How to react to MSFT’s efforts to make Edge inescapable

Is there any compelling reason to use Widgets? For those of us who never use it, could it be time for all of us to run

winget uninstall “windows web experience pack”

in order to jolt MSFT’s telemetry with evidence of impending revolt (+ revulsion)? That is, is it not time to play MSFT’s game with MSFT’s rules and make it IMPOSSIBLE to use some end-to-end user experiences? At the very least, it’d be fascinating to see whether MSFT fixes winget so that it couldn’t remove such features.

Conversation 6 comments

  • zakand

    16 November, 2021 - 11:17 am

    <p>Why use Win11 at all if you feel this way? Even if you disable widgets, you’re still patronizing this horrible product and driving up its market share,</p>

  • justme

    Premium Member
    17 November, 2021 - 12:37 pm

    <p>Would that it were that easy. Alas, this is MIcrosoft we are talking about. Either they will be reinstalled at a future update, or Microsoft makes it so that you cannot uninstall them. The more I see what they are doing in Windows 11, the more skeptical I become.</p><p><br></p><p>And Zakland does have a point – you can also just choose to not run Windows 11. That is my plan, at least for now.</p>

  • innitrichie

    17 November, 2021 - 11:45 pm

    <p>I think the best way to react is just use Edge. You’ll realise it’s the best browser around, and so you can conclude the decision was entirely your own and never forced upon you.</p>

  • winner

    18 November, 2021 - 3:06 am

    <p>1 – Stay on Windows 10 for a few more years</p><p>2 – Activate plans to move to Mac and/or Linux, begin transition</p>

    • justme

      Premium Member
      18 November, 2021 - 10:36 am

      <p>My biggest fear at this point is that MS tries to roll some of these changes down to Windows 10. I am not particularly fond of the direction 11 is taking. As long as MS keep the 11 changes on 11, I’ll stay on 10 at least until the end of support. The good news for me is that Linux would work for me should I decide to go that route. For my uses, Pop!_OS and Zorin both seem like they would fit the bill as replacements – with a VM for the few needs I have that require Windows.</p>

  • shark47

    18 November, 2021 - 7:35 am

    <p>I don’t widgets, but Edge is my primary browser across platforms, so it doesn’t bother me as much. That said, I can see how it can be annoying. (Apple did something similar to me with the iOS15 update, but I’m probably among the 0.1% of people using Edge on iOS, so I get it, I guess.)</p><p><br></p><p>Also, I don’t understand much of the Windows 11 hate from some people. Is it perfect? No, not at all. But from my limited use, I’ve found it to be a lot more intuitive than Windows 10. </p>

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