Bonum Certa Men Certa

EdgeDeflectorGate is Turning Into a Major Scandal for Microsoft

Guest post by Ryan, reprinted with permission from the original

Although Microsoft is now directly responding to this, as are their paid mouthpieces, it is clear now the scope of the EdgeDeflector PR disaster.



Here’s two such paid trolls defending Edge while at the same time claiming they’re not happy.



Microsoft Calls Firefox’s Browser Workaround “Improper,” Will Block It



I like Edge — too bad Microsoft is being a jerk about it



I don’t know what’s to like. Edge is basically just Chrome with Google’s spyware scooped out and Microsoft’s spyware put in.



On GNU/Linux it is even more absurd. We didn’t stop using Windows so we could start using the browser that Windows users don’t open unless it’s with one of these damned accidental clicks that’s all over Windows “11”.



Windows “11” is the most malicious OS Microsoft has ever released, just like every new version is.



Their official statement on breaking EdgeDeflector is basically that it’s their operating system, and if you don’t like it, up yours.



With Windows “11” barely a month old and not even registering in stat counters yet, over 500,000 people had already downloaded EdgeDeflector, according to Daniel Aleksandersen, the author of the program.



Given numbers like these, it’s obvious why Microsoft is being a bag of dicks and heading it off at the pass. This would have been where Edge stalled out and bled to death. Millions would have used EdgeDeflector because it’s easier to stuff a cork in it if Microsoft leaves this “issue” unaddressed than it is to make Windows take its medicine and put a real OS on the PC, like GNU/Linux. Edge only has 4% of users now, even with all of these ports.



EdgeDeflector users are a lot of people compared to the paltry number of Windows “11” victims so far. Some get conned into ‘free bait’ downgrade offers, some wake up and it found its way onto their computer, and OEMs will ship computers with it and not offer a choice at some point…..this is the only way new Windows versions gain any serious traction…Everyone knows they’re worse than the thing they already have and puts them off as long as possible.



In fact, there’s a perverse incentive to stay on an unsupported release of Windows. Microsoft will stop bricking it every month with crap updates they test on you.



Microsoft is minimizing (the number of users who think Edge is a dodgy spying piece of junk), denying, and blaming others. Which are the hallmarks of an abuser, as any victim of domestic violence will know if they’ve gone to a therapist about it.



“Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. They’re prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their users’ productivity,” developer Daniel Aleksandersen added in his blog.



For what it’s worth, the Free Software Foundation sent Microsoft a hard drive asking them to open source Windows 7 so that the community could correct it and maintain it. No reply. 😉 It read like a WTF moment, but they were being flippant, pointing out that Microsoft will never share Windows as open source, so the only wise move is to leave it.



Alexsanderson continue to pontificate, as if this were news to anyone who had driven a PC lately…..



“Microsoft still charges 200 USD for a Windows license while simultaneously filling the operating system with ads and crapware. Weeks before launch, Windows 11 wouldn’t even show the taskbar when it failed to display an advertisement dialog. Just last week, first-party apps and features of Windows 11 stopped working due to an expired encryption certificate.



For users, the best action is to complain to their local antitrust regulator or switch to Linux. Your Web browser is probably the most important — if not the only — app you regularly use. Microsoft has made it clear that its priorities for Windows don’t align with its users’.”



In the US, the antitrust regulators are going after Google, and to some extent Apple, and inexplicably (at least on the surface) leaving Microsoft alone.



While these other companies certainly have issues, neither of them are as nasty as Windows. Microsoft managed to water down the aftermath of US v. Microsoft so much that the consent decree eventually expired, and they said they’d behave.



This is much like the southern US states suing to overturn the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law required them to get “pre-clearance” from the Department of Justice before enacting new election restrictions.



They went to the courts and said things had changed since 1965 and they would behave now, and then as soon as the law got struck down, they enacted hundreds of new voting restrictions, aimed largely at minorities and the poor, and criminalized black churches gathering votes from their congregants.



It’s simply revolting that all a bad actor has to do is promise to behave and then whether they’re a convicted criminal monopolist or want to bring back the Jim Crow south, they’re off the hook.



The court systems at the federal level are completely broken, obviously, and with so many Trump holdovers that he packed them with, I really doubt anything will happen to Microsoft there, so States need to take the initiative in enforcing their own laws, and citizens of the several States need to petition their State government to do so.



In 2016, I filed an antitrust and consumer fraud complaint against Lenovo in the State of Illinois, and if anyone wants the emails, I’ll release the damned emails. Nothing else I did got their attention. I posted about them locking GNU/Linux out of the Yoga 900-ISK2 series on Reddit /r/linux (full of Microsoft shills) and was banned and called deceptive, I went to the “tech news” naively, and was dismissed by Microsoft propagandists at ZDNet and elsewhere, which are even more a shitposting outfit now than they were then.



