Windows 10 Start Menu now touts Edge to Firefox users
Microsoft has annoyed some Windows 10 users who use Firefox as their default browser by suggesting they try the new Chromium-based Edge instead.
Windows 10 users on Reddit spotted the new Edge message under the 'Suggested' field in the Start Menu, which asks: "Still using Firefox? Microsoft Edge is here."
Windows 10
Microsoft has previously annoyed Mozilla execs with the pre-Chromium Edge when the Windows-maker was desperately trying to get Windows 10 users to adopt its browser.
In 2015, Mozilla accused Microsoft of harming user choice because Windows 10 upgrades made Edge the default for users who had Firefox set as the default. At the time Mozilla was also mocked because it, albeit accidentally, did the same thing to default search-engine settings in Firefox.
SEE: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF)
The new Start Menu suggestion was described as "cringing" by the user who posted a screenshot of it on the Windows 10 subreddit over the weekend. However, it is just an advertised suggestion from Microsoft and not as aggressive as its attempt to foist the Bing search extension on Chrome for Office 365 ProPlus users.
Microsoft last week released Edge version 80 to the Stable channel, which is its second Stable release of Chromium Edge to date, and the first version to run as a native 64-bit app on Arm-based Windows 10 PCs, including the Surface Pro X.
The Reddit post now has over 500 responses, which actually aren't all that bad for Microsoft, with many Windows 10 users posting how much they like Microsoft's new Edge browser.
Of course, there are complaints that Microsoft is using its Suggestions feature to place advertisements in a product that users already paid for. Microsoft has always placed ads in the Suggestions part of Start Menu even though it annoyed users. Nonetheless, many respondents are impressed with Microsoft's Chromium-based browser.
"I hate to say it but I recently tried it out and I'm blown away by how responsive and fluid it is. The scrolling feels addictive and the UI has a nice aesthetic to it. The best part is that all the Chrome extensions work flawlessly, I don't know if the extensions auto-update as well, but it works well nonetheless. It is Chromium after all," wrote one Reddit user.
"New Edge is pretty damn good tbh," wrote another.
Others also reported recently switching back to Firefox, which has also undergone a major overhaul over the past two years as part of Mozilla's bid to keep it relevant on a web that's dominated by Google Chrome.
SEE: Microsoft: This is how Windows 10 has been changed by Windows Insider feedback
"I recently switched back to Firefox and was pleasantly surprised to find its performance to be all-around pretty great. I wasn't expecting a lot since my past experience wasn't impressive," wrote the Firefox user.
"Mozilla seems to have put in a massive effort over the past few years to overhaul the tech and the internals, so they've improved dramatically while Google has invested their resources into developing more bloat and gross user tracking schemes."
Windows 10 users on Reddit spotted the new Edge message under the 'Suggested' field in the Start Menu.