Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 has made many positive changes in the user interface, but the default application experience is a step backward: Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 will make it more difficult to switch the default browser, Mozilla, Opera and Vivaldi, etc. Browser competitors expressed concern about this.
In Windows 11, Microsoft has changed the way of setting default applications. As with Windows 10, when you install a new browser and open a network link for the first time, a prompt will appear. However, this is also the only opportunity to easily switch browsers.
Unless you check Always use this application, the default value will never be changed. It is very common to forget to switch the Always use this application option or to simply select the browser you want, and then never see this prompt again.
If you forget to set the default browser on the first startup, compared to Windows 10, the experience of switching the default browser in Windows 11 is now very confusing. Chrome and many other rival browsers often prompt users to set it as the default, and throw Windows users into the default application section of the settings to enable it.
Microsoft has changed the way the default applications are allocated in Windows 11, which means you must now set the default by file or link type, rather than a single switch. As far as Chrome is concerned, this means changing the default file types of HTM, HTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, XHT, XHTML, FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS at the same time.
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Windows 10 allows you to quickly and easily switch the default e-mail, maps, music, photos, videos, and web browser applications, but Windows 11 does not. This is an unnecessarily long process.
We are increasingly worried about trends on Windows, Selena Deckelmann, senior vice president of Firefox, said in a statement. Since Windows 10, users have had to take extra and unnecessary steps to set and keep their default browser settings. These obstacles are messy and seem to be designed to undermine users’ choice of non-Microsoft browsers.
This from the company that claims to be the most open, with “the most choice.” I hope this is just a developer preview thing, and the shipping version of Windows 11 lives up to their claims. This is far from “choice.” https://t.co/vkGQAoHZgE
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) August 18, 2021
A Vivaldi spokesperson said: Microsoft has a history of doing this, and it seems that they are gradually getting worse. With each new version of Windows, [change the default value] is getting harder and harder. They understand that they can make The only way people use their browsers is to lock them.
Another competitor of Microsoft Edge, Opera, is also concerned about Microsoft’s changes to the default applications of Windows 11: It is very unfortunate when a platform supplier obscures a common use case in order to improve the status of its products. Krystian Kolondra, Opera’s browser director, said in a statement. We want to encourage all platform providers to respect users’ choices and allow competition on their platforms. Depriving users of their right to choose is a step backwards.
The choice of the default application is not the only problem that affects the browser in Windows 11. Microsoft has always ignored the choice of the default browser in the search experience of Windows 10, and the taskbar gadget launched by the company also ignored the default browser, forcing users to enter Edge.
Windows 11 continues this trend, search still forces users to enter Edge, and now it has introduced a new dedicated widget area, ignoring the default browser settings. It seems that Windows 11 gadgets will ignore the user’s default browser selection and instead open Microsoft Edge, a Brave spokesperson said in a statement. Brave puts users first, and we condemn this practice of Windows 11 because the choice of the default browser has a lot of influence on individuals and their privacy. Users should have the freedom to choose.
Microsoft interprets these changes as allowing Windows users to have more control over the default values. A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement: In Windows 11, we are implementing customer feedback, customizing and controlling default values at a more detailed level, removing application categories, and upgrading all applications to default.
Value experience at the forefront. As this change has proved, we have been listening and learning, and welcome customer feedback to help shape Windows. Windows 11 will continue to evolve over time; if we learn from the user experience Knowing that there are ways to improve, we will do so.