When they did post anything at all before I went to the Attorney General, it was some sort of PR blurb about how Lenovo designed the “360 degree hinge” for Windows 10 and “Linux couldn’t possibly work” with, you know, a hinge. Only, it did. As soon as you flipped it over into tablet mode, GNOME activated the virtual keyboard, screen orientation worked, the touchscreen worked, the physical keyboard was disabled until you put it in laptop mode again.



Actually, Windows 10’s on screen keyboard was a complete nightmare. If I tried using it in Firefox, nothing happened at all. It only worked in Edge (Legacy). Dirty tricks even then!



Nothing worked, until I complained in 16 pages of detail, to Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, and THEN Lenovo quickly offered a BIOS repair for the affected models and not to do that again.



That laptop is blacklisted from running Windows “11”. It runs Kubuntu 20.10 fine.



This isn’t the first time I’ve had to take action against a company for things like this. There was also GPL compliance problems at Samsung. I sent them a letter and they refused to comply, and I got the SFLC after them regarding their infringements against BusyBox, and a source code tarball for my Blu Ray player appeared very soon after that.



Back to Edge…. We need a “Don’t use Edge!” campaign. We really do. If people refuse it and boycott it and even change operating systems over it, it will die.



If people really want a Chromium browser, recommend Brave to them instead.



On a strictly technical level, it’s hard to be much more terrible than Microsoft Internet Exploder. The reason “Edge” seems to crash less and get better security fixes is that Microsoft just brings all of those in from Chromium without doing much of anything. To the extent it’s better, it’s because they’ve gotten out of their own way there.



But with all of that spyware in there, and this “shove it in your face” attitude, it’s like, why do it?



Brave has all of the same important rendering engine features, it’s more secure, it’s the most private major browser out there. The same 2020 study found that Microsoft Edge and Yandex (a Russian search engine) were tied for the worst browsers.



We need to gravitate towards Free and Open Source Software, which doesn’t need your private information and doesn’t want it. We need to encourage these programs for others too.



Right now, the only browsers I’m recommending by name to people who ask are Brave, GNOME Web, and LibreWolf. The rest of them deserve each other.



Mozilla in 2021 is so pathetic that they removed support for setting your Windows “11” default browser in one click from the installer you could download from their Web site, and then said it’s because they wanted it to be just as crippled as the Windows Store version. (Mozilla’s blog has also gone straight to hell. They keep talking about things like magic fairy dust called “AI”, which doesn’t exist. They also clearly won’t be around when it does. It’s buzzword bullshit bingo at this point.)



Windows Store is a joke. Most of the apps are fake or are hobbled in some way. Everyone should avoid it.



With GNU/Linux we have real applications, secure applications, from sources like Debian’s Apt repositories, and FlatHub. No fakes in here.



I developed a hobby of collecting Web browsers when I was a child, and switching back and forth, and I still do that quite a bit, on Debian GNU/Linux now.



People would ask me why I tore apart Windows 98 (with a program called “Revenge of Mozilla” by Bruce Jensen, based on a demonstration tool written by Professor Ed Felten to demonstrate Microsoft’s lying to the court) and gutted it of Internet Exploder, the Trident engine, Outlook, and dozens of other things, and put in the FAT32-aware Windows 95 OSR 2.1 shell.



“I like browsers. I just don’t like theirs. Plus, my operating system doesn’t crash anymore now that it’s not causing the shell to leak out until there’s a Blue Screen of Death.”.

-Me (circa 1998)


Bill Gates testified in court that my operating system was broken.



I found that it ran what I wanted it to just fine.



Far from going deep, deep into the plumbing of the OS, an INF file could run through things in 2-3 minutes, unregistering COM objects, deleting files, cleaning registry keys, asking for the Windows 95 Shell, and you reboot and you’re running this greatly improved OS that’s much faster in less memory.



Microsoft added gratuitous dependencies on IE into programs that never needed it before, and created bloat and security hazards in things like Office 97, just to push Windows 95 users into giving up and embracing the horrors, so I switched to Star Office. I bought it at Staples the same day I bought MandrakeLinux.



What does go deep deep into the bowels of Microsoft is the sleazy, disreputable, lying scumbags.



“Creepy Uncle Bill” handpicked his successors and many of them are still there. Who do you think a guy who cheated on his wife every day with a different woman and flew around with Jeff Epstein trying to buy a Nobel Prize is going to pick to replace him?



How much could they have changed? Obviously not much.



Bonus: Here’s a tour of Windows 98 without Internet Explorer and with a Windows 95 shell patched to say Windows 98. Nathan Lineback at ToastyTech used a similar program called 98Lite, which was not freeware. I used RoM because it was freeware and I was a broke kid.



