So why would a company spend millions of dollars to develop and maintain a software application, then offer it for free to anyone who wants it? Why would Microsoft double down on efforts making it more difficult for users to switch their web browser to Chrome or Firefox? Something you need to understand about Products: You either buy a product or your are the product. And what does you earning Cryptocurrency, you and your web browser have to do with each other?
You have heard the term “Everybody wins”? well its kinda like that. Lets face it pretty much no one except a very small few could actually create a web browser. If you took for example the 250 million firefox users and the cost of annual development $50 million, you can see you would pay less than a dollar a year to use your firefox web browser. But since you sell part of who you are to firefox allowing them to sell that data, you get the web browser for free! Ya You, free $1 web browser, well done.
Joking aside, its a trade. You are trading a lot of information about you, what you like, buy, and are. For a web content browser that you don’t have to pay for. And Microsoft wants their piece of the pie back. Since people are creatures of habit, and most have the habit of using Chrome, then Safari, then Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera…. Microsoft is trying to move up a spot by making the most popular operating system hard to change the default web browser. “Can’t win, cheat” I think is the motto that comes to mind.
In Windows 10 it was kind easy, you could change 1 setting and the only negative side effect is you are pestered with constant suggestion that you are doing it wrong and that you should try Edge. Well in windows 11, Microsoft went to a hole other level of truly devious proportion. You will need to change by protocol which browser you want to use. Thats right the protocol. And if you are reading this and are asking your self, what the hell is dot dot ping ping? you will probably be an Edge user with no escape. And Microsoft is counting on it.
The browser I think is fantastic is Brave. I am pretty sure they use the Chrome engine (don’t worry, dot dot ping ping) with a look that they created. They block most add’s, don’t sell your searching usage like all the others, and give you the ability to make money if you choose by getting a crypto called BAT for signing up to not block adds. Yep that is right, you can make money for the adds presented instead of 100% of that casholla going to the web browser company. Now that is closer to a win win agreed? The revenue Brave makes on you choosing to view and add last I check was split 70-30. Yep. you are the 30 and don’t tell you thought you would get it all. But before you run off and download and switch bot Brave because you want to start earning BAT crypto, do your research. learn about Crypt, know what a blockchain is. Learn how to use crypto to actually purchase something. Otherwise you have stuff on a screen that is useless. Know that crypto is still very new and there is a lot of changes happening and many opinions.
All in all, know nothing is free, self reflect and find out what you value, write it down. Find out what you don’t want to be, write it down. Yes a pen and paper. Do your due diligence and learn about the lake before you jump in the water, that stuff could be on fire, but maybe you like fire. Or maybe you like easy comfortable slow privacy phishing. At least you will be well known (to all the advertisers).
I hope this was helpful, maybe a little fun and scared you a little to. takes balance to be balanced.