back to article Microsoft Edge takes a victory lap with some high-looking usage stats for 2024

Microsoft has published a year in review for its Edge browser and talked up AI-powered chats while lightly skipping over the software's stagnating market share. The company had some big numbers to share. There had been over 10 billion AI-powered chats with Copilot from inside the Edge browser window (although it did not …

  1. Korev Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Did they include the hugely annoying MSN clickbait bollocks whenever you open a new tab that you can't get rid of?

    1. hoola Silver badge

      Or that so much functionality is now automatically opened in Edge (all the help pages as an example)?

      1. Hubert Cumberdale Silver badge

        This problem is solved if you delete all of the contents of the Edge install folders, set their privileges to deny all access of any kind to everyone, and set the owner as some arbitrary non-admin user. Sure, maybe it breaks some functionality, but I've managed quite well without that functionality for a couple of years, so it can't be that critical.

    2. Nick Ryan

      "in 2024, you also stayed informed and inspired every day with over 800 million articles, stories and updates viewed on MSN."

      Of course they included that. One must be force fed content from the Microsoft Service for American News. Multiple times. Say 9-12 times one is tricked into unwittingly opening a page using Microsoft Edge regardless of browser preference.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        More like right wing corporations of any nationality - GB "News", Wail, Express, times, scum, torygraph etc alongside right wing talking heads on pootube and it's all click bait crud.

        Then again Google news highlights X as if it's the pre-eminent 'social' media site and not a nazi shit hole

    3. PB90210 Silver badge

      First thing to do is to change the default new tab/page to 'about:blank'

      1. Always Right Mostly

        Also just add msn.com with an IP of 0.0.0.0 to your hosts file.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Huh?

      I used Edge and see no such thing. So I guess you can get rid of it, as I must’ve when I installed it.

    5. payne747

      Or every mistyped app in the start menu, or every accidental click on Bing picture of the day...

  2. John Riddoch
    Black Helicopters

    I wonder how much of the increased market share is from forcing users into Edge? As an example, Facebook messenger app on Windows is no longer an actual app. It's a lightly skinned Edge window which means that when you click on a link in a message, it bypasses your browser choices and opens the page in Edge. Click on the wrong bit on the login screen? Here, have a page loaded in Bing/Edge telling you about something you don't care about, just because it was on the login screen. There seem to be more and more ways in which Windows opens Edge against your will. Then it points out that you're obviously doing something wrong because Edge is not your default browser. The Edge is your friend. Trust The Edge.

    1. Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

      Outlook links? Now there's an option to open in your default browser, or in edge...

      1. FirstTangoInParis Silver badge

        Nah. Outlook for iOS totally ignores any options and just opens Edge. And complains if Edge isn’t installed, so you have to install it because Oulook says so. That’s one way of getting the installed software numbers up. Bastards.

        1. Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

          This is on the desktop version: A choice of your default browser, or in edge. And guess which the default is?

        2. ShameElevator

          Report error to Microsoft. When I select it to use the default browser, it opens the link in Safari.

    2. joed

      Technically their BS new tab page can be trimmed of the nonsense (easy) or completely disabled using fake mdm reg key (to default it to good old blank page or url of choice).

      Still, what a crappy browser. Full of shit that MS slings onto their users/hostages (and some of it will stick).

      And what other usage stats one could expect when all Windows users are constantly nagged into using it or forced by corporate IT. It's like celebrating communist party winning elections in Soviet Russia.

      BTW, does anyone remember good old days when one could designate default app/browser with single click for all extensions and protocols? Sure that was too easy and bad user experience.

      1. Craig 2
        Windows

        Fighting the OS..

        "using fake mdm reg key (to default it to good old blank page or url of choice)."

        So many times you see this now where you can fix the problem by: doing something 99.9% of users don't know how to do, which will be randomly & silently reset in the future, to Microsoft's preference. Constant updates have ceded the user's ability to make preferential configuration changes on a permanent basis. When I added something into config.sys, it stayed there!

