Rivals are not pleased with this Microsoft's Windows 11 new feature

Microsoft's Windows 11 is expected to launch soon and the new operating system will bring a number of changes and updates. One of the features that Microsoft has added to Windows 11 is that it has changed the way the default apps are mapped in the new operating system, making it difficult for users to change the default browsers if they miss the first and only message. This has annoyed companies like Google, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox. According to a report in The Verge, in Windows 11, if you forget to set your default browser to one of your choices on the first launch of Windows 11, the procedure to do it later is very confusing compared to what it was in Windows 10.

The default application prompt in Windows 11 is something that only one sees, the report mentions and appears when you install a new browser and open a web link for the first time in the operating system. This is the only opportunity for the user to easily switch browsers in Windows 11. If they don't, they will be prompted to set the defaults per file or link type rather than a single change.

"Chrome and many other rival browsers will often prompt users to set them as default and will throw Windows users into the default apps part of settings to enable this," The Verge pointed out. Microsoft's main idea behind something like this is, obviously, to keep users on its own browser and not allow them to pick another one and set it as default. And Google, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera are not pleased by this feature.

Selena Deckelmann, senior vice president of Firefox, told The Verge, "We have been increasingly worried about the trend on Windows. Since Windows 10, users have had to take additional and unnecessary steps to set and retain their default browser settings. These barriers are confusing at best and seem designed to undermine a user's choice for a non-Microsoft browser."

"This from the company that claims to be the most open, with 'the most choice'," said Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's head of Android, Chrome and Chrome OS. "I hope this is just a developer preview thing, and the shipping version of Windows 11 lives up to their claims. This is far from 'choice,'" he further added.

Opera said that it's very "unfortunate when a platform vendor is obscuring a common use case to improve the standing of their own product".

Microsoft has yet to comment on any of this. The company is currently testing its new Office user interface, which has been designed to complement Windows 11 and sports the same rounded corners along with other subtle changes. The main new features here include a rounded look in the Office ribbon bar and tweaks to some of the buttons in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.