Edge case: Opera claims Microsoft still playing dirty with defaults

Veteran browser maker Opera has filed a complaint with Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) against Microsoft over alleged anti-competitive practices in Windows that favor Edge. The complaint alleges that "all-or-nothing" bundled rebates force PC manufacturers to make Edge the "exclusive" pre-installed …

[msknight]

Microsoft is an easier target than Chrome

I'd guess because MS also run the OS, it's easier to target them with the action, other than Chrome. If they win, then Chrome will be dragged in by default.

"We've won this but... oh look... Google are doing the same on their chromebooks."

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Boring

Remember the old days when Microsoft web server sent deliberately wrong CSS when it detected Opera so the site looked broken.

Now they just do Apple style monopoly lockin. No imagination anymore

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: Boring

Ah, browser sniffing. Long discredited as a technique and completely useless now User-Agent strings are essentially generic, no-one does this anymore and good riddance! Wait, what's that? Someone still does this? In 2025?!?!! What kind of idiot would be User-Agent sniffing in 2025?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Boring

Browser agent strings are also pretty much unnecessary since everyone(*) is using Chrome and the web standard is whatever chrome says.

We need Microsoft to reintroduce their own subtly incompatible browser and make things interesting

* Yes I know, everyone on el'reg, and Richard Stallman, uses Firefox

[mikus]

> This writer recently had to configure a new Surface device and was struck by the sheer volume of nagging and pleading within the operating system to stick with Edge rather than opt for an alternative.

As a full-time Linux user for 20 years, I just went through the same thing, a friend having given me an old Surface to play with fresh win11, and like everyone else, the only thing I use Edge for is downloading librewolf, finding that it literally fought me! First, trying to click a link through bing would refuse to take me there, and just hang mysteriously in the redirection process like some technical glitch. Second, it would refuse to download as "suspicious", and I had to click through a bunch of windows telling it to bypass and indeed download, then keep the file. Third, trying to set it then as a default browser they hide it in system settings now and force you to click every option manually to change to use another browser.

Any normal user would get scared and stop, just giving up and use Edge, which is exactly what they want. Absolutely disgusting tactics, Microsoft is just so sleazy about it now, they should get taken down a few notches. It's a shame our governments are run by luddites or worse.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>It's a shame our governments are run by luddites

I was hoping that our government was secretly being run by Microsoft, Facebook and Instagram/TikTok - at least they can find their arses with both hands

[Anonymous Coward]

But look at all those updates!

At least Chrome is already Microsoft compatible if I see just how many updates it has needed over the past few weeks.

It's a match made in heaven, umm, a board meeting?

[frankyunderwood123]

Does anyone care what Opera think?

Seriously, just look at the release history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Opera_web_browser

Opera shot themselves in the foot the moment they thought anyone would pay for a web browser.

They tinkered with shareware and ad supported and actually had some good ideas - the browser was reasonably good.

But Netscape was free and Netscape Communicator, which itself was an ill-feted bloated release upped the anti by offering a suite of internet capabilities, was released in 1997.

It was a game changer at the time despite being a bloated pig of an offering.

But Internet Explorer 4 blew it out the water just a few months later.

God, it seems so long ago now - probably because it was.

The good old Browser wars!

I do remember taking Opera for a spin back then - if they had just offered it for free and had focussed, it would be a serious player now, rather than a 2.5% of the market one.

I totally remember thinking that at the time - some 29 years ago now - "Why should I pay for this? - it's good, but not THAT good"

So, yeah, who cares what Opera think - I'm amazed they still exist, but they missed the big time 30 years ago and that bus isn't coming around again.

[Del Varner]

Re: Does anyone care what Opera think?

ANd remember that Opera is now owned by the Chinese. Another reason to never give it the light of day on your hardware.

[ChrisCrooks]

Re: Does anyone care what Opera think?

If you want a more serious answer, there isn't much they can do with your data. Norway, where Opera is headquartered, is part of the European Economic Area, which means that companies who wish to do business there must comply with GDPR, which are a very strong set of pro-consumer privacy laws. Even though it is owned by a Chinese consortium, it isn't headquartered in China.

[midgepad]

Microsoft set their culture

in their early days.

I liked Opera. I remember how MS Front Page set, as a default, a left margin of -10 pixels.

And IE ignored a negative left margin.