I had no browsers open. I was minding my own business. Windows 11 gave me an unsolicited toaster popup, with the default action being to change Chrome's default search engine to Bing.<p>This is an atrocious dark pattern and a huge overreach for an operating system, whose job it should be to stay out of my way and run what I tell it to.<p>But more than that, this strikes me as directly anti-competitive behavior. I would appreciate views on this by people having more educated opinions on this than myself.
I agree with you. If you have some time, consider writing a comment to your national or state/provincial consumer protection regulator.<p>In the US, you can file an antitrust complaint with the FTC here: <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/report-antitrust-violation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/report-antitrust-violation</a><p>...and find your state regulator here: <a href="https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer</a>
I have honestly given up on Windows. It has extremely strong fundamentals, but they seem determined to mine their users for money instead of investing in a platform. I find what's happening in Apple world to be dire, but at least they have been good stewards of the user. Desktop Linux has its own serious problems as well (there's a reason its at 3%~ market penetration).<p>I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I think Apple for now, keep my usage of Apple services to a reasonable minimum, and keep an eye on what's going on in the Linux world.
Yes, it's obnoxious. And so are the nonstop popups telling you to use Chrome that Google shows you if you're using Edge on Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Search etc.<p>Both of these companies should be slapped hard for doing this.
It is doing what it was programmed to do:<p><a href="https://youtu.be/Ag1AKIl_2GM?t=57" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/Ag1AKIl_2GM?t=57</a><p>Sadly, this kind of user-hostile behavior is increasingly common and a form of enshitification (see <a href="https://doctorow.medium.com/tiktoks-enshittification-bb3f5df91979" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://doctorow.medium.com/tiktoks-enshittification-bb3f5df...</a>) of the operating system.
is it a dark pattern if it clearly asks you to do something, and doesn't lie or deceive you about what it's going to do if you accept or decline?<p>(no, it isn't a dark pattern if it isn't lying or tricking you into making a decision you would not make otherwise. this particular behavior isn't defensible behavior, and it isn't an example of a dark pattern, either.)<p>is this how languages evolve so fast? people using words and terms without understanding them <i>in full view</i> of people who don't know the term, who then learn the incorrect definition?
> Windows 11 gave me an unsolicited toaster popup, with the default action being to change Chrome's default search engine to Bing<p>Not doubting you, but as a W11 home user for a while- I haven't seen this myself.<p>> This is an atrocious dark pattern and a huge overreach for an operating system<p>It's not a dark pattern. It's definitely an annoying thing - how is this different from Apple reminding you to set-up Apple Pay?