Mac OS and iOS install Safari, Android installs Chrome. It's a system component that was never removable to begin with. And now they updated it.

I'm sad to see any Chromium based browser installed on my PC, but it's hardly harmful that they're upgrading a system component to the latest version.

They install it even if you uninstalled the previous Edge (there's no uninstall for this one now), they pop up a full screen modal with no X or cancel then they add Edge to your desktop and system tray. Then when you use your normal browser, they ask if you're sure you want that as the default.

They did this just after making it impossible to manually skip updates ("to prevent confusion"), and also shipped it to Windows 7, which is supposed to be EOL'd.

It's never been possible to uninstall Edge from a Windows PC.

The problem is the dark patterns used to trick less technical users into accidentally setting Edge as their default browser.

It’s the same kind of scummy behavior that dodgy websites use to set themselves as your homepage, or change your default search engine.

> Android installs Chrome

Does it? I don't even have Chrome on my phone. Even the webview component is now customizable, I think (or maybe it's the "embedded browser" component, but apps are definitely opening things in a popup Firefox window for me).

not all android redistro uses Chrome, but they all use webview components afaik from like android4 on -- so you're getting most of the engine.

>not all android redistro uses Chrome

Preinstalled Google's proprietary apps on GMS Certified Android Hardware are Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play Store, and more. If your devices are not certified, you will not have access to any of Google’s proprietary apps.

It's all or nothing. So if the OEM has certification from google, Chrome is compulsory. Also, the manufacturer MUST release ALL their phone models with it. They cannot release some models with the open sourced android.

AFAIK, Google and Microsoft are using the same playbook. Google simply learned from MS's mistakes early and created illusion of choice with open source.

Microsoft in turn, has learned from Google and is gluing "must have" services to open source VScode.

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-oem-licensing-345806... https://socialmobile.com/gms-certified-devices/

Big difference between open sourcing an Atom clone vs a browser engine and operating system. Microsoft only open sources the minimum to try to attract developers away from Linux and get them working in a Microsoft bubble.

>It's a system component that was never removable to begin with. And now they updated it.

that's only true in recent Windows history, and it's obviously just another way to follow suit and go for the 'walled-garden' approach that the other platforms seem to be reaping the benefits of.

"You can't remove the browser, it's a part of the system architecture." should be followed up with : "Is that a legacy feature, and if not -- what can be done to remediate it?"

If someone told me that file locking was a concept you're stuck with in Windows -- yeah, sure. I agree. That's something that requires nearly a bottom-up re-write; these browser dependencies are new in the case of M$.

IE has been inseparable from Windows for well over a decade prior to the launch of Edge, when they let you uninstall IE. But Microsoft has generally made one web browser mandatory.

Mac OS has never said to me "hey, you're using Firefox, are you sure you wouldn't like to use Safari instead"? And I hope and trust it never will.

MacOS absolutely does this. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/153379/how-do-you-...

On the other hand, I don't want any web browser on my phone. I want it for maps, messaging, calls, and alarms. Nothing else. And yet I literally cannot uninstall Chrome.

> I think the problem here is that they installed it without user consent.

That depends. The post doesn't clarify whether Edge was already installed in its legacy incarnation. If so, and they received an update, that's not ""installing without user consent".

I recently installed the Chromium version of Edge manually and didn't encounter any of this behaviour. It's a shame that Microsoft are doing something Windows Update-specific, although maybe people who are the most averse to this behaviour are the more technical crowd who will have already grabbed an installer for themselves anyway?

I couldn't understand where it came from. Turned off updates.

Edge was installed as part of a previous update, 1905.

"shoving Edge down our throats" to me implies without consent. But as you say, it could be that the user consented long time ago but doesn't remember :)

It's rather complicated I guess, but I've heard rumors of a concept of consent where it's something that can be revoked. Sometimes people get quite vehement about it.