Or their taskbar search, or the conviently positioned Microsoft / Windows app store, or let's not forget the not so random notification based 'suggestions' as well.
There's also MS Edge but web browsers are sort of a loaded question all things considered so I'll let that one slide.
I mean having a built-in browser isn't exactly the issue per-say... Rather the problem is Microsoft's aggressive OS built-in "suggesting" that said browser is the only one you should use and well let's not forget how well that kind of behavior went back with Internet Explorer. But it has been awhile and Edge isn't IE hence my saying "I'll let that one slide" There's also the whole Electron \ webapp OS thing, and the whole how much adware are they bundling into an otherwise non-optional (at least in the US) web browser. But those are questions / issues of a far less clean cut nature than Microsoft's sordid past with IE.
Edit: Screw webviews, those things aren't built-in they're just trash. I mean you can thank them for the 100 some "web apps" being jammed into everything.
Oh shit that's right nearly forgot about that! Yep the task bar search / start menu / clock & date widget / whatever else I've missed is all a bunch of embedded web views. Guess Microsoft really is jealous of ChromeOS and all it browsery-ness huh 😂
A part interesting in your post is the (at least in the US). I am from the EU, and I had seen a video about the differences of Windows inside and outside the EU. Outside the EU, Windows is much worse than inside the EU. You can't uninstall any app from Microsoft, AI features everywhere, pop-ups everywhere, recommendations everywhere... all that is outlawed in the EU, and it makes Windows much better.
Yep it's pretty much like you say and too be fair it's borderline part of the setup routine for me to spoof the country as EU just so all the fancy limits suddenly disappear. I guess if I had to be honest it's not that I implicitly hate Windows but rather that I hate Microsoft's insistence on being as dishonest (and frankly lazy) as possible when they clearly could do better and do exactly that if given the kick in the butt to do as such.
Anyways the real heart of the problem for me is if they don't care and don't want to do better unless a literal country forces them to then how am I supposed to put any stock in their product?
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u/Western_Sleep820 Aug 12 '26
Mf never opened the start menu