With all the buzz surrounding the release of Windows 11 by Microsoft, it seems like other browser competitors like Mozilla, Opera and Google aren’t too happy with the new default settings. And their complaints are justified as it seems like Microsoft has turned the difficulty level to change your default browser settings up a notch.
We’re all familiar with Windows 10 and how a prompt is displayed that asks users to check the ‘always use this app’ option when installing a new browser or opening a web link for the first time. And even if you forget to check that box, you can easily still set your default browser in the settings afterward. But seems like in Windows 11, that’s the only chance you’ll get to change your default settings and then you’ll be stuck with those settings for the rest of your life (Okay fine, it’s not that bad). Don’t worry, you can still switch defaults but the settings are a bit confusing now as compared to Windows 10.
Gone are the days when Chrome and other browsers would push you to choose them as your default browsers time and again. If you want to change your default browser now, you have to set it by file or link type instead of a single switch checkbox. For example, if you want to set Chrome as your default browser, you’d have to change the default file type for HTM, HTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, FTP, HTTP and the list goes on…Didn’t anyone tell Microsoft that “ain’t nobody got time fo that“
This change has been received with a lot of criticism and negative feedback from competitor browsers who believe that this is all Microsoft’s tactic to get people to use their default browser Edge, while making it harder for the other browsers to stay on top. Selena Deckelmann, senior vice president of Firebox, voiced her concern and said, “We have been increasingly worried about the trend on Windows…These barriers are confusing at best and seem designed to undermine a user’s choice for a non-Microsoft browser.” Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s head for Android and Chrome also isn’t impressed with the changes and hopes this is just a ‘developer preview thing’, “This from the company that claims to be the most open, with ‘the most choice. I hope…the shipping version of Windows 11 lives up to their claims. This is far from ‘choice.’” Microsoft still has some time to rethink their decision if they want to make the users happy.