Give Microsoft credit for not giving up. Even though Google’s Chrome has a massive share of the browser market (2 billion installs served, as McDonalds used to say), the Redmond campus continues to press forward with its Edge browser. Being the kindly tech big brother that it is, Microsoft would just like to let you know that in its opinion, Edge is a “safer” browser than Chrome or Firefox. Yes, Opera browser fans, we acknowledge your passion, but at least Microsoft didn’t single you out.
Neowin reminds us of those past pesky Windows 10 notifications that used to remind you Chrome was draining your battery faster than Edge. They’re back, and this time Microsoft is touting its Internet Explorer successor as a “safer” alternative. In the past, Windows Tips were used as an instructional means to educate users about the OS. However, with notifications such as these, it’s easy to see that the educational aspect has been blurred, and it is now little more than a commercial for their nascent software.
VentureBeat says this new “tip” has just rolled out this month, and appears just above the Edge taskbar icon. In case you didn’t know this — it points out that the browser blocks “21 percent more socially engineered malware.” You can turn off this notification, too. Go to Settings > System > Notifications > Disable “Get tips, tricks and suggestions as you use Windows.”
Obviously, it is in Microsoft’s best interests to promote its browser, and its latest OS is one prime piece of tech real estate for such a task. However, given the enormous and seemingly insurmountable lead that Chrome has, and with others like Firefox, Opera, Safari, and even work-in-progress effort Vivaldi out there, is Microsoft just howling at the moon here?
For a little nostalgia, look at the IE market share from 4 years ago. Hmmm, if you look at that pie chart and put Chrome where IE shows, it would pretty much reflect present day, yet we now know where IE has ended up. Maybe Chrome’s lead isn’t so impervious?
