I do wish they used a more generic/portable solution, but this is for Windows-specific features, so it would require them to think through an open, stable & forever-supported API...
Is Chromium the way to go?
The pseudo protocol probably should have been better designed with a less specific name, and probably should have had a better fallback to default browsers when they aren't IE11, but one can also imagine the name was chosen because it was the easiest solution using existing pseudo-protocol support in Windows 10 and 11 than building a more complicated "trampoline", maybe.
Hindsight being what it is, we can all wish Microsoft had taken a different approach to IE 11 support in Windows 10. I don't think this microsoft-edge:// thing was the best answer either. It just sort of makes sense in terms of the ugly situation Microsoft created for themselves, maybe.
It's supported until next June on all Windows 10 channels.[1] Indefinitely on LTSC and older Windows. It was indefinitely on all Windows 10 channels until 6 months ago. And your guess doesn't explain why Microsoft just blocked 3rd party browsers from handling the microsoft-edge protocol.
[1] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/i...
> this is for Windows-specific features, so it would require them to think through an open, stable & forever-supported API
seems to directly disagree with the author's analysis:
> These special links only exist to force users into using Microsoft Edge. They serve no other purpose than to circumvent the user’s default browser preference to promote a Microsoft product.
Why do you suggest these are for Windows-specific features?
I can’t think of another reason in the windows UI to disable this. I’m sure there are some but at no point should those should require Edge. It’s a web page dammit!
This is basically devolving into the 90s again.
On top of that, whenever Edge opens, it tries to set itself as your default browser, and excises all your other browsers from the desktop and dock.
So this is related to the garbage MS pushed earlier in the year (or was it last year?) where a news & weather widget suddenly appeared on your dock out of nowhere.
Now if you click on a link from that thing (and probably other locations, sibling comments mention web results from the search and cortana), it opens them in Edge instead of opening them in your actual web browser.
This is not "we're bundling a local web application developed specifically for edge so we're linking to that specifically to make sure it doesn't break", this is "we're wilfully and specifically bypassing the browser you configured to handle web pages when opening web pages".
At the same time, If I said I want all web links opened in Firefox and an MS app is forcing me to use Edge, well that's pretty shitty.
I've had no issues using Windows since the XP days they made some missteps but it did what I wanted. Windows 11 is forcing me off Windows. I'm slowing switching to Linux Full time.
Honestly wish I could just have Windows 7 as my OS forever.
If you want to use a browser other than Edge that's fine. Most of us do. But that's on you, not the Windows team. Microsoft has a long history of caring deeply about compatibility even when they aren't the party responsible for breaking something. Perception is everything to the average user.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/today/
That page has to work with browsers other than Edge because it's a public page. Someone else is dealing with that requirement already.
MS is forcing Edge in places where none of what you're calling out is true.
I'm sure you can image why this is annoying and user-hostile. You've just clicked on an ordinary-looking link, but instead of instantly opening a new tab in your favorite browser you have to wait for a new browser to load and dismiss the "do you want to set Edge as your default browser?" prompt, after which you get your page in a browser you never use with none of your extensions/settings/privacy features.
This is frustrating, and I'll simply turn off the panel instead of using it.
It should also be noted that almost every element of the windows UI which launches a browser does it using the Edge-specific scheme, so there is a substantial need to do this kind of interception if you are not an Edge user.
Then, when you go and use the competitor's search engine or video hosting platform you get multiple banners inviting you to install their browser (or it's flat out installed as a hidden checkbox in a popular utility's installer!).
Then, disgusted by these dark patterns and practices, you install an alternate browser that's not safari on your iOS device. Wait...
Maybe there's some I haven't seen, but what I do see is stuff like opening a web page from a weather widget. There's nothing MS-specific about it, and the EdgeDeflector thing worked a few days ago. Clicking on html files in MS Explorer still opens Chrome, so I assume they know what to do.
Where only would we find such a unicorn?
I copied Firefox to %programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application and renamed its executable to msedge.exe.
It confuses Firefox whether it set as standard browser or not at first, but otherwise works like a charm.
Will probably be killed through the occasional update, but what isn't these days.
You mean like RFC1738?