What is the hate for Microsoft Edge?

[Assembly Boards Representative]

I cannot help but feel as if this web browser is kind of underrated and suffers from a decades old reputation from its predecessor Internet Explorer. This web browser not only has the best text-to-speech voices which makes reading articles for those who have difficulties reading comprehend the text, but it now has Bing AI which feels like a natural companion to a search engine. This essentially elevated Bing above the level of Google for a time, but I'm sure that is going to change once Google Bard arrives.

I also like it's minimalist design choices and the fact that pages just seem to render more smoothly for me for some reason. Plus it seems pretty reliable when needed to quickly load up a browser to look something up really quickly or to engage in ChatGPT since that is still better than Bing AI.

So why do people hate on this browser and is this solely because of the reputation that remains from that other browser?

[wildmaven]

Mar 28, 2023 8:20:14 GMT -8 Assembly Boards Representative said:

So why do people hate on this browser and is this solely because of the reputation that remains from that other browser?

Because it wants to be much more than just a browser. I couldn't open up a PDF stored on my computer without it opening in Edge. I finally got it to stop doing that, but now every time I open a PDF, it asks if I want Edge to be my default PDF opening program. And there's no uninstall feature for Edge. 

[Assembly Boards Representative]

Trying to be more than a web browser? That sounds like practically everyone who has ever installed extensions and add-ons to other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. I’m pretty sure that is the main motivation behind why such things exists regardless of if people realize it. So I’m not sure why this would be a primary reason for the hate against Edge.

[Artemis]

Mar 28, 2023 20:35:14 GMT -8 Assembly Boards Representative said:

Trying to be more than a web browser? That sounds like practically everyone who has ever installed extensions and add-ons to other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. I’m pretty sure that is the main motivation behind why such things exists regardless of if people realize it. So I’m not sure why this would be a primary reason for the hate against Edge.

It depends on the person, but if someone just wants a web browser and they notice it constantly popping up to try to serve other functions too, that sounds like a totally understandable reason to me. The difference between that and extensions is that you'll be adding functionality based on your needs; you'll be starting small and building up, whereas in her case it sounds like the opposite. From my experience people use what they want to use, and there are few things more obnoxious than an app that keeps trying to make me use it or push itself into whatever I'm trying to do lmao.

For your original question I think the reputation could be a big part of it. I honestly haven't used Edge before, and while I know it's not IE, I haven't really looked into what Edge is all about. That's partly because I'm happy with what I've got and partly because I'm still a little wary about a Microsoft browser. (The days of making a website and having it look perfect in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc. only to open IE and my website looks like a Picasso, good times.) It's probably unfair, but I also don't feel any particular need to switch browsers right now. I'd probably give it a fairer shot if I was seriously searching for something else to use.

[Assembly Boards Representative]

So it’s essentially the advertising that garnered the reputation over the long standing reputation of Internet Explorer? It’s interesting since Microsoft isn’t really the first company that does that since Google advertises their products. Advertising a free browser that is installed automatically apart of the operating system seems dumb. But considering they are trying to rebound after IE6 it seems understandable.

Though most of the IE strife just sounds like unrealistically holding onto the past. It’s common for people to do that since there is a country 🇺🇸 full of people who refuses to acknowledge that they are acting within the confines of repressed trauma. Plus it seems like those who say they want a basic web browser tend to load it up with bloat from extensions/adding anyway. Plus nowadays it seems like browsers are including common ones nowadays anyway. Opera GX is one such example.

[User 180565 is taking donation]

I do feel like to just use which browser works for use, Edge was able to help with a couple things on my SteamDeck it helped me install my VPN as an extension as well as use Ultimate easily. I prefer Chrome because that's what I've been using most of my life. And the ability to easily link all my Google accounts. I'm not a web developer or snotty about browsers I've used them all. Web browser debates have been around as long as Opera has if not Firefox it never ends. Most new browsers are just slight tweaks from already existing ones anyway.

[Chris]

I switched from Chrome to Edge a few weeks ago, being in the habit of rarely closing tabs, and Chrome is just a memory hog. I always have at least four browsers installed for testing purposes, but at this moment, Chrome is no longer my default browser.

On my aging laptop, Edge showed me a twenty percent improvement in memory usage for a single tab and a vast improvement in overall memory usage when I literally have 30 tabs opened simultaneously. It does this by placing tabs that have not been accessed in a certain period of time on hiatus. I believe I read Google Chrome also adopted this suspend-on-inactivity in one of their latest updates to try and stem the exodus.

They both now use the same chromium project as the base, which made me actually consider the move. The Chrome browser's performance and better memory management pulled me away from Firefox with its revolutionary but painfully slow Firebug addon. Ironically, it is the same reasons that have me now jumping over to the Edge. All my browser extensions transferred to Edge with a single click, including saved data, and I can still grab extensions from both the Google repository and the Microsoft one now.

As for the PDF marketing gimmick, I have not personally encountered that issue simply because Edge was my default to begin with. I occasionally receive zip files from work that include multiple PDFs (10-20) and opening all at once would slow system to a crawl but Edge would open them without much fanfare so I had it as my default viewer over the native Adobe Reader as well as the third party PDF viewer built into Chrome even before switching.

Mar 16, 2023 21:00:00 GMT -8 www.askvg.com said:

Last month in February, Microsoft announced that the company will implement Adobe Acrobat PDF engine support in the native PDF Viewer tool of Edge browser. The decision has been taken to provide the Edge users a unique PDF experience including better graphics, improved performance and strong security. The old classic or legacy PDF Viewer will be completely removed from Microsoft Edge on March 31, 2024.

Microsoft Edge users can use the new Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader free of cost without using any subscription.

Once enabled, the new PDF Reader displays a “Powered by Adobe Acrobat” watermark logo at the bottom-right corner while opening and viewing a PDF document in Microsoft Edge.

Following screenshot shows new Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader enabled and working in Microsoft Edge web browser:

In coming days, The new PDF Reader will also start showing a new “Try Acrobat” button in the toolbar to start a free trial or purchase paid subscription of Adobe Acrobat as shown in following screenshot:

Microsoft has started rolling out the new PDF Reader powered by Adobe Acrobat to All Edge users in phases. Some Edge users might have already received the new PDF Reader in their browser. The new PDF Reader will be enabled for all Edge users on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.

Read more: Enable or Disable Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader in Microsoft Edge

^{HTML copied from www.askvg.com using the Paste Ease plugin}

Although Microsoft touts "privacy" when comparing themselves to Chrome, I don't really buy it. If coming from Chrome to Edge, I am going to go out on a limb and say privacy is on the list but definitely not on top. Several telemetry audits reveal that Edge is just as active phoning home as Chrome.

[Assembly Boards Representative]

That feel when Chris has multiple browsers installed because he is a software engineer and me I have multiple browsers because I can never settle for just one.

Also, how come Microsoft Edge is the only browser that has clear voices for their text-to-speech feature. I would love to have that in Opera GX or Firefox.

Though I do question if web development issues still arise in Edge compared to other browsers since they did switch to WebKit which is the rendering engine that Chrome uses.