Microsoft aren't a company we exactly cover often but it seems fitting to cover it here, especially given their history with Linux. Today they're properly releasing Edge for Linux.
Their browser, now based on the open source Chromium tech, was already available on Linux for a while but this was only in their preview channels but that changes today. On their official Edge blog, they announced that Edge will be launched today via the stable channel making it generally available for Linux. This means Edge will now be supported across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux.
It feels like a pretty big occasion, although not the first official Microsoft application to actually land on Linux, it might end up being the most used since it's a web browser and so much depends on you using one nowadays. Hey, you can even play a ton of AAA games in your browser now too.
Will many traditional Linux users switch? That's not really a needed question and plenty will of course say no but having it available is important. Even though most browsers feel largely the same, having the exact same application across platforms is good so people don't need to re-learn so much and keep their accounts together for bookmarks, passwords and whatever else.
To celebrate, Microsoft added a Tux character to their little surfing game available at the "edge://surf" address in Edge.
You can download from their website or whatever package manager you use.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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As much as I hate the practice, your friend was probably only warned to not install an "unknown app" downloaded from the internet, which is a standard protection scheme on Windows.
Ahhhhh - you're probably right. That's something he'd not be able to differentiate, and sound very likely.
Just the other day I happened to check the browser market shares for the first time in years, and I was shocked to see that Firefox is down to ~3,5% on the desktop. Not 15%, not 10%, three and an effing half. Yup, we're in very deep sh-- trouble.
Yeah the Firefox decline has been going on for quite a while. Google has one major advantage for Chrome with their close implementation with the Google account, giving you all your bookmarks etc whenever you install Chrome on a new device and log in. That in itself is so convenient that for me that's the reason I just stick to Chrome.
I am tempted at changing back to Firefox, though. Just out of sheer principle.
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WARNING: YOU ARE *ROOT* WHEN YOU INSTALL SOFTWARE.
Do you trust the scripts microsoft puts in the package to run post install?
Remember when they changed your shell? https://www.preining.info/blog/2018/06/microsofts-failed-attempt-on-debian-packaging/
Do you trust the scripts microsoft puts in the package to run post install?
Remember when they changed your shell? https://www.preining.info/blog/2018/06/microsofts-failed-attempt-on-debian-packaging/
2 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Nov 4, 2021
It's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.Sure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.
I've not been on Windows for decades now, but I have a friend who got a new PC just last week with latest Windows version on. He's not too computer literate (to put it mildly) but had a go at installing the apps he was used to use from before.
He called me the other day to tell me that he was warned against installing Firefox on his computer and felt he had to ask me if he could or should still install it.
Let me say that again. He were fucking warned, by an app installed with the operating system (Edge, I presume - I don't know) to NOT install Firefox. I haven't seen the message, but the way he perceived the warning was that Firefox was an unsafe browser to use.
My jaw dropped. The nerve of that company... The nerve!
It's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.Sure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.
I've not been on Windows for decades now, but I have a friend who got a new PC just last week with latest Windows version on. He's not too computer literate (to put it mildly) but had a go at installing the apps he was used to use from before.
He called me the other day to tell me that he was warned against installing Firefox on his computer and felt he had to ask me if he could or should still install it.
Let me say that again. He were fucking warned, by an app installed with the operating system (Edge, I presume - I don't know) to NOT install Firefox. I haven't seen the message, but the way he perceived the warning was that Firefox was an unsafe browser to use.
My jaw dropped. The nerve of that company... The nerve!
As much as I hate the practice, your friend was probably only warned to not install an "unknown app" downloaded from the internet, which is a standard protection scheme on Windows. Warning him out and out about a competing product like Firefox is so illegal that in fact MS have already been legally condemned for this exact practice a few years back and forced via a Windows Update patch to offer their users the explicit choice to install third-party browsers.
That said, the incident is still very concerning (no less because this warning system very often ends up serving as a blatant if underhanded way to monopolize the market in MS's favor, and though the legislators know about it they choose to ignore it as long as it doesn't explicitly break the law) and it goes to show that we're in deep trouble as far as the browser wars are concerned. Just the other day I happened to check the browser market shares for the first time in years, and I was shocked to see that Firefox is down to ~3,5% on the desktop. Not 15%, not 10%, three and an effing half. Yup, we're in very deep sh-- trouble.
Quoted both of you, it's actually a thing, I've seen it myself.