Recent Techrights' Posts

[Video] Richard Stallman's Talk in Sweden, Attended by Nearly 700 People, is Now Online
The Web page is in Swedish, but the talk is in English
 
Confirmed: Very Close Friend of Bill Gates and Microsoft's Biggest Patent Troll Nathan Myhrvold Flew the Lolita Express (a Gateway to Pedophilia), According to Bill Gates-Sponsored Seattle Times
There is no speculation or any "conspiracy theories" here;' those are verified facts
Gemini Links 25/10/2025: "The Highest Leader of The Global Civil Society Community", SSL Certificates Causing Bitrot
Links for the day
Links 25/10/2025: Target Layoffs and "Shutdown Sparks 85% Increase in US Government Cyberattacks"
Links for the day
"Big Data" Was a Big Lie
Remember "Big Data"? Remember "Data Scientists"...?
statCounter Has Been Broken for a Long Time
Considering the huge proportion of Web requests that come from LLM bots (more so this past year or two), statCounter may struggle to justify the operating costs
Techrights Anniversary Party on November 7th
Let us know if you need any accommodation-related arrangements
Trends That Must Alarm Microsoft and Mozilla
Expect Firefox to no longer be supported by various sites in the US
Why Microsoft Became the Layoffs Leader
The corporate media is projecting or signalling its own dishonesty when it tells us that Microsoft is a very "valuable" company while the data shows Microsoft is also a "market leader" in layoffs
Speaking for Ourselves and Letting the Facts Speak for Themselves
we've already published over 50,000 pages
For Second Time in a Day The Register MS Takes Money From Private Companies to Sell a Ponzi Scheme
Do not have empathy for those who have zero empathy towards you
IBM is Misleading IBM Shareholders
IBM is still all about vapourware and buzzwords
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 24, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 24, 2025
The Serial Slopper Starts Up - or Restarts - His Plagiarism Machine (LLMs)
Serial Sloppers like these don't belong in news sites. That's why he got sacked by BetaNews.
Links 24/10/2025: Esperanto Music History, Anxiety, and New Portals
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity.com, Linux Journal, and Pet Slopfarms of Google News
Why does Google News still advance these fake sites to the top of search results?
Links 24/10/2025: Inequality Grows, Billion-Dollar Scam Center Industry
Links for the day
Links 24/10/2025: "Independent Media in Cambodia is Collapsing" and Serious F5 Breach
Links for the day
Coping With the Site Going More Mainstream
Fame is no laughing matter
They Never 'Put Down' Corporations
There are "pests" that are traded in Wall Street
21 Pages in Less Than 7 Hours is No Joking Matter
We've become a lot more effective and efficient
Correct Information is a Valued Asset in the Age of Slopfarms and Public Relations (PR) or Spin
Publishing suppressed facts is never easy
The Register MS Continues to Bag Money to Promote a Ponzi Scheme, Even Money From China
Today in the front page
analytics.usa.gov: The Only Supported Version of Windows (This Past Week) is Only Used by About 13.9% of People in the US, the Home Base of Windows
Even Vista 7 is still used more
Rust is Very Secure
If only Rust itself is secure
Who Will be Held Accountable for Breaking Ubuntu by Imposing Rust on Otherwise-Functional Programs, in Effect Replacing GNU With Proprietary Microsoft (GitHub)?
they're practical people who merely point out that a bunch of buffoons not only ruin Ubuntu but also every future distro based on Ubuntu
Generation Chaff - Phase VIII: In Summary
Like "Science" with a capital "S", what we see here commercial interests usurping everything
Generation Chaff - Phase VII: Curtailing Alternative Media
There was always an obligation - a collective duty of sorts - to uphold independent journalism
Generation Chaff - Phase VI: Centralisation of Information (X, Cheetok/Fentanylware)
Would you trust information when controlled by such people?
Generation Chaff - Phase V: Censorship of Dissent (Painted as Harassment or Terrorism)
Censorship is all around us now
Generation Chaff - Phase IV: Apps Only Few Companies Decide On
Tools are being collectively confiscated, under the premise or false prospect of "security"
Generation Chaff - Phase III: Slop and Plagiarism
A lot of the current so-called 'economy' is built upon false valuations
Generation Chaff - Phase II: "Cloud", Blockchains and Other Hype
For those of us who turned down those propositions there was a struggle; we needed to justify not having skinnerboxes or "social" accounts in some site run by a private company
Generation Chaff - Phase I: Social Control Media
IRC predates the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 23, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 23, 2025
More Clues Shed on Collapse of Microsoft XBox
XBox is basically circling down the drain as Microsoft implements 2-3 waves of layoffs each month
'Vibe Coding' Doesn't Work
In a lot of ways, so-called 'Vibe Coding' is already considered vapourware or a passing fad promoted in the media by managers who try to justify mass layoffs, especially ridding companies of "very expensive" software engineers
Links 24/10/2025: Microsoft's Killing of XBox Connected to Revenue/Profit Problems, "How Elon Musk Ruined Twitter"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2025: 86,400 Seconds and "Society's Task"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025