Those instructions consisted of several steps, one of CEO Beard's complaints, that required the user to confirm they wanted Firefox as the default when it was first launched, then to make the unintuitive move to click on "Microsoft Edge" in the ensuing Settings pane to open a list of rivals before explicitly selecting Firefox.Ī side effect of fixing Firefox as the default browser is that the search bar embedded in Windows 10's taskbar is also switched to Mozilla's pick for that market.
"If you upgrade to Windows 10 or get a device that already has it installed, your default browser is set to Microsoft Edge by Windows, so we created support materials to show you how to restore or choose Firefox as your default browser in Windows 10," the blog explained.
Much of the emphasis Mozilla put on Firefox for Windows 10 today in a blog post was dedicated to pointing users to instructions for making the browser the default, booting Edge from the spot. Microsoft defended the browser change but left the door ajar to modifications down the line.įirefox for Windows 10 is actually little different from the stock version, which can run on the new OS as well as on older editions, including Windows 7. "They are unsettling because there are millions of users who love Windows and who are having their choices ignored, and because of the increased complexity put into everyone's way if and when they choose to make a choice different than what Microsoft prefers." "These changes aren't unsettling to us because we're the organization that makes Firefox," Beard wrote. In a letter Beard sent to Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, Beard blasted the default browser switch on Windows 7 or 8.1 PCs upgraded to Windows 10. Mozilla's CEO, Chris Beard, took exception to the tactic.
Most users will simply click "Next" in the Express Setup without diving into the details. During the initial setup, Windows 10's "Express Settings" assigns Edge as the default, even if users had previously specified a rival like Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome. The company recognized that it had to do something on Windows 10 to retain current Firefox users because Microsoft was aggressively promoting its own new browser, dubbed Edge, as the default for the OS.