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I'm not sure how much is still relevant 3 years later, but

Are you seriously going to call sync a privacy violation? That's no different than using iCloud to store files, or iMessage.

Please read the linked article. What I'm talking about is advertising IDs and Microsoft-accessible data collection that is turned on by default at the system level. It has nothing to do with syncing and file storage.
 
But ... why? I can't imagine what this browser can do that Safari or Chrome can't ... and I'm not sure who the user base is.

People who want to use a Chromium based browser but don't trust Google?
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Semi-tangential observation: I think it's somewhat sloppy that the dock in the macOS screenshot above includes Microsoft Office apps that do not have the most up-to-date icons. You would think that a video coming from Microsoft itself would highlight the newest versions of its own flagship products.

That screenshot serves as a great "nutshell" reminder of some of the fundamental differences between Apple and Microsoft.

The new icons have been on a gradual role out, I didn't get them until last month even though they debuted in 2018. No idea why they did it that way, but they did. Also, given how awful the new icons are I'd want to include the old ones instead if it were me :D
 
But ... why? I can't imagine what this browser can do that Safari or Chrome can't ... and I'm not sure who the user base is.
MS has no mobile platform so they're forced to adopt Chromium to expand their services via the browser. Whether it'll work or not is a different question. I can say it's far better than Edge.
 
For the love of god don’t turn on syncing if you sync with IE & Edge on Windows using iCloud. My bookmarks are now a complete mess lord Jesus help me
 
I would rather Microsoft spend the effort for something else... Maybe compatibility for iWork files with Office apps? Gonna be way much more useful/helpful
Why should Microsoft do Apple's job? If Apple's iWork apps can't work properly with third-party files, it's on Apple to fix this.
 
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Agreed, the general population clearly doesn't mind Google's data hegemony. But I think some do view Microsoft as a more trustworthy company than Google. Those few people who care might prefer Edge. That said, while I generally view Microsoft as more privacy-oriented than Google, I view Apple as even more so and thus would not move to Edge from Safari.

(Relatedly, my general view on third-party apps is that unless there is a compelling "industry standard" case - as there is with Microsoft Word, for example - I would always rather use an Apple default app. By virtue of buying a Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. I paid a serious premium to be able to [legitimately] use Apple's apps! ;))

I think you have it exactly right in your first paragraph but I would say the general population not minding is based on them not understanding the scope and how invasive Google's data practices are. If we graded tech companies on a scale Apple would obviously be at the top but Microsoft is not too far behind. Then there is a huge gap until we get to Amazon and then Google. And then Facebook would be on it's own level of awfulness.
 
I would say the general population not minding is based on them not understanding the scope and how invasive Google's data practices are.
Sadly, I believe you're right. I think the average person knows that something's up with Google but has not looked any further into the issue.
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given how awful the new icons are I'd want to include the old ones instead if it were me :D
I like the new icons a lot more than the old ones!
 
Semi-tangential observation: I think it's somewhat sloppy that the dock in the macOS screenshot above includes Microsoft Office apps that do not have the most up-to-date icons. You would think that a video coming from Microsoft itself would highlight the newest versions of its own flagship products.

That screenshot serves as a great "nutshell" reminder of some of the fundamental differences between Apple and Microsoft.

They're rolling out the apps slowly, they've eaten some humble pie since the botched Windows 10 release last year that deleted user data and are rolling apps out slowly - fewer folks affected if an issue appears shortly after release.
 
Please read the linked article. What I'm talking about is advertising IDs and Microsoft-accessible data collection that is turned on by default at the system level. It has nothing to do with syncing and file storage.

Advertising ID is under settings -> privacy -> advertising in iOS. I have no idea what the default is, since it seems to be linked to my iCloud account and I've kept it off for years.

Likewise, analytics sharing is under settings -> privacy -> analytics, and even if you have it off, Apple can and will slurp it off of your phone if you take it to an Apple store, so they can try to diagnose any problems you are having.
 
Monoculture is great because it simplifies website creation.
What limits do you have with webkit and html5?
Do you prefer Edge to be able to enter M$, Chrome to invite Google, ...?

Why variety, which forces you to install several browsers which all do penetrate your OS?

Gosh, did no-one learn from the years of IE's dominance?
When entire Internet depends on a single product, whomever controls the product controls the Internet! Microsoft did it with IE and things like ActiveX, Google is doing it with Chromium and adblocking.

Laziness of web developers is NOT a valid argument.
 
Very common in healthcare. Multiple large hospital systems, as recently as last year, standardized on Windows 7 and IE 11 as the only option for most workers.

This is horrifying, and a borderline HIPPA violation (HIPPA at the very least implies a duty to safeguard records).
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Gosh, did no-one learn from the years of IE's dominance?
When entire Internet depends on a single product, whomever controls the product controls the Internet! Microsoft did it with IE and things like ActiveX, Google is doing it with Chromium and adblocking.

The Internet is more than HTTP+HTML.

Granted, it's not a lot more at this point, but still.
 
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This is horrifying, and a borderline HIPPA violation (HIPPA at the very least implies a duty to safeguard records).
Having dealt for years with hipaa, hitrust, and hitech regulations I can sadly say this would not be related to any violation or potential violation. The main rationale is that this is just a viewer of protected information. The regulations would only require that nothing be saved to the desktop without bona fide business use, that no one looks over their shoulder, and that they only have access to records that they are needing at the point they need them only.

What helps the hospitals get off of the old crap is when Microsoft has completely and finally decided to stop supporting the browser even with extended security only patches. That’ll happen soon for IE11. Also the IT staff at a lot of facilities are very bureaucratic and autocratic and it takes a lot to get them to spend the effort to modernize.
 
