Microsoft Edge Overtakes Safari as World's Second Most Popular Desktop Browser

[mike2q]

Please explain how Mac users are forced to use Safari.

They aren't. You were responding to someone who was responding to the criticism that the Edge number are high because Windows user are forced to use it. Also not true. While you can use other browsers on either OS both Microsoft and Apple make it difficult to remove their default browsers on their desktop OS's. The only way to remove these default browsers is to used Terminal on Mac OS or Power Shell on Windows. Under these options the average user won't be able to remove the default browser on either. In that sense the browsers are forced on the end users of both OS's.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

safari is such a failure because its extension support is a joke

110% agree. When Apple dropped Safari 12 on us and Ublock stopped working it was a dead to me. I have tried a few blockers with the newer versions of Safari and they pale in comparison, wiper being the best but it is still not Ublock.

Safari already has a lot of little quirks, like no multiple profile support, or complete and utter lack of colors or themes. If I enable cross site tracking block, it breaks many websites that I go too, half of Azure I can no longer administer, so I turn it off. Having no or a few limited extensions is just another nail in the coffin.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

FireFox was my go to browser for multi-platform before Edge. It has some cool features but it is so buggy at times. I have more issues with websites using Firefox than any other browser, including Safari. FF will just hang and stop working if I leave it open for a few days.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

I can only go on the stats from my website as reported by Statcounter.
Edge is nowhere. IE11.0 comes in at 1.68%
Personally, I won't use Chrome or Edge. I might use chromium as long as I know that all the Google spyware has been removed otherwise, it is Firefox and Safari.

	Puffin 9.7	21.58%
	Firefox 99.0	17.33%
	Chrome 100.0	11.25%
	Safari 15.4	10.64%
	iPhone	5.78%
	Samsung Internet 16.2	5.47%
	Opera 85.0	4.56%

Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats

This graph shows the market share of desktop browsers worldwide based on over 5 billion monthly page views.

gs.statcounter.com

Word wide numbers. Probably a tad bit more informative than your website I would guess.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

They aren't. You were responding to someone who was responding to the criticism that the Edge number are high because Windows user are forced to use it. Also not true. While you can use other browsers on either OS both Microsoft and Apple make it difficult to remove their default browsers on their desktop OS's. The only way to remove these default browsers is to used Terminal on Mac OS or Power Shell on Windows. Under these options the average user won't be able to remove the default browser on either. In that sense the browsers are forced on the end users of both OS's.

Step on over to iOS, where all browsers are simply using Safari under their Chrome. That is FORCED. Chrome on iOS is Safari with different UI on top, same for Edge, FF or any other browser on the iPhone or iPad.

On Mac and Windows you can easily change the default web browsers. It is much harder to get rid of the native browsers though. Every once and a while something in either OS will trigger the native browser to respond to a request even though they are not the new default browsers.

 

[danielsutton]

Safari is poop though. No one wrket share at the same time that it ould voluntarily install it on a non-Apple device. On MacOS and Windows I, like probably a lot of people, flip flop between Chrome and Edge and Firefox on Linux. On iPadOS it's permanent Safari poop since 3rd party browsers are just reskinned Apple Webkit so my iPad Pro just collects dust.

Releasing Safari for other platforms would increase ma

Safari is poop though. No one would voluntarily install it on a non-Apple device. On MacOS and Windows I, like probably a lot of people, flip flop between Chrome and Edge and Firefox on Linux. On iPadOS it's permanent Safari poop since 3rd party browsers are just reskinned Apple Webkit so my iPad Pro just collects dust.

Releasing Safari for other platforms would increase market share at the same time as it would encourage Apple to tidy it up, reinfect many users would share feedback about it and how outdated it is. It is true that many Web pages will not render correctly with Safari.

Perhaps Apple should either redo the Safari WebKit engine, or they should throw it out and go with Chromium for a Safari, as Google and Microsoft have done with their browsers

 

[Lihp8270]

Releasing Safari for other platforms would increase ma

Releasing Safari for other platforms would increase market share at the same time as it would encourage Apple to tidy it up, reinfect many users would share feedback about it and how outdated it is. It is true that many Web pages will not render correctly with Safari.

Perhaps Apple should either redo the Safari WebKit engine, or they should throw it out and go with Chromium for a Safari, as Google and Microsoft have done with their browsers

If safari and keychain was available for other platforms including android then I’m 90% certain I’d switch to Samsung phones as Keychain is the last strong pull for me in the apple eco system

 

[EuroChilli]

Considering it’s forced on end users by Microsoft perpetually, that’s pretty rubbish.

Edge’s entire purpose on windows is to download Chrome. As alluded to earlier it’s turned into a bloated turd as all Microsoft post subscription software does.

I was just going to say this. I recently helped a friend set up a new Windows 10 machine. I only used Edge to download Chrome then removed it from the task bar. Lets not get into McAfee and all the other bloatware I had to remove.

So I call BS. Those stats are artificial. When we can be certain everyone who is using Edge is doing so out of their own free will, then we can talk.

 

[EuroChilli]

Safari is forced on users of Apple devices.

No, it isn't.

Look:

 

[RamGuy]

I for one hope Apple will open the capability of third-party web engines on iOS/iPadOS. Currently, there is no point in opting for anything other than Safari on iOS because every other browser is using the very same WebKit+Nitro combo under the hood. And the lack of integration with password managers, secure keyboard input and extensions which is limited to Safari only on iOS/iPadOS makes third-party browsers, even when forced to use WebKit+Nitro under the hood crippled from the start in such a huge way that they would never be able to compete.