        Also it will be interesting if the Chrome manifest war on ad blockers will have an effect on its market share. (Lots of people moaning about Ublock etc recently)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Fighting the OS..

          The uBlock thing was interesting. I had exactly ONE day of Youtube whinging that ad blockers were unwelcome and then it all went back to normal. I presume they discovered that there are quite a few people who simply would no longer use YT if they didn't allow ads to be filtered out.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: YoutuBe & Ad Blockers

            The warnings come and go even if you are using a private window and a tool like Ghostery. Eventually its gets snarky and the warning popup won't go away. A browser restart is needed.

            NOW... I get more and more sites wanting me to login using my Google ID. F**k that for a game of soldiers. If I can avoid that site in the future I will. (I don't have and don't intend to ever have a google ID)

            Google needs (like MS) to be broken up NOW!

            1. Kevin Johnston

              Re: YoutuBe & Ad Blockers

              I have an Android phone which needed a Google ID (may have been avoidable, couldn't be arsed to go that deep) but I don't know the password as I just mashed the keyboard in a text window and used copy/paste to enter the password the required twice.

              If the replacement phone is also an Android I will just use the 'forgot password' but you can be sure that the account will not come anywhere near my PCs

              Too many people just walk blindly into those 'Log in with your xxxx account' teasers which is why they push it in so many places

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Fighting the OS..

            Though pootube now won't suggest videos unless you let Google horde your watch history....even though it briefly flashes up in the background so they can still suggest videos based on what you have liked in the past.

            Given how the cops go on out of context dragnet fishing operations.....pass on letting Google store any watch history

      2. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

        That's me - forced to use it by my work machine. I use Waterfox on my personal machine and Brave on my phone, although I may switch to Waterfox on the phone.

    3. Mentat74
      Thumb Down

      And of course all those links to help pages on the web in the control panel that somehow don't open in your default browser...

    4. Ilgaz
      Happy

      I asked it to their AI

      I asked something similar to "Isn't pushing your own browser to users while Firefox is perfectly capable of functioning in the same manner old fashioned?"

      It ended the conversation. Basically said "Let's talk about another subject' That was Bing AI.

    5. david 12 Silver badge

      Thankfully Alphabet has reduced (not stopped) pushing Chrome at me every time I open Google, Gmail, Maps, or YouTube. I guess they've got so much market share now that they just don't care any more.

    6. Dinanziame Silver badge
      Trollface

      I wonder how much of the increased market share is from forcing users into Edge?

      Well the 11% market share quoted in the article is for desktop. There is an app for Edge in the play store, possibly also on the app store... But on mobile their market share is below 1%. So there's your answer.

    7. MOH

      Yup. I accidentally clicked on something on the start menu that opened Edge on a new W11 machine.

      Which then immediately triggered a modal popup with multiple tabs asking me to agree to various T+C's or import data which I had no intention of agreeing to.

      It ignored attempts to close it with Alt-F4 or from the taskbar.Had to kill it with Powershell.

      It's pretty pathetic and desperate, like much of MS these days.

      1. Nick Ryan

        That malware-mimicking popup can be killed using task manager as well, no need to revert to PowerShell.

        1. logicalextreme

          Much as I'd like PowersHell to get in the sea, if you're already using it for daily tasks then you'd probably rather kill processes via it rather than another MS UI.

  3. cjcox

    This isn't the biggest news...

    The even bigger news that nobody suspected is that Windows is the #1 OS choice amongst Windows users.

    "It's certainly something we desired. We are so grateful to our customers."

  4. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    Edge? Close to the Edge more like

    {For those old enough to remember Prog Rock}

    On my website, Edge is just above Brave at the bottom of the browser agent list. 1,7% of all user requests.

    Chrome (boo hiss) is top with 46.7%, Safari is next with 31.4%

  5. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Windows

    Edge increased its

    market share

    From 3 users to 4 .... a 33% rise in usage

    I would put the joke icon, but this doesn't sound like a joke

  6. JWLong Silver badge

    Brave

    My Brave browser user agent says it's "Chrome" so the Google Chrome numbers are probably wrong because Brave installs that way.

