Upcoming Windows 10 patch begs you not to change default programs, switch browsers

Upcoming Windows 10 patch begs you not to change default programs, switch browsers
Ever since it launched, Microsoft has been hard at work fixing bugs and improving various aspects of Windows 10.

Ever since it launched, Microsoft has been hard at work fixing bugs and improving various aspects of Windows 10. Unfortunately, what Redmond considers a priority doesn’t always match with what end users are hoping for. Data from the upcoming Windows 10 preview build (10568) suggests that the operating system’s newest feature… is begging.

Users have found that when they attempt to change program defaults away from Microsoft’s pre-installed software bundle, the OS no longer wordlessly acquiesces. Instead, it pops up a “But wait, there’s more! message that would do Ron Popeil and Billy Mays proud.

The text reads: “Before you switch defaults, see what you can do in an app built just for Windows 10:

Write on webpages and share your ideas Read distraction-free with reading view Get answers in the browser from Cortana, your personal assistant (where available).”

Followed by a large “Don’t switch and try it now” button and a smaller “Switch anyway.”

One can imagine how Google or Firefox might respond to this, given that Edge still lacks any kind of extension or add-on capability, or pinned tabs. The behavior, however, apparently isn’t unique to web browsers — The Verge reportsthat if you try to switch away from Microsoft’s default photo viewer or music player, you get barraged with similar messaging. If you’re upgrading from an older Windows installation and rely on software like Adobe Photoshop, the idea that Microsoft’s Photos app offers you a superior experience is hilarious — but that’s what the company is planning to hit people with when the new build goes live.

This isn’t the only new “feature” that Microsoft is rolling out in Windows 10. Last week, reports on Build 10565 noted that Windows has begun rolling out ads for “recommended” applications in the Start Menu. These can be disabled by right-clicking on them and choosing Don’t Show me This Suggestion, or Turn off all suggestions, but it speaks to how the way we interact with our operating systems has fundamentally changed.

Ars Technica’s Peter Bright captured the situation rather brilliantly on Twitter:

I initially intended to upgrade to Windows 10, but the longer I’ve waited, the more uncertain I am that doing so is a good idea. It’s not a question of whether the UI is faster or DX12 a better gaming API — I’m fundamentally uninterested in engaging in a protracted fightwith my operating system. In the past six weeks, we’ve seen Microsoft start including app suggestions in your own start menu, accidentally force-upgrade some users to Windows 10, download Windows 10 to systems even when the user has not requested that this occur, refuse to shut off telemetry, and fail to address problems with its own patching model.

When I decided not to upgrade to Windows 8, my reasons were structural — I thought the Metro interface was a disaster and wasn’t willing to pay Microsoft for an OS with huge swathes of functionality I didn’t want. With Windows 10, the underlying model is far more solid, but Microsoft’s efforts to monetize, monitor, and control end-user interactions are extremely frustrating.

Six months ago, Microsoft’s head of marketing, Chris Caposella, revealed how the company would earn money in a future in which Windows was free. “We know consumers are choosing an ecosystem more than ever,” Caposella said. “If you use Cortana, you’re actually becoming a Bing user,” explains Caposella. “This is a way I can build Bing into every Windows phone, into every Windows 10 PC.”

On the one hand, Caposella is obviously correct — all operating systems are, in some sense, ecosystems. The core strength of Microsoft’s ecosystem, however, has been the way it could accommodate other ecosystems from other vendors. While there are obvious limitations to this, Windows is the platform of choice for Steam, as well as Gog, Origin, and uPlay. Microsoft Office may be the dominant Office suite, but it’s far from the only choice. The PC has historically thrived because using a Microsoft application didn’t mean agreeing to live in a Microsoft walled garden.

While it’s unlikely that Redmond intends to change that aspect of its of its operating system, its entire approach to “convincing” people to use its applications makes me think of Amy Schumer’s “Hello M’lady” skit.

“It’s fine. Your OS is just going to ask you not to change its defaults six or seven times, then download 10GB of updates and call you ungrateful.”

When Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be free, I didn’t realize it was making a product no one would actually want to pay for.