Microsoft Pitches Edge On Bing To Deflect Deserters

Microsoft has begun promoting its new Edge browser using its Bing search engine, copying a practice already used by rivals.

Just as Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox have been pushed by the Google and Yahoo search engines, Edge now is both being touted as the better browser when users of Windows 10 search for those two competitors on Bing from Edge, and pitched as a replacement for them when the same users search for "chrome" or "firefox" on Bing as they run either of those browsers.

The first part of the promotion appears when Windows 10 users running Edge use Bing to search for "chrome." At the top of the results, Bing places a small black banner that reads, "Microsoft recommends Microsoft Edge for Windows 10," along with a "Learn why" button that directs the user to a marketing page.

The same happens when an Edge user searches for "firefox" on Bing. (A search on Bing from Edge for "opera" does not trigger a similar banner.)Microsoft also uses the banner when Windows 10 users run Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) -- which is bundled with the new OS alongside Edge -- to search Bing for "chrome" or "firefox."

With the banner, Microsoft appears to making a last-ditch effort to stop Windows 10 users from switching to Chrome or Firefox.