Microsoft has been aggressively promoting Edge in highly interruptive and annoying ways, especially since the switch to Chromium.

The company places heavy Edge promotions even within the Windows operating system. The Start Menu, search bar, random notifications, and even pop-ups if you try to install other browsers like Chrome. At this point, it’s a long-standing meme that the only purpose of Microsoft Edge is… to install Google Chrome.

Now, Microsoft has taken it a step further. If you’re using Microsoft Edge and you look up “Chrome” in the Bing search bar, you’ll get a table that supposedly shows the “advantages” of Edge over Chrome (the folks at Windows Latest reported this earlier). You can take a look at the image below, showing the table.

One of the listed reasons is “Microsoft recommended.” To the left of that, there’s bold text saying “All you need is right here,” and that Edge features the “added trust” of Microsoft. This reason doesn’t make sense as well, since both companies are giant conglomerates — Microsoft is trying to act like an indie privacy startup here.

Back to the list from the Bing results, the first reason is “Earn rewards.” Edge is far from the only browser that lets you earn rewards; Brave does it as well. Additionally, you no longer need a Microsoft account for various features on Edge (more on that here). So, if you want to “earn rewards,” you just have to set your search engine to Bing on any other browser.

Built-in VPN is the next listed reason, and Edge’s implementation is reportedly problematic with security (according to @iAnonymous3000 on X). It may not even be a full-fledged VPN. Free VPN isn’t Edge-exclusive either. Firefox and Opera have this service as well, and you can get a VPN on any browser with simple extensions.

Microsoft then claims that AI implementation is a reason to use Edge over Chrome. However, there are reportedly very few actual paying subscribers. Many dedicated AI-based browsers already exist, such as Comet and Dia.

Microsoft doesn’t advertise many actual good features on Edge. Pasting a link as anchor text, the Collections feature, web capture, and built-in shopping tools, Workspaces, auto-hide Bookmarks bar, efficient implementation of Sleeping tabs, and more.

Instead of “Microsoft recommended,” the company should focus on marketing the browser with actual, practical features. However, Microsoft is busy removing important features from the browser and shoehorning Copilot integration everywhere, which isn’t really helping.

Speaking of Edge, I have used it on macOS. After disabling the heavy Copilot promotions, it’s a decent browser. However, I don’t find anything interesting enough to stay on it. I’m primarily on Arc because of quick workspace switching, the aesthetics, Little Arc windows, which you can maximize into any workspace you want, implementation of Archives, easy access to Media, website customization (Arc Boost), and several other features that I use every day.

All in all, Microsoft has to market Edge better. Recently, the company’s social media has actually been leaning into Edge jokes, as we covered here. More of these (and a better explanation of the features) would go a long way in convincing people to use the browser.

Featured image: AI

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