Microsoft appears to be up to its old tricks in trying to get people to use its products again, and this time the play is aimed at convincing Edge users to switch their search engine to Bing.
like Windows Central Spotted, developer Brad Sams (of Stardock fame) brought our attention to the latest spate of “anti-user behavior” from Microsoft in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The only thing that keeps me on Edge is that I can press Alt+Tab between open tabs… Is there a Chrome plugin that allows this? This is anti-user behavior from @MicrosoftEdge pic.twitter.com/JCvRm7PiGVDecember 18, 2023
Sams uses the Edge browser, but was prompted to switch to Bing as the default search engine instead of Google, as you can see in the screenshot above.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has promoted Bing in this way, alongside leading other services including Edge itself and OneDrive. (Look for a new browser in Edge, for example, and… You will get a banner It tells you that there is no need to download a different web browser, and the different reasons for this).
Bing continues to struggle for market share against the might of Google, with Microsoft’s creation securing just 3.2% of the market as of November 2023, according to Statcounter.
Analysis: Bing’s progress – or lack thereof
Microsoft was hoping that Bing Chat, the AI now renamed Copilot, would help grow the ranks of Bing Search users when it launched early this year — but as we can see, that didn’t happen. Bing had a 3% share at the start of 2023 according to Statcounter numbers, so that’s up 0.2% over the year – which is a very slight rise.
It’s safe to say, then, that the AI angle hasn’t expanded on Bing’s search, although Microsoft is now starting to think about what its various products can do for Copilot, rather than what a chatbot for those products can do. (Watch Copilot debut in Windows 10, driving AI user numbers forward, rather than holding Copilot as a carrot to drive the transition to Windows 11.)
In any case, whatever piece of Microsoft’s broad portfolio of products and services we’re talking about, we don’t want to see claims in Edge, Windows 11, or elsewhere trying to twist users’ arms into switching to another system. Create Microsoft.
In fairness, Google does this sort of thing too, pushing its Chrome browser and search – but not as much as Microsoft does in our experience. Can we please dispense with the various claims for 2024, Microsoft? Because anyway, it seems like they’re becoming more prevalent again throughout 2023.
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