I prefer to use edge over chrome due to windows integration and you can install chrome addons. But my default would always be firefox. I only use edge over certain sites that have issues with firefox.
The one thing I cannot stand about Edge is that if you want to use it for some specific webapps, but still use another browser as the system default, it will always open links in Edge.
For example, I use Teams and Outlook for work. I have each of them as a PWA installed as a webapp. I used to have them via Edge, but use Chrome for everything else. But anytime I clicked on a link in an email or Teams message, it would open a new Edge window and ignore my system settings.
To be clear, I’m doing this on Ubuntu, and not Windows. So we’re not dealing with that anti-user choice crap that Microsoft does with Edge over and over.
The Chromium Edge really started to win me over a bit with how well they have done vertical tabs (Brave only just recently got something even close). Was cool up until Microsoft really seems like they have gotten insecure about trying to be popular again. I fix people’s computers so I see it more than a normal user would, so I will just say that now. But it feels like every time I open Edge it seems to just bukkake my eyes with “helpful” pop-ups trying sooo bad to trick me into turning on more and more data collection “features”. It is already annoying that they try to cover up the area where the download starts if it detects that it is on the Chrome download page.
But they took what was looking to be a shockingly good alt to Chrome, and I have even gone out of my way from time to time to let customers know that they don’t really need Chrome and Edge. Instead I try to at least offer Firefox as a second option. As I do find that if a site is messed up for Chromium based browsers FF might at least give them a usable site until Edge/Chrome starts working again.
That being said, I am really curious how the original Edge would work if they had kept at it. It sucked at first because all browsers suck for awhile when new. The extensions being through the app store seemed about as normal as what Apple does with Safari. But the Edge extensions didn’t require first signing into the store in order to get free ones. So that was much less frustrating. Jumping to Chromium just further enabled Google to be on more fuck shit.
I don’t have a problem with Edge itself. We use it at work and it’s fine. I have a problem with microsoft constantly trying to trick me into using it among all their other shitty practices.
My dad came to me in a panic “All of my passwords are gone!!!” turns out macroshaft kicked chrome off default he was using edge without knowing. It actually took me awhile to realize it was edge too because the UI is so similar. Edge does have a really big unmovable spam toolbar along the side so that was pretty much my only major tell.
To be honest I’d still be on Windows if MS hadn’t screwed me out of the license I bought through the MS store and attached to my MS account. I do kinda miss the new Bing assistant in Edge, that was neat to screw around with for free while I was on that OS
There are .deb and .rpm versions of Edge for Linux. Doesn’t get mentioned on the main download site until you scroll below the Mac/iPhone/Android options.
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