> 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.