Whenever you install a new web browser on Windows, the installer always asks whether or not you want to set the new browser as your default browser. This isn’t the case with Windows 10, however, as Microsoft Edge is the default browser and changing it requires users to manually activate another web browser, something that Mozilla CEO Chris Beard is very upset about if his recent open letter to Microsoft is anything to go by.
Microsoft has altered Windows 10 so that users have to explicitly set a default app for applications like mail, calendar, or web browsers. The change means the setup installers for Chrome and Firefox can no longer set themselves as the default browser during the install process. Mozilla isn’t happy with this change, and the company is calling on Microsoft to reverse what it calls an “aggressive move to override user choice on Windows 10.” In a blog post and open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard outlines the company’s concerns. “It now takes more than twice the number of mouse clicks, scrolling through content and some technical sophistication for people to reassert the choices they had previously made in earlier versions of Windows,” claims Beard. “It’s confusing, hard to navigate and easy to get lost.” Mozilla has created a video to demonstrate the amount of clicks required to set Firefox as the default browser.