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I guess this should win Windows users over as well... if it's their default browser. Get a Mac because it can run Edge.
 
We really need more browsers NOT built on Chromium - which is slowly becoming more and more enveloped by the Google ecosystem
No, we don't. We've had that for years and the general experience has sucked. 99% of users do NOT care at all, and developers just want web browsers to work the same.

Your comment literally applies to no one.
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The dev beta on Windows 10 is really fast. Better than Chrome.

I'm sure Safari will remain superior on Mac, but nice they're making it available across various platforms.

Safari has Apple-specific features, but as a web browser it is more of a headache than anything else.
 
Whenever I can use Safari, I use Safari.
Whenever I cant, I use Chrome.
I would rather Microsoft spend the effort for something else... Maybe compatibility for iWork files with Office apps? Gonna be way much more useful/helpful
Why should the definitive suite provide compatibility with the lesser suite?
 
Not everything has a keyboard shortcut. The browsers are better than they used to be but they are still different enough in basic design to be annoying.

The design differences exist because people have different philosophies of how the software should work and how you as the user should interact with it. What would be the point of "alternate browsers" if you're going to make them all that similar? And if you're so attached to a specific UX, I don't understand why you would want to change browsers so often.

Firefox, at least, lets the user change the toobar buttons and their locations to suit them. So you could rearrange Firefox to match Chrome's layout.
 
The design differences exist because people have different philosophies of how the software should work and how you as the user should interact with it. What would be the point of "alternate browsers" if you're going to make them all that similar? And if you're so attached to a specific UX, I don't understand why you would want to change browsers so often.

Firefox, at least, lets the user change the toobar buttons and their locations to suit them. So you could rearrange Firefox to match Chrome's layout.
I'm not attached to any specific UX - I freely switch between MacOS and Windows as well as Chrome, Safari, IE, and Firefox. It has been a while since I've used Solaris and Linux but that's due to projects rather than preferences. Basic functionality and design language should be consistent on a platform. I don't want to go back to the days where applications used different key strokes for the same functions.

As for the browsers, I would love to stick to a single one but since they all fail at rendering pages products need to be tested in each one. In short, browsers suck. When they can handle the standards and work well then they can try and change the world.
 
Basic functionality and design language should be consistent on a platform. I don't want to go back to the days where applications used different key strokes for the same functions.

They are consistent? Hence me saying instead of getting all bent out of shape that a toolbar button is not where you expect it you should just use keyboard shortcuts. Cmd (or ctrl on Win/Linux)-t = new tab, on every browser. F5 = Refresh (or [pri. modifier]-r can be used, too). Cmd-L = change focus to Address Bar for typing -- you know that shortcut dates back to Netscape Navigator? And browser makers have continued to follow it even though most users would never think L for Location. I just now opened Internet Explorer, and used ctrl-b to open my Favorites window -- even though "Bookmark" is a Netscape term and Microsoft has always called them Favorites.
 
They are consistent? Hence me saying instead of getting all bent out of shape that a toolbar button is not where you expect it you should just use keyboard shortcuts. Cmd (or ctrl on Win/Linux)-t = new tab, on every browser. F5 = Refresh (or [pri. modifier]-r can be used, too). Cmd-L = change focus to Address Bar for typing -- you know that shortcut dates back to Netscape Navigator? And browser makers have continued to follow it even though most users would never think L for Location. I just now opened Internet Explorer, and used ctrl-b to open my Favorites window -- even though "Bookmark" is a Netscape term and Microsoft has always called them Favorites.
I never got bent out of shape. I just said that I thought it was a good thing that the two browsers were similar. You wanted to make it an issue.

You decided that I needed to be educated. So please tell me, what is the standard keyboard shortcut to change the proxy settings used by the browser? The shortcut for the cache control dialog box would be helpful as well.

Typical workflow in this case revolves around Notepad++, Putty, WinSCP, and Flash. There are plenty of shortcuts involved as well as mouse clicks. I'm even pretty handy with vi keystrokes but that doesn't mean I think Yank and Insert is a good replacement for copy and paste.

But thank you for your schoolings.
 
You decided that I needed to be educated. So please tell me, what is the standard keyboard shortcut to change the proxy settings used by the browser? The shortcut for the cache control dialog box would be helpful as well.

Normal end-user considerations and developer usage are two different things. They aren't going to have a keyboard shortcut of every dialog in the browser. Also, the UX can either be consistent to the app, or consistent with the UX of the platform it's on, you can't have it both ways. There are no custom proxy settings for Chrome anymore, last I checked. It simply opens the system proxy controls, so it's OS-dependent and beyond their control. Internet Explorer also just uses Windows's own system-wide proxy settings. Since Firefox is the only one that even lets you set a browser-only proxy, I'm not sure why you expect any consistency there.

Standardizing cache controls is made difficult when Apple wants that stuff under an Application-named menu other platforms don't have, and most browsers have it on a separate "Tools" menu, and Chrome does not want to have a traditional menu bar at all (except they're forced to on macOS). So instead browser makers have taken to making these special custom app menus (burger/three dots) that completely ignore the platform's own UX conventions and confuse users.
 
Again, I simply said it was good the browsers are similar. Not sure why you want to make it into some big issue.
 
Your point, that recapcha can be a pain, is valid, different, and a lesser problem. My point is that Safari doesn’t reliably load recapcha content, crippling the ability to use websites that use it. I can deal with a bunch of clicks if I must, but I have to start all over again with a different browser if I can’t login or register at a site because Safari can’t handle current code.


Well, I believe we agree on the solution. I can’t stand reCAPTCHA (by the balls.)
 
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