What happened is that Mozilla was all proud that they finally 'cracked' the Windows API to make it properly change the browser default to Firefox. MS put in a little warning that Firefox was trying to change defaults and that's a no no. As it is, when Windows 10 originally launched, you had to do all sorts of shenanigans to get Firefox to be your default browser. If you look in the default apps for Windows 10, it's pretty stupid. Like who the hell wants or even asked for Groove Music? And you can't remove it. It's there permanently. Windows 10 removes a lot of freedoms.
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TheRiddick Nov 4, 2021
Edge is just Chrome, just like Vivaldi and all the others. However I wouldn't be surprised if Edge has MS own telemetry tracking crap going on that follows you all over the webs recording your actions... no thanks!
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slaapliedje Nov 4, 2021
Edge is just Chrome, just like Vivaldi and all the others. However I wouldn't be surprised if Edge has MS own telemetry tracking crap going on that follows you all over the webs recording your actions... no thanks!Yeah, unless they are willing to put the entire source code on github and it compiles and binary matches, then I wouldn't touch it.
Same reason I don't use Chrome / Chromium, unless I absolutely have to. I prefer using Epiphany, Konqueror or Firefox. Browsers should be open source for sure. One closed source browser I do use is IBrowse on the Amiga, but then the choices there are fairly limited. 😜
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Oh ffs. Do even windows users use that one? What does the browser stats say?
We do. Company policies. IE got phased out (and I really love that), we're not allowed to install anything, and Edge Chromium rolled out instead of IE as default browser.
If I had a choice I'd use Firefox, but I ain't got a choice, and Edge is better than living with the old IE at work.
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slaapliedje Nov 4, 2021
Hopefully they pay well, I would have been looking elsewhere if tied down to that! Oof.Oh ffs. Do even windows users use that one? What does the browser stats say?
We do. Company policies. IE got phased out (and I really love that), we're not allowed to install anything, and Edge Chromium rolled out instead of IE as default browser.
If I had a choice I'd use Firefox, but I ain't got a choice, and Edge is better than living with the old IE at work.
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Hilarious. Anyways it makes me start to worry a lot about everything...
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clatterfordslim Nov 13, 2021
Who would use it in their right mind? I don't use Chrome because of the blasted telemetry, that fills the Internet wherever you go on it. Google have the monopoly there. Is there such a thing as privacy any more? I use Firefox and not the Snaps version either. Brave Browser for streaming Netflix, Disney+, BBC_iplayer, ITV HUB, Channel 4, MY5, UK-TV-Play. Although I cannot see the difference between using Firefox or Brave, as they both open to my own HTML homepage stored for Firefox /usr/lib/firefox/homepage Braves is in /opt/brave.com/brave-beta/homepage. This way it saves on reading the net when opening.
Use Edge on Linux and you're surely to run into user collections from Microsoft and Google? I'm fed up with all the telemetry that is the Internet these days. Take me back to Gnome 2 days please, where the model for Linux was perfect and faster than anything we have today. Get rid of Mobile Media Devices too and go back to where no one knew where anyone was. The world was happier then.
Use Edge on Linux and you're surely to run into user collections from Microsoft and Google? I'm fed up with all the telemetry that is the Internet these days. Take me back to Gnome 2 days please, where the model for Linux was perfect and faster than anything we have today. Get rid of Mobile Media Devices too and go back to where no one knew where anyone was. The world was happier then.
1 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Nov 13, 2021
Who would use it in their right mind? I don't use Chrome because of the blasted telemetry, that fills the Internet wherever you go on it. Google have the monopoly there. Is there such a thing as privacy any more? I use Firefox and not the Snaps version either. Brave Browser for streaming Netflix, Disney+, BBC_iplayer, ITV HUB, Channel 4, MY5, UK-TV-Play. Although I cannot see the difference between using Firefox or Brave, as they both open to my own HTML homepage stored for Firefox /usr/lib/firefox/homepage Braves is in /opt/brave.com/brave-beta/homepage. This way it saves on reading the net when opening.While I understand why it doesn't... if Epiphany supported the required DRM and extensions, I would switch to it in a heartbeat. Firefox has just gotten worse lately.
Use Edge on Linux and you're surely to run into user collections from Microsoft and Google? I'm fed up with all the telemetry that is the Internet these days. Take me back to Gnome 2 days please, where the model for Linux was perfect and faster than anything we have today. Get rid of Mobile Media Devices too and go back to where no one knew where anyone was. The world was happier then.
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