Am I reading this right that the problem is that during an OS upgrade the default browser is reset back to the default OS settings? While that is certainly an inconvenience, I find it hard to really expect an OS upgrade to carry over every user setting. Isn't all the user has to do after the upgrade is open Firefox (which is still installed) and click yes to "make this default" question?
Windows has a history of carrying over user settings like that since the DOS times. You can literally upgrade from DOS through every version of Windows and end up with the same desktop background/widget colors/etc.
I'm obviously biased because I work on a browser (specifically a browser that isn't made by Microsoft), but to me this is clearly about trying to capture the users who stopped using IE over the years.
>to me this is clearly about trying to capture the users who stopped using IE over the years.
But those users never used Edge ;) A cynical person could say preserving the previous choice is just Firefox's fear that once a user tests the new Microsoft browser they won't jump back to Firefox.
It also shows that Firefox doesn't have the greatest opinion of their users if it thinks all it takes for them to stop using Firefox is for it to require twice the number of mouse clicks to set it to default.
Having just installed windows 10: disabling the browser change is well hidden. There's no customize "button" or link, there's a bit of text with no decoration or underline that's lighter and appears greyed out that says "customize" on a screen filled with text. The chances of a user discovering this unless they're actively hunting for this (like I was) are close to zero.
Some will like Firefox enough to change back. Some won't. But why should they have to?
I got really sick of Microsoft trying to force me to do what they wanted back in the 1990s. In the 2000s, they seemed to change for the better. (Maybe that was due to the antitrust settlement.) Now here they are back to their old ways.
> I find it hard to really expect an OS upgrade to carry over every user setting
Why? Everything should always be carried over. Someone purposefully setup their environment and now because you upgrade their software they now have to re-setup N number of things?
No thanks. You need to eliminate as much friction as possible in all of the experiences you create. Even installations / upgrades / rollbacks.
No, users now have to go to a settings page to change their default applications. Ostensibly this is for user protection (so apps can't trick users into setting defaults they don't want)
> I find it hard to really expect an OS upgrade to carry over every user setting
True. However that default browser/file extension handlers preferences should be a priority to carry forward.
It may be easy to set your new default browser, but it's one more thing I have to do to personalize my computer, instead of using my computer to do the tasks at hand.
It's a fundamental difference between MSFT and AAPL's philosphy (and why I made the switch a while back). Everytime I upgrade OS X, my settings carry forward, so there is less time spent doing things like setting up my computer, and more time spent using my computer to solve problems that I care about.
> True. However that default browser/file extension handlers preferences should be a priority to carry forward.
Especially when you've previously been in antitrust lawsuits over abusing your position as the OS developer to take over the browser market.
> It may be easy to set your new default browser, but it's one more thing I have to do to personalize my computer, instead of using my computer to do the tasks at hand.
They moved it into the settings app, so this is no longer just "Open Firefox, click 'set as default'" anymore. Changing it in the Settings app is easy for us, but incomprehensible to less proficient users. I understand why they changed that, but it makes forcing Edge as default a huge dick move on MS's part.
> They moved it into the settings app, so this is no longer just "Open Firefox, click 'set as default'" anymore.
AFAIK, both ways should still work. The settings app is just a replacement for "Default Apps and Programs" (or something like that) which was in since Windows 7, maybe even Vista.
Edit: At least in Chrome, clicking "Make Google Chrome the default browser" opens up the settings app to the correct view, so it's only a matter of selecting the existing browser and choosing Chrome. It's not one click anymore, which kind of sucks, but I wouldn't call it hard, even for an average user.
Nope. The default browser can no longer be changed anywhere but the system preferences, applications can not set themselves as default.
Been that way for a couple months in technical preview builds, with even first party software (OneNote desktop vs modern) continuing to ask if you want to set it as default, followed by a system popup telling you to use the Settings app.
Check out my edit, they seem to have moved from the system popup you talk about to just opening up the Settings app for you to the right UI, so it's not as great as the one click experience that was there before, but not as bad as having you do all the work.
I don't mean to attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, I'm just saying it's a huge dick move regardless of whether they did it on purpose.
You'd have to ask someone inside MS if you want to know what they were thinking.
Well, except not with Window 10, and for the browser--a keyy application for most people. You now have to go and mess with it before you can get on with your day.
Oh yeah, I agree. I just found the dig at Microsoft vs. Apple a bit disingenuous since Apple's biggest platform doesn't even let you change your browser at all.
Yeah, wasn't trying to dig at MSFT. Just giving reason why I switched from a PC to a Mac--in part because of frustratingly having to "manage" my computer, rather than using it as a tool to accomplish goals.
There is no denying that Apple is a closed ecosystem.
I find the lack of customization in Apple products an exercise in frustration anytime I want to accomplish a goal. I don't think there is a fundamental difference in the platforms that you seem to think; they both have benefits and flaws depending on one's workflow. The question here is whether or not Windows 10 is another category altogether.
Maybe you don't remember what a huge deal it was that Microsoft leveraged its desktop monopoly to gain market share for its internet browser. Bill Gates declaring that the browser is 'part of the OS' and can't be removed. The anti-trust trial in the US, the changes demanded by the EU...
The "Default Programs" control has very few settings; very few settings that need to be imported, but somehow Microsoft ignored the settings that just happen to give them an advantage. Mozilla is spot on here.
That issue has been perverted over the years. Even though the punishment was providing other possible defaults, the initial problem wasn't really about the system default. It was that IE was ingrained in Windows as part of the system. That prevented other browser from competing on an even playing field.
> Am I reading this right that the problem is that during an OS upgrade the default browser is reset back to the default OS settings?
No, while that's part of the problem, the main problem is that the facility for changing the setting has been made less convenient, takes more steps, and is more cumbersome, which is clearly a design choice focused on frustrating those who attempt to switch and discouraging switching.
>Please don't insinuate that someone hasn't read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
