It's fine.
More people for Linux!
Wasn't MS just saying that they were going to work to de-shittify Windows? Evidently the same decision makers for the previous shit are still in charge.
By "de-shitify" they meant removing all the shit which isn't owned and controlled by Microsoft.
It already does, on startup, on 11. The process is set to auto-run in task manager on every single new installation, it just doesn't "appear" though the process is already loaded in memory the moment you log in.
Go ahead, check task manager > startup apps
Microsoft is malware.
This is why you should use Linux instead
Who's computer is it?
No means no, Microsoft.
Is this…is this just an even worse active desktop?
Alongside this new behavior, Microsoft is testing a new UI design for Edge that more closely resembles Copilot. Edge and Copilot are becoming one of the same, with the latest Copilot update dropping its native Windows app in favor of an Edge powered web wrapped experience.
SteamOS Desktop can't arrive fast enough. Once it has, I will jump ship to either CachyOS or SteamOS, depending on what reviewers say.
Its sometimes fun to watch this drama from the otherside. Windows is 'that other OS' for me now. I was switching between Linux and Windows a while ago, and made a permanant switch around 2021-ish (I think). I only use Windows at work as I don't have a choice, and in certain instances where I'm forced to use a Windows device e.g. for online exams, etc..
Could someone PLEASE build an idiot proof way to permanently remove Edge from your system!?
If they were actively trying to push people towards Linux, would their choices look any different? Perplexing.
IMO they'd be wise to take every step they can to make the OS feel like it belongs to the user, but more and more the attitude seems to be "it's our OS, so we do what we want" which is their right, but it's shit marketting that makes them feel more like Apple every day.
Who is windows for anymore now that you can run games on Linux?
Steam is able to play most Windows games now via Proton. You can wipe out the cancer that is data mining you and feeding all your porn habits to the US government.
In case you didn't know, you can actually fully uninstall Edge.
https://www.neowin.net/guides/here-is-a-simple-method-to-uninstall-edge-in-windows-10-and-11/
(You probably don't need to do the "vivetool" steps)
Why stop there, you could just make a whole operating system out of it and call it EdgeOS.
Funnily enough I actually have Firefox open by default whenever I boot up my PC.
I have no taskbar or desktop items. I always default to a specific workflow of pressing the windows key (or whatever we call it for Linux), and searching for everything. I have since early windows 10.
I realised that 90% of the time, I was opening Firefox, so now it just opens. I have a pretty minimal toolbar setup for it, so it's basically just an address bar that automatically focuses when I start typing.
One day I'll set up something where I have multiple search hotkeys for web search, file search, application search, music etc, that will sort of replace this.
Well I want Microsoft to take a big step back and fuck their own face
As a computer user with ~30 years' experience with Windows: why? Why does the browser need to open? Since Windows 98, the OS and the browser have shared common elements. Those get preloaded already whether you like it or not. This is how IE got its performance gains and this is how Edge gets them as well. Firefox once had an extension that did a similar thing, it added a system tray icon that would preload parts of the browser. The effects were not that great, but some people kept it around. I suspect Chrome has similar things in Android/ChromeOS.
So generally I say this is fine, especially since you can opt out and it probably won't touch business/enterprise, government users, and maybe even Windows 11 Pro users who are spared a lot of the bullshit.
As a Mac guy, I don't think macOS is loading any part of Safari without permission. Safari isn't part of Finder (the file manager), it's not part of the OS aside from being included with it. I run Firefox full time on both my Macs.
And of course Linux is less likely to do this. They typically bundle Firefox (some bundle Chrome or something else) and Firefox isn't really meant to do that out the gate, so I doubt it's happening at all on Linux.
But even if I had 11 Home to game on, I'd just opt out, but also accept that it's probably still loading parts of Edge that other parts of the OS use (like the help system, is that still a thing? Haven't seen it since 98 or 2000 or maybe XP).
But also, my Macs and iPhone convert the Windows company to, let me just type it so I can show you, Microslop . Yeah, I set that up. It was funny for a while. It's still funny. Maybe if it stops being funny, I'll disable it.
Good thing uninstall is a function right?
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