    Figures don't lie, but liars do figure.

    MicroSofts new slogan: How high can we pile SHIT today!

  7. Pan_Handle

    Pretty light for Linux

    Edge is actually pretty light for low-powered Linux machines vs Firefox. And most of the crap can be disabled. And sync works well. Just sayin'

    1. GNU Enjoyer
      FAIL

      Re: Pretty light for Linux

      It's quite bizarre that you have moved away from microsoft's shackles by installing systemd/Linux and then you've immediately proceeded put the shackles back on tight by running their proprietary malware program that is full of microsoft+google spyware.

      >most of the crap can be disabled

      Some of it can be temporarily disabled, but most of it cannot be.

      If you really only care about lightness, lynx, w3m, netsurf or Emacs Web Wowser are the lightest.

    2. blu3b3rry
      Linux

      Re: Pretty light for Linux

      Maybe I've not has so much luck, but in my tinkerings with a very old Intel NUC (1st generation with the rather weak dual-core Celeron) I found that Falkon ran best followed by ungoogled chromium for a fuller-featured browser. links2/elinks are good if you need something very lightweight and tended to be a bit more up to date than lynx.

      Edge ran even worse than Firefox especially when heavier webpages were involved.

      1. Bebu sa Ware
        Windows

        Re: Pretty light for Linux

        «links2/elinks are good if you need something very lightweight and tended to be a bit more up to date than lynx.»

        W3m was worth a look. Last time I used it (a good while ago) I think it could be built with javascript support which I imagine might have made for some peculiar browsing experiences.

        I used to wonder how many User-Agent headers use "Nutscrape/1.0 (CP/M; 8-bit)" (from squid configuration doc.) I used it with a Firefox user agent switching plug-in a few years ago and a surprisingly large proportion of sites ignored it - presumably defaulting to IE - a few dropped down to a text only version which I guess was their accessible version for screen reader software.

        1. Nick Ryan

          Re: Pretty light for Linux

          It's still staggering how many incompetent web developers there are who are incapable of understanding the concept of "Test Capabilities, not version numbers".

          But then there are also a staggering number of incompetent web developers who are utterly incapable of understanding that trying, and invetably failing, to recreate standard browser functionality using JavaScript is an incredibly stupid thing to do. But then we have also mock websites which use JavaScript as a page generator so the insanity continues...

          1. stiine Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: Pretty light for Linux

            Why do you think that " as a page generator" was actually necessary in that sentence?

  8. petef

    I am an Edge user because my company's internal websites insist on it.

    For everything else I use a more capable, less encumbered browser.

    1. Hubert Cumberdale Silver badge

      "a more capable, less encumbered browser."

      I use Firefox too.

  9. GNU Enjoyer
    Facepalm

    Victory? More like another loss for user freedom.

    >built on its proprietary browser engine, EdgeHTML, was swiftly ditched in favor of the Chromium-based Edge in use today.

    Chromium Edge is just as proprietary as EdgeHTML, considering that the weak licenses allow the software to be made totally proprietary and microsoft has done so.

    >7.3 billion passwords are protected

    That many passwords are collected and sent to microsoft? What a disaster.

    1. hoola Silver badge

      Re: Victory? More like another loss for user freedom.

      Just the same as the password manager in Chrome. Although in reality that is millions of times worse simply due to the high user base.

  10. TheMaskedMan Silver badge

    The "use Edge to download Chrome" thing is pretty accurate. Offhand, I can think of only one domestic user who is using Edge voluntarily; the rest have been tricked or nagged into making it the default browser and are only too happy for me to restore normality for them.

    Generally, domestic users are happy with Chrome. This could be down to familiarity and general inertia, of course. But, given the choice, they will mostly opt for the devil they know.

