The famous phrase of French critic, journalist, and novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”, comes to mind. In July, Mozilla Research published the Over The Edge 2.0 report in which researchers Dr. Harry Brignull and Cennydd Bowles put together the findings of monitoring Microsoft’s deceptive tactics to drive users toward the Edge browser on Windows PC. Mozilla is following that up with a ‘100 days later’ report, released today, which notes that Microsoft is still steering users towards Edge.
“Microsoft’s standard for respecting people’s choices is legal compliance. Not what’s best for its users,” Mozilla notes in a statement shared with HT. They cite differences in how Windows is structured for PCs in the European Union, compared to other countries.
“It’s the fact that a better version of Windows already exists, and it is already available today – but only if you live in the European Economic Area (EEA), where the Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced the issue. If you live in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, or most other locations around the world, your experience and your freedom to choose for yourself are worse,” they explain.
Key concerns continue to be how Windows Search and Widgets open links in Edge instead of another browser that has been set as default, Windows keeps Edge as the default for common browser file types like PDFs and SVG images despite another default browser and Edge remains pre-pinned to the taskbar giving it a prominence that other browsers don’t get on millions of Windows PCs. There is also the Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that continues to open web links in its own side panel rather than the browser users have chosen including in Europe.
Mozilla argues that this is particularly significant as browsers increasingly become a key distribution layer for AI tools and services.
In the EU, Microsoft was mandated to restructure the Windows operating system for PCs. Key changes included unlocking the ability to uninstall core system apps including Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Store and more, which isn’t an option elsewhere. Secondly, changing the default web browser applies comprehensively across all system links and file types without forcing redirects to Microsoft Edge—this is something Mozilla is also referring to.
When using rival browsers, Windows in the EU also stopped displaying promotional pop-ups or banners, urging users to download or use the Edge browser. Another key mandate is that Microsoft Windows must not automatically sign users into auxiliary Microsoft services (such as Bing, Edge, or personalised feeds) simply because they logged into their main Windows account on any PC.
Microsoft did not issue a formal response to the earlier report.
Earlier industry advocacy body Browser Choice Alliance told HT that Microsoft uses manipulative tactics to push users toward Edge, limiting users’ ability to choose and run their chosen browser.
“We call on Microsoft to respect its users and stop using the Windows ecosystem to steer users toward its own browser in ways that restrict user choice, undermine web freedom, and unfairly tilt the playing field away from fair competition and innovation,” a BCA spokesperson said, at the time.
According to the latest numbers from research firm Statcounter’s browser market share report, Google Chrome remains the undisputed leader among web browsers, with a 66.36% share at the end of September. The trajectory is worrying for Chrome though—it is down from 69.28% in August. Apple’s Safari is second at 18.27%. Edge has a 6.02% share now, up from 5.39% a month prior.
In India specifically, Chrome’s market share dominance stands at 88.7%, with Apple Safari (3.17%), Opera (3.13%) and Microsoft Edge (1.9%) following distantly.