Google may be using scare tactics to drive internet surfers away from the new Microsoft Edge browser. Could it be that the browser-dominating tech giant is shaking in its boots about the thought of losing market share to Microsoft?
Microsoft has struggled for years to make Edge every users' go-to web crawler. Windows 10 PC users typically use the Microsoft Edge browser as a pathway for downloading their preferred browser -- Google Chrome.
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Microsoft Edge, treated like an outcast for years, could only capture 6% of the browser market share in January 2020, according to NetMarketShare. But now that Edge has been revamped, and is now based on Google's open-source Chromium engine, it's turning a few more heads than usual, and making Google sweat.
According to Windows Latest (via TechRadar), Edge users who paid a visit to the Chrome web store were greeted with a warning message that read, "Google recommends switching to Chrome to use extensions securely."
Google isn't hindering Edge users from adding Chrome extensions, but its message implies that Microsoft Edge is less secure than Chrome -- this insinuation comes without proof, especially since both browsers have the same tech flowing through them.
In fact, Business Insider's Antonio Villas-Boas even raved about the new Edge browser's powerful privacy settings.
"The privacy settings are so powerful that Edge is tricking sites into thinking I have an ad blocker." Villas-Boas wrote.
In our Microsoft Edge hands-on review, we gushed about the browser's Collections feature, which is designed to help users organize all the information we come across every day while surfing the web.
TechRadar claims that Google must feel threatened by Edge's sudden momentum, and calls the tech giant's attempt to stifle competition "underhanded," especially since Google is already towering above all its browser adversaries.
"While Chrome’s market share remains all but unassailable at the moment, the fact that Edge users are seeing these warnings, but users of other Chromium-based browsers, like Opera, have not, makes us suspect that Google is keen to scare off Edge users in particular," TechRadar wrote.
This isn't the first time Google has tried to spook Edge users away from Microsoft's browser. Last year, Google issued a warning message that targeted Edge users who used Google Teams, Gmail, Google Docs and YouTube Music. But Google claimed that it wasn't their intention to unnerve Edge users. Rather, the company alleged it was holding off from whitelisting Edge until it came out of beta.
To be fair, Google isn't the only tech giant using seemingly unscrupulous tactics to move ahead. Microsoft has also issued warnings to Edge users who search for Chrome as a way to dissuade them from switching to the popular Google browser.
This tug-of-war between Google and Microsoft is a petty game of tit for tat, and these browser bigwigs shouldn't be frightening users with unsubstantiated implications about their competitors' so-called flaws.
