How Microsoft Edge's Past is Affecting Its Future

Microsoft Edge, the chromium-based successor to Internet Explorer, has been notorious since its launch for pestering Windows users to use it as their default browser. After Bing AI was added to the browser earlier this year, the mockery briefly ceased. Many thought the browser was about to attract the attention of a notable segment of the market yet six months later, Edge remains in relatively the same place. Is its troubled past too much to overcome?

Microsoft Edge Reputation

Microsoft Edge, aka that toxic ex that won’t stop begging for a second chance, has a history of unpleasant behavior on the Windows platform. From being difficult/impossible to switch from, cluttering the screen with advertisements, and constantly notifying Windows users that it exists and to try it. I couldn’t find demographic data on Edge’s users, but from what I’ve observed those who use it usually have low technological capabilities. Meaning they are typically on the older side (50+). This means that the people who are using Edge, are using it because they don’t know how to install another browser. That assumption makes sense when you consider that the most searched thing on Bing is Google. The articles that make that claim also cite Facebook as the third most searched thing. This would make sense since that platform is dominated by an older market.

Adapting to User Base

Bing has put a lot of effort into catering to its older, less experienced user base. Put Google and Edge side by side and the differences are stark. Edge bombards your eyes with ads, most of them disguising themselves alongside news articles. Even the shortcuts section contains advertisements. I cannot speak for how the quick links function now, but in the past when I would add too many shortcuts in Edge, it would get rid of them to cram more ads in. EXCUSE ME! Even on search, ads take up a larger chunk of the screen when compared to Google. It appears that the goal is to grab as much revenue as possible from their smaller user base.

Microsoft 365 is easily accessible through the menu on the left which is good for the businesses that use the browser. Another business-friendly feature is the ability to split the screen and have two searches existing in the same Windows. Microsoft usually excels when it comes to multitasking features.

There are also two locations for settings. One on the homepage with the settings icon and the other with the three horizontal dots. The traditional icon is where the basic settings like the theme are. The dots are where the actual settings are. I assume this is to avoid confusion for users who are trying to do something basic and don’t want to be overwhelmed by the extensive list of settings. However, if that is the rationale, I don’t know what the rationale is behind the search layout. There is just so much going on. The bottom right corner has these related search recommendations that I cannot get rid of for the life of me, the right side of the screen has an overwhelming amount of info/options, and the actual search results are hard to focus on because of how cramped they are.

Bing AI

Bing AI is a generative AI chatbot that is built into Microsoft Edge. It has a 2000-character limit and lets users choose between a precise, balanced, and creative conversation style. It is most like Bard, citing sources from the web in its responses. Google and Safari will likely adopt a similar AI integration once they are confident in their model's accuracy. Google already has an experimental AI-powered overview for searches, but it is not conversational like Bing AI. The advantage of having a chatbot right next to your searches can speed up a workflow by preventing users from opening additional tabs for small less important questions or inspiration for ideas.

Can Bing AI make Edge into the household name Microsoft wants it to be? While it’s a great tool that is extremely convenient, it doesn’t fix the underlying problems that Edge has created for itself. Which is not to say it didn’t do anything for Edge. In fact, the market share has gone up about 1% since its launch, which is a considerable amount when talking about a worldwide market.

Conclusions

Bing AI is a step in the right direction, but nobody can expect Edge to double its user base within the next year. There are a lot of problems the browser has developed over the years that are stopping it from becoming as popular as it could be as the default Windows browser. Sacrificing ad revenue will most likely be necessary to remedy some of the major grievances users have with the platform which can be hard for Microsoft to justify. I remain hopeful that Edge will escape its unpleasant reputation and that one day Windows users will have a default browser that they want to use.