Windows 11 makes it tough to switch default browsers, rivals fume
Microsoft has changed the way default apps are assigned
in the upcoming Windows 11, make it extremely difficult for users to switch
default browsers if they miss the first and only prompt. The move has left
rivals like Google, Mozilla Firefox and Opera fuming.
According to a report in The Verge, if you forget to set your
default browser at first launch of Windows 11, the experience for switching
defaults is now very confusing compared to Windows 10.
"The default app prompt in Windows 11 that you'll only see
once," the report said on Wednesday.
In Windows 11, there's a prompt that appears when you install a
new browser and open a web link for the first time.
It's the only opportunity to easily switch browsers in Windows 11
which, once missed, will ask you to set defaults by file or link type instead
of a single switch.
"Chrome and many other rival browsers will often prompt users
to set them as default and will throw Windows users into the default apps part
of settings to enable this," the report noted.
The Microsoft move has
received criticism from other browser players.
"We have been increasingly worried about the trend on
Windows. Since Windows 10, users have had to take additional and unnecessary
steps to set and retain their default browser settings. These barriers are
confusing at best and seem designed to undermine a user's choice for a non-Microsoft browser,"
Selena Deckelmann, senior vice president of Firefox, told The Verge.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's head of Android, Chrome and Chrome OS
added: "This from the company that claims to be the most open, with 'the
most choice'."
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