> I am indifferent to this.

Why? "The browser inserts itself into the browsing experience in a user-hostile way" is a bad slope to start down, even if the browser starts by inserting itself between one untrustworthy product and another.

This is two gang bands fighting on the street, there is no good guy here. Google is so annoying trying constantly to push you to use Chrome when you visit their websites

"Their" is an important word here. Google's website nags you when you visit Google's website. Microsoft's browser nags you when you visit Google's website.

Using Microsoft's operating system.

On my computer.

If it's your computer, you can just install an OS that doesn't do this. There are many alternatives.

Tell it to the bank that owns my mortgage. Many people, including me, have no choice but to run Windows.

You bought a house and now the bank demands you use Windows? What?

Assuming this is about "paying the bills" and using Windows at work; this is your employer/customer causing this issue for you by demanding Windows. Not Microsoft.

So, are you hiring?

Oh, is it? Just give M$ couple more years.

They're not fighting in the street. Microsoft is using your house as a staging ground.

You misspelled "commandeering," but, yeah.

Are you sure you didn't misspell "requisitioning"?

Pretty sure, yep. We would also have accepted "hijacking" or "dragooning."

"Requisitioning" implies that you still have the choice to refuse or disobey.

They aren't just fighting each other, they are fighting you.

They also ignore your default browser settings, opening Edge for any link in the windows settings system, so annoying...

Google does this too, constantly harassing you to switch to Chrome if you use any Google product. Apple is constantly trying to show off their cool new music app if you use a Mac. Not saying it's good or bad, but we're way past that point.

Whats worse, some Google services work very suboptimally in Firefox, serving a simplified page or whatever.

I'm sure there are good technical reasons for this, but it seems suspicious.

I have serious doubts there are good technical reasons for this. For a few things maybe. But things as basic as Google Search itself have a worse interface on Firefox for no reason. There's an addon that "restores", so to speak, the Chrome interface, which works perfectly.

I'll say it: it's unequivocally bad. It's not any less bad just because all the big guys are doing it.

> bad slope to start down

Windows is a bobsled on a long track, built on a mountain of anti-competitive, facing another mountain of anti-competitive we call Google. This feels like a drop in the bucket to me.

> Windows is a bobsled on a long track, built on a mountain of anti-competitive. This feels like a drop in the bucket to me.

Sure, but each drop fills more of the bucket. We'll never convert Microsoft into a user-friendly company, but there's no reason to give them a pass just because this drop of awful is part of a mountain of awful.

There are also personal computers that have no browser options. Ostensibly, Microsoft and Google are competing here, just abusing the horrible precedent of first-party control.

> no reason to give them a pass

They don't need a pass from privacy/tech enthusiasts. They are fighting over users who are mostly indifferent, and anyone with concerns over Edge and this behavior probably shouldn't use vanilla Chrome unless they have to for work or whatever.

Hence the feeling that my personal distaste for this is pretty much irrelevant.