Microsoft blocks EdgeDeflector to pressure Windows 11 customers into Edge

Microsoft has already made it tougher to modify default browsers in Windows 11, and now the corporate goes a step additional by blocking apps like EdgeDeflector. Third-party apps like EdgeDeflector and even Firefox have supplied workarounds to Microsoft forcing individuals to make use of Edge in Start menu search outcomes, even when their default browser just isn’t Edge.

Microsoft has been forcing Windows 10 and Windows 11 customers into Edge and its Bing search engine within the Start menu search outcomes, and now with the brand new Widgets panel in Windows 11. It’s a irritating a part of Windows that doesn’t respect your default browser selection. EdgeDeflector permits you to bypass these restrictions, and open Start menu search ends in your default browser of selection.

The EdgeDeflector block first appeared in an early preview construct of Windows 11 final week. While the block initially regarded like a bug, Microsoft has now confirmed the adjustments will arrive for all Windows 11 customers in a software program replace that’s arriving within the coming weeks. Microsoft has determined to stop app builders from invoking microsoft-edge protocol hyperlinks, which at the moment are restricted to the Edge browser.

“Windows openly enables applications and services on its platform, including various web browsers,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a press release to The Verge. “At the same time, Windows also offers certain end-to-end customer experiences in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, the search experience from the taskbar is one such example of an end-to-end experience that is not designed to be redirected. When we become aware of improper redirection, we issue a fix.”

This “fix” is now a part of an upcoming imminent update to Windows 11 that arrived for Beta and Release Preview customers late on Friday, and the developer of EdgeDeflector isn’t proud of Microsoft’s adjustments. “These aren’t the actions of an attentive company that cares about its product anymore,” says Daniel Aleksandersen, developer of EdgeDeflector, in a important weblog submit final week. “Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. They’re prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their users’ productivity.”

Microsoft hasn’t defined why it has all of a sudden began to dam EdgeDeflector and different apps, however it’s very clear why. “The 500,000 EdgeDeflector users were probably never more than a nuisance to Microsoft,” explains Aleksandersen. “However, last month both the Brave and Firefox web browsers either copied EdgeDeflector’s functionality or signaled it was on the roadmap.”

Firefox has 200 million customers, in order that’s more likely to have caught Microsoft’s consideration and make them patch this workaround. Mozilla isn’t impressed with Microsoft’s block right here, both.

“People deserve choice. They should have the ability to simply and easily set defaults and their choice of default browser should be respected,” says a Mozilla spokesperson in a press release to The Verge. “We have worked on code that launches Firefox when the microsoft-edge protocol is used for those users that have already chosen Firefox as their default browser. Following the recent change to Windows 11, this planned implementation will no longer be possible.”

Mozilla additionally applied its personal workaround to shortly and simply set Firefox because the default browser on Windows 10 and Windows 11 in a single click on. It’s a function that Microsoft limits to its Edge browser. While Mozilla’s workaround is on the market within the model of Firefox you obtain from the online, for those who obtain Firefox from the Microsoft Store then the default browser workaround is lacking.

“Firefox ships an MSIX package in the Windows Store so that our users on Windows 10 and Windows 11 are able to download Firefox from the Store,” explains a Mozilla spokesperson. “MSIX packages run in a ‘Windows package environment.’ The aspects of the Windows environment that Firefox relies on when users choose Firefox to be their default browser do not work in a MSIX environment.”

Microsoft’s adjustments listed here are gross, significantly the Windows 11 ones that make it tougher to modify default browsers within the first place. It’s an aggressive technique that jogs my memory of the ugly antitrust battle for bundling Internet Explorer in Windows. Microsoft additionally confronted a number of fines in Europe over its anti-competitive Internet Explorer bundling, together with a $730 million effective for breaking a 2009 antitrust settlement.

The strangest a part of Microsoft forcing individuals to make use of Edge and ignoring browser defaults in Windows is that Microsoft Edge is an efficient browser. Microsoft shouldn’t have to pressure you into utilizing it.