Mildly Infuriating

They don't even need to go that far. Windows has so many problems all the time, they just have to pick one and attribute this response to it.

I am sure there are some people who just kind of don't give a fuck about computers who that will be accurate for, but I feel like it's a much smaller minority than Microsoft seems to think that it is.

You're definitely overestimating the size of your own bubble. The vast, vast, vast majority of people won't even notice, forget caring or actually doing anything about it.

That's why i completely nuked Edge when i was still on windows 11. Including WebView. I simply did not give a fuck if anything used edge.

When i installed (fedora) linux for the first time, i was like:

wait... this really does only what i tell it to! holy shit!

And i never looked back. (And i distrohopped over time. I am currently using arch, and testing NixOS in a VM via virt-manager. If i find it to be good enough, i'll copy the config and install on my host, alongside arch. And slowly, i'll nixify my pc.)

Install MSEdgeRedirect to solve this problem.

I also recommend O&O Shut Up 10 and StartAllBack...

Me: Why go through all that trouble, just install Linux

Alternatively you would switch to Linux.

Welp

Are you sure?

Have you tried TempleOS by chance?

Except it does work. Its easy to forget that most users dont really know or care that much about their browser or care what their laptop is doing.

They just click things until something with search bar comes up.

The tech savy people are not their biggest customer group so they can risk annoying some people as long as they know they are getting more people in to their enviroment than they are loosing their users.

You're absolutely right, but there's a bit more to it than that.

As someone who deployed Windows professionally for years and was a power user at home, let me supply some additional details,

Windows has become business software through and through. It can run fine enough if you go with a basic install and minimal tweaks through only the standard channels (like Group Policy) and this is probably what those people always loudly claiming "well I never have an issue!" are doing and then they'll accuse you for bringing it on yourself from deviating from this.

But what everyone should understand, especially them, is that this is not how normal people use their computers and it's utter bullshit that Microsoft continues to restrict people into this box. Most businesses don't need hardly anything aside from Office and perhaps one or two industry specific applications, an overwhelming number of these being SaaS these days anyways. Normal people on the other hand use a wide variety of software for their businesses and hobbies in a wide array of configurations and what's more, we enjoy personalizing our experiences on top of it, as we should! This unsurprisingly leads to more instability that Microsoft simply doesn't want to take responsibility for.

People still complain about not being able to move the taskbar from the bottom of the screen and Microsoft apologists will say, "but it's such a small thing!" And well, it is and that's kind of my point; it's a bellweather. I bet it's a simple fix, they could do it, they could please people and provide further usability but they just don't have to. How long has it gone unaddressed now? You want to play Call of Duty, you cretin? Lick our boots! And don't even get me started on the whole SecureBoot/TPM 2.0 DRM lockdown issue.

I use Arch BTW and here's my quick pitch for that. It really is a good distro for people of moderate or above skill level. I slowly built it out over time, bolted on each carefully selected piece of software from the repository, reading the wiki and making configurations as I went. In doing so, I gained a better understanding of Linux in general and my system in specific so on the rare occasions something does break, I don't feel as clueless addressing it. The reason we all start to sound like cult-like zealots after awhile is because we've established a personal relationship with our computers; it is my friend again. It's hard to understate the actual palpable relief that comes from cutting out a bloated, malicious corporation from that chain of trust with a machine we use in our daily lives.

It's time to end Microsoft. Reach out, be helpful and welcoming in the Linux community. They're losing balance, they've overplayed their hand on 11 and over-invested in AI and while I doubt we'd be lucky enough to be truly rid of them, we can see them suffer some real damage.