    If Microsoft, or anyone else, wants those users to defect, they won't do it through force, or by bolting on AI tools (yet). They need to make a better browser that's easily differentiated from Chrome, but doesn't confuse with a radically different user interface. They could start by stripping out telemetry, including a functional ad blocker that's on by default, reducing memory use etc.

    Chrome won the internet by being far better than IE. Microsoft will not win it back by being a second rate Chrome.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Which Chrome are we talking about?

      The Google spywre riddled version

      OR

      the spyware free, Google free version?

      We deserve to know.

      Personally, even the latter one is banned from my network.

  11. navarac Silver badge

    All the above...

    .... crap in Edge and also in Windows 11, is what made me abandon Microsoft products in 2020. Now-a-days, I am able to use what I want, without being browbeaten by Microsoft's marketing crap and just read about it all and shake my head. I feel sorry for those who cannot get away from the frustration of it all.

  12. Ball boy Silver badge

    Not a name that inspires confidence

    Okay, okay: I don't mean former bit of that name. It's pretty much a given that people hearing 'Microsoft' aren't exactly inspired with confidence these days - but why 'Edge'? Is that 'Bleeding Edge' as in possibly not very compatible with more developed business tools and practices - or 'Ragged Edge': something that's barely able to cope with what you ask of it? In short, 'edge' almost always implies some kind of out there, not-quite-as-well-connected-as-things-could-be environment. 'Chrome', OTOH, works much better in the naming of things: it suggests a finished, polished product (it also screams 'new shiny' which is what all the kids want these days, no?).

    Maybe I just miss the days when a new variant of something was imaginatively called 'Yet Another...'.

    This Ladybird thing looks interesting though. An entirely new engine rather than a fork. Hmm. And Ladybird 'sounds' environmental which might buy it a few followers although in reality it'll probably only serve to further dilute MS market share.

    1. Nick Ryan

      Re: Not a name that inspires confidence

      Ah, but the Microsoft Crayon Eating Department, are exceedingly skilled at destroying branding. Take Skype, for example, at one point it was pretty much synonymous with a video call over the Internet and was used as a verb, as in to Skype someone. Therefore Microsoft's Crayon Eating Department took the successful application, switched it from a decentralised operation to a centralised operation, made the service and application worse and worse with every half baked untested update and then released a sort of equivalent product called Teams which is wholly commercial in naming, not inter-personal. One does not "Teams" someone and the entire product branding of Skype that Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for was dead in an instant.

      1. Richard 12 Silver badge

        Re: Not a name that inspires confidence

        Oh, Skype died when they rebranded Lync as Skype for Business.

        Long before Teams was a sparkle in Electron's eye

      2. CountCadaver Silver badge

        Re: Not a name that inspires confidence

        Like msn messenger, which they kill by trying to force everyone onto Skype, despite Skype at the time having vastly higher system resource requirements - lost contact with many folk since then due to fragmentation across a myriad of services

  13. Kev99 Silver badge

    I've yet to see a single valid reason for the average Joe/Jo to use AI in any flavor. A couple search engines "brag" about their search results (That's you, Duck Duck Go) being AI generated when the results are no different from wikipedia. The AI bruhaha ranks down there there with Netbooks, WiFi # with speed difference no one notices in reality, and all the idiotic touchscreens in cars.

  14. steviebuk Silver badge

    Did they include

    They're anti-trust practice of every few updates resetting all defaults back to Microsoft so Edge becomes the default browser again? The Outlook addition that makes edge the default browser for opening links.

    And so on with their shitty, shady practices. Its as if SatNav has never heard of the decades old Microsoft vs United States Government case.

  15. harrys Bronze badge

    edge... my goto for watching youtube without junk .....

    1) install ublock

    2) remove shorts ... https://christitus.com/remove-youtube-shorts/

    3) start in kiosk mode, going straight to my subscriptions... "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --app=https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions

    4) always choose delete everything on exit in edge settings, with utube exception

    I never click outside of subscriptions, never on home ... there lies the dark side :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      getting smashed by the JS right in the...

