windows interface elements (notably the Security settings) appear to rely on the Edge renderer to display, so I can't access them.

[X5-332960073452]

Re: I found a way to get rid of Edge

If (and that's a big IF) you want it back, try, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download?form=MA13FJ

[Wolfclaw]

Edge's market share, at just over 5 percent, yes, but if you take that % and put in business customers, they practically have a monopoly, as most business just go with the flow and choose the simplest option to support, especially if they still need legacy browser support. !

[MiguelC]

Yeah... no.

Most large orgs give users the "choice" of using Edge and/or Chrome. It's more a duopoly than a monopoly.

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

At my org, we used to supply Edge and Chrome, but we decided a non-Chromium-based browser would be a good thing for everyone to have access to, so we now supply Firefox and Edge. There were obviously a number of angry Chrome users after this decision, but Edge is incorporated into Windows, so if we wanted to add Firefox to the mix, it was either ditch Chrome, or support 3 browsers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just deploy Edge with a Chrome icon on the shortcut. They won't notice.

We settled on Edge as default for multiple reasons. Some sites needed IE mode, we haven't found any sites that Edge runs differently to Chrome and in testing it appears to use slightly less RAM.

[chasil]

Edge on my business laptop

I can confirm, Chrome was forcibly uninstalled from my corporate laptop when Edge was pushed.

It is interesting how Microsoft embraced, extended, and is now working to extinguish Chrome on Windows (with enthusiasm!). Old habits die hard.

I actually use LineageOS on my main (Google) Android phone, and I don't have Chrome there either (I use Brave, which has some problems).

I guess that I'm the rare user that Chrome really doesn't touch anymore.

[katrinab]

But we already have a choice of Chrome downloading tools on Windows.

Edge is obviously the most popular choice, but there is also WinGet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome is now the dominant browser...

You can't really complain about Edge or Bing any more.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Chrome is now the dominant browser...

Isn't edge basically a re-skinned chromium anyway?

[Terry 6]

Buit in Edge

I have Edge disabled.( Edgeblock and other bits too, I think I used.)

This seems to mean that Teams* no longer works in the app version. Not since a recent Teams update anyway. As far as I can tell from reading various forum comments it seems to require some part of Edge to function. So we can only use it in the browser now.

*The local authority and its schools use Teams for their online meetings- I do voluntary work with the LA and my wife is a school governor, so Teams it is.

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: Buit in Edge

It appears Microsoft wired some of their other apps into Edge, to give Edge an edge in the browser wars.

"Sure, users can uninstall Edge, but they won't like their 'experiences' if they do!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Bundling notepad is unfair.

I want a text editor choice screen.

Also, new notepad is too heavy. The old one was simpler and nicer. If I wanted tabs and persistent documents, I would be using something other than notepad.