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Microsoft yesterday launched the new eagerly-awaited Windows Surface Laptop and alongside it comes a new iteration of the company’s operating system – Windows 10S. While this is all terrifically exciting, some people are upset that the largely unpopular Edge web browser and Bing search enine will be set as the unchangeable defaults. Furthermore, you can only install apps that are in the Windows Store.
According to Microsoft’s official Windows 10S FAQ – via Laptop Magazine – users best start getting used to Edge:
"Microsoft Edge is the default web browser on Microsoft 10 S. You are able to download another browser that might be available from the Windows Store, but Microsoft Edge will remain the default if, for example, you open an .htm file. Additionally, the default search provider in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer cannot be changed."
As the site points out, there currently are no alternatives to Edge on the Microsoft Store with popular browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox nowhere to be seen. While Edge does have a clean UI, many websites require extensions to work and Edge only supports 32 which have been handpicked by Microsoft.
Microsoft has said that all of the apps in the Windows Store will work with Windows 10S, but there are still – two years after launch – many popular applications which are not on the store. These include everything from creativity tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Android Studio, to popular messaging services WhatsApp and Slack. Perhaps the company hopes that putting this renewed focus on the Windows Store will push more developers to stick their apps on the portal.
Of course, all of this can be avoided if you upgrade the OS to Windows 10 proper which is free until the end of the year. After that point the upgrade will cost users $49.