      ... JS has u. And it is such a DEEP knowledge of INSIDE you.

      uBlock doesn't take care off that.

      JS needs to be deprecated like XML before it takes up its niche, but important, role.

      A lot of its functionality can be ported to CSS.

  16. ComicalEngineer

    The only thing I use Edge for is to open PDFs and that simply because it allows me to insert text into the PDF -- useful when someone sends you a PDF form to fill in (of which I receive many).

    Having tried Bing, I went back to Google as a lot of Bing links were just not relevant to what I typed in. Lately I've started using DuckDuckGo for privacy reasons.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Firefox/Libre Wolf

      Their PDF editor is pretty much all I need on Win11. It is nice not to need to install another piece of software for it and I use the function nearly everyday.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bah

    The only reason the status look high is because every time Chromium updates their code, Microsoft has to aplpy those changes. Then they have to update their own code. All of the while, the background updater does double duty, 1) updating Edge, and 2) generating false usage statistics.

  18. John Klos

    Funny how they report things

    In order to save 100 megabytes per tab, as an example, you have to be using more than 100 megabytes per tab in the first place.

    It's hardly a flex, Microsoft, to say you simply suck less than you had previously sucked. It's just an improvement.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fox on the run

    Don’t give up.

    Take it easy.

    Don’t pay the ferryman

  20. Sleep deprived

    I only use Edge when it can't be avoided

    The only time I use Edge is to join a Teams conference called by corporate users who don't know the plebs prefer Zoom. Any other time, I'm happy with Firefox.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    have to keep it as lazy arse boi

    And can't be the bothered to install Chrome on my Win11 laptop.

    Plus it is a nightmare to get rid of - about as bad as it gets with reg keys and restarts galore.

    And finally, there are still are few s(h)ites that don't work properly on LibreWolf that I uses. Not too many. Biggest is still the insane amounts of calls for JS that goes with big brands. Argos. 20-odd loads. NoScript Allow All x 3 times often.

    Usually, I just disable it for purchases then re enable after. NatWest too. Come off it. I will trust your root JS and 1/2 approved related third-parties (not Google). Nothing else.

    Of course on Edge, nothing matters as everything, and I mean everything works. Open like spreading your cheeks. Passport Office, too. Have to use Edge FFS. Even with NoScript, uBlock, CanvasBlocker all off. Chrome-based only. And it isn't for security reasons, just the stupid numbers of external calls clogging up the internet.

  22. b1k3rdude

    "but market share wasn't one of them"

    hah, good.

  23. Nematode Bronze badge

    Google's Chrome browser, went from 65.23 percent to 66.33 percent

    So, two-thirds of users are, er, what? (trying not to be rude)

  24. thexfile
    WTF?

    I call BS on the numbers.

  25. Kxy23

    % Increase in Edge quite reasonable.

    The increase in Edge usage is actually just over 8%, not 1% as quoted in the article. I would argue that is a reasonable increase.

  26. Funny-Bunny

    Edge has been the best browser on my Surface Pro 9. It's fast and easy on the battery. It's better than anything else. I wish Microsoft would make the Android Edge better. Most of the alternatives are far better in terms of customization.

  27. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

    AI powered tools and MSN

    Well, that's two reasons not to use Edge straight away.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At work, our systems team has taken the decision to go all in on Microsoft. We already were mostly a windows shop. That seems to be be increasing. I try to push alternatives (MacOS, Linux), but to little avail.

    Now, we have to use Office, including Outlook. I don't mind Outlook on a computer, but they've also disabled the API used by tje Android and iOS native Exchange support mechanisms on our Exchange 365 instance., so we *have* to use Microsoft apps for that as well.

    Oh, and we have to use Bing and Edge. I don't mind edge, as when it comes down to basics, it's a Chromium browser with a few bells on, but Bing.. Euurggh. Google isn't great. but at least it works.

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