Microsoft seems hell-bent on alienating users and returning to the Microsoft of the ’90s, displaying a poll when users try to install Google Chrome.
According to Neowin, users are presented with a poll asking why they want to install Chrome when they try to download it. The behavior is yet another escalation of other steps the company has taken to discourage users from installing a competing web browser.
Below are the questions asked:
We love having you!
Can you please take a minute to tell us why you are trying another browser?
- I can’t search Google easily
- I can’t access my Google documents
- I don’t have my favorites or passwords here
- Too many ads and pop-ups
- I don’t like the news feed
- It’s too slow
- My websites don’t work on Microsoft Edge
- My reason is not listed
The tactics are incredibly distasteful and reminiscent of the tactics the company employed against Netscape, tactics that ultimately got it in trouble with the DOJ.
The tactics are incredibly distasteful and reminiscent of the tactics the company employed against Netscape, tactics that ultimately got it in trouble with the DOJ.
While Microsoft has made strides toward being more open since those days, this behavior is absolutely shameful and shows no respect for the fact that the user has the right to install and use whatever software they want without being hassled about it.
Then again, given that Microsoft also seems intent on displaying ads in an operating system its users are paying for, the company clearly doesn’t seem to have all that much respect for what its users have the right to do.