There are times when Microsoft can’t help itself.
Those times include today, yesterday, and always.
For the longest time, Redmond pushed and prodded and kept trying to force humans to use only Microsoft products.
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Why, just the other day Microsoft tried to bully me into moving forward with the new AI-powered Bing chat by suggesting that I virtualize everything from Microsoft.
Now, it appears, the company is back in another form of performance disruption.
I am indebted and sympathetic to Taras Buria at Neowin who discovered that daring to install Chrome while using Edge Canary pissed off Microsoft.
When the download started, a full-width banner appeared. And she pleaded: “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with added confidence from Microsoft.”
And without the added distrust of Google? Or does Edge only have the added trust of Microsoft while, say, Word does not?
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As I’ve wondered many times before, why is this necessary?
Edge is a perfectly fine product. Don’t such ads feel paranoid? Doesn’t that just suggest that Microsoft’s marketing of Edge has found it more desirable than successive UK governments?
All of this made me think a little bit.
Edge’s market share has been hovering at 6% for a little while now. Is Microsoft doubly frustrated that Chrome is still at around 50% and Safari at around 35%?
But I wanted to be fair. Well, fair as I can be. Well, at least try to drift towards fairness.
I wanted to know if this was a lonely canary situation or a more widespread one. So I searched for Chrome using Bing. Quite literally. I just did a search.
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Immediately, a big ad appeared at the top. It reads: “There is no need to download a new web browser.”
Please forgive me, Microsoft, but who are you to tell me my needs? Do you really know me well? I better think you need a touch a touch.
But the ad continued: “Microsoft recommends Microsoft Edge for a fast, secure, and modern web experience that can help you save time and money.”
Oh, maybe I forgot to mention. I did this research using the Edge browser. After that, I was a little more on edge.
This absurd paranoia, and it may inspire some others, the need to dribble toward a deep creak. It’s like your recently met boyfriend refuses to let you leave the house until you tell him where you’re going. And why.
And it’s not like Microsoft doesn’t just hate me for looking up Chrome. When I searched for Safari (in Edge), I got this big ad: “You’re already browsing in Microsoft Edge.”
Oh my God, am I? Thank you very much. I simply did not notice. But thank you, I actually prefer Firefox, but I was doing this research just to see what (I was afraid) you had to say.
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Microsoft has not. Version added: “Keep using for world-class performance with more privacy, productivity, and more value.”
continue to use.
Do you think I got the same message when I did a Bing search in Edge for Opera?
Then there was a strangeness.
When I indulged in “Duck Duck Go,” there was no hurtful message. Has Microsoft acquired a conscience? Lordi, no. When I was humming “Duck Duck Go Browser,” there was a “You’re already browsing in Microsoft Edge” trend toward nonsense.
I opened Chrome. Was Google annoyed when you searched for Microsoft Edge?
maybe.
But she didn’t say a word about it.