I would most likely stay with Safari regardless, I just hate the fact that the ecosystem is pretty much enforcing it to be next to zero competition when it comes to browsers. iOS/iPadOS have such as healthy market share for mobile devices making it strange for Apple to be allowed to cripple competition like this. I know browsers will be the largest security hole on the entire platform, but Apple should be able to limit the kind of access the browsers has when it comes to accessing files and other features on the device.

 

[temhawk]

Safari is forced on users of Apple devices.

Not as much as Edge. If you set your default browser to something else, Windows does not respect that choice.

 

[Danfango]

Not as much as Edge. If you set your default browser to something else, Windows does not respect that choice.

Yeah it bugs you constantly to switch to Edge. Even our corp build LTSC windows build does that as we have chrome on it and the ops guys can’t shut it up.

Also if you do a search in windows from the taskbar it always opens in Edge even if that’s not your default browser.

 

[EuroChilli]

Not as much as Edge. If you set your default browser to something else, Windows does not respect that choice.

I noticed this while setting up my friends computer. She prefers Chrome and used it on her old one, but would have had to use Edge until someone could help her install Chrome. Even though I have now set Chrome as default, Edge still opens when you click links in emails, among other instances.

So again, those stats are not real.

And in other ‘news’…

 

[eRondeau]

While I use Safari 99% of the time, Microsoft Edge on MacOS is impressive. Edge has a modern look & feel that Safari just can't match. And if a website somehow disagrees with Safari (MailChimp, most notably) Edge will do the job. It's also functionally cross-platform for me because my Windows 10 PC at work can sync to Edge on my Macs at home.

I have chosen to not install Google Chrome on any of my devices because I don't like automatic & invisible background updates; I want to know when my computer is installing new software. Edge is the right balance -- blending the modern tech of Chrome's engine with updates/installations requested and controlled by me.

 

[EuroChilli]

While I use Safari 99% of the time, Microsoft Edge on MacOS is impressive. Edge has a modern look & feel that Safari just can't match. And if a website somehow disagrees with Safari (MailChimp, most notably) Edge will do the job. It's also functionally cross-platform for me because my Windows 10 PC at work can sync to Edge on my Macs at home.

I have chosen to not install Google Chrome on any of my devices because I don't like automatic & invisible background updates; I want to know when my computer is installing new software. Edge is the right balance -- blending the modern tech of Chrome's engine with updates/installations requested and controlled by me.

Edge for macOS? Might give it a try, but mostly for web dev testing. Safari on my M1 Air will remain my primary browser for the foreseable future.

 

[SactoGuy18]

No, it wasn't not great. It was absolutely appalling. Lasted maybe a year and I didn't find anyone who liked it. Some even preferred Internet Explorer...

It tried it for a while just hated it for its slow response to some web sites. It was smart for Microsoft to update Edge to use the Chromium web layout engine because a lot more web sites work well with the Chromium engine.

 

[jakey rolling]

Pretty simple, just upgrade your RAM....

..oh.. wait..

That’s not how that works

Well, not how it works for Mac users, perhaps.

 

[Tagbert]

They aren't. You were responding to someone who was responding to the criticism that the Edge number are high because Windows user are forced to use it. Also not true. While you can use other browsers on either OS both Microsoft and Apple make it difficult to remove their default browsers on their desktop OS's. The only way to remove these default browsers is to used Terminal on Mac OS or Power Shell on Windows. Under these options the average user won't be able to remove the default browser on either. In that sense the browsers are forced on the end users of both OS's.

yes, but simply having them installed is not pushing or forcing their use. In both cases it is trivial for a user to install an alternate browser and make that the default. They seem to do it a lot if Chrome numbers are any indication.

 

[polyphenol]

yes, but simply having them installed is not pushing or forcing their use. In both cases it is trivial for a user to install an alternate browser and make that the default. They seem to do it a lot if Chrome numbers are any indication.

Not quite so trivial to ensure that links in, say, Outlook actually open in your chosen default browser.

 

[rcpmac]

Not surprising. Work won’t let us install any other browser.

Yup, the fix is in

 

[Tagbert]

Not quite so trivial to ensure that links in, say, Outlook actually open in your chosen default browser.

Not on Mac OS. don't know about Windows.

On iOS, the gmail app always opens links in Chrome and you have to do another click to open in Safari. This kind of thing is rampant.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I'd agree if you're talking the pre-Chromium versions. The current version actually works quite well.

You said Chrome not Chromium. Big difference.

 

[maxoakland]

This is a good reason it was a mistake to drop Safari for Windows. Even if it had low numbers, it was a good thing

 

[polyphenol]

This is a good reason it was a mistake to drop Safari for Windows. Even if it had low numbers, it was a good thing

I used to have it installed and would usually use it as my second string browser.

 

[maxoakland]

At the risk of sounding stupid here (a risk I take often), does it really matter? Genuinely interested in people's thoughts...

It matters because Edge and Chrome use the same Google-controlled rendering engine

Basically, we’re going back to an era where the internet is dominated by one rendering engine, like when IE6 was king. It’s really bad for the internet when that happens because they have no reason to innovate and things become stangnant

That’s why it’s a good idea to use something with a different engine, like Firefox or Safari