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Comment by Flow5457 | Hacker News Reader

From the FAQ (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4020089/windows-10-...) :

> Are there any defaults that I cannot change on my Windows 10 S PC?

> Yes, Microsoft Edge is the default web browser on Microsoft 10 S. You are able to download another browser that might be available from the Windows Store, but Microsoft Edge will remain the default if, for example, you open an .htm file. Additionally, the default search provider in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer cannot be changed

Doesn't it make it illegal in the EU?

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I'd imagine that Microsoft looked into that closely. I actually don't have a problem with it - you can install firefox through the store easily enough, and opening local html files is a niche case. It'll be mildly tedious if coding docs appear in Edge, but I'm probably not coding on Windows 10 S.

The FAQ is deceptive. AFAICT you can't make Firefox the default for opening links in other apps either.

That, together with "no changing search to google" is going to make many people hate Windows S, I bet.

> "no changing search to google" is going to make many people hate Windows S, I bet.

I highly doubt it. The majority of customers won't care at all. Edge and Bing are both really, really good. Most customers that I've worked with when during technical support don't really notice and usually just keep the defaults. Chrome's touchscreen support is absolutely awful so Edge is usually the best go-to option for a touch screen PC anyway.

They've made a really good job with bing's ui. I have a windows 10 laptop at work and I hadn't used windows in years. I tested edge for a few weeks and hadn't realized I was searching on bing for the longest time !!

The ui was so similar to google's, the results good enough and I got "fooled". I think I noticed because I wasn't finding links I knew the "google keywords" to. So their results somewhat do differ !

I switched back to google once I realised though.

A lot of people do care, especially if they're used to using Google.

After working with non-techies for many years in various support roles I am unconvinced. The majority I helped, where they had to show me or ask me something about their web browser, didn't even know what Google was beyond a search box and sometimes an email that a grandson setup for them.

I'm not sure if there are good statistics out there (especially one that proper controls) but I'd bet a good amount of money that most non-technical users either do not care or do not know what the differences are.

(Honestly there isn't much of a difference between Edge and Chrome, Bing and Google. At least from a non-techie user's point of view).

Even if often times they don't know exactly what Google is, they generally notice if the search results page they're looking at isn't Google's. And in my experience they tend perceive this as something being wrong with their computer that needs to be fixed.

I guess we'll just have to disagree then. The only people I've met who actually notice Bing's and Google's search result pages looking different are techies. But I don't have any solid statistics or data just my anecdotal experience.

The default browser setting applies to any links opened from another app -- chat apps, emails, documents, etc. Not just local files from the file manager.

Where is Firefox on Windows Store? I don't see it.

Unbelievable. These people have no scruples.

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