If people have no reason to switch from one product to another, then why would they?
Google Chrome is the most popular web browsers in the world, and that it has been sitting on its comfortable throne for a very long time. Microsoft has what it calls Edge, and it's pretty much the same as Chrome, thanks to its Chromium engine, but with added perks.
Despite the many attempts Microsoft made to compete, people just won't switch.
After pushing it out through Windows updates, and sneakily promoting it, not much was gained.
With more features introduced, Edge becomes more capable, but still it's outshined by Chrome.
In order to get more users, Microsoft becomes even more aggressive.
At least to some users, it's reported that Microsoft Edge is stealing users' open tabs from Chrome.
What the browser does, is copying all of users' active tabs, so if ever users open Edge, they can quickly pick up where they left of.
The 'feature' happens to be pushed through a Windows update, in which after a reboot, all tabs being used in Chrome on the same computer, will end up on Edge.
What's worrying in terms of privacy is that, Edge does that without having to ask users for permission.
Subsequent update even made Edge more aggressive, in which it can copy existing setting, and imports users' data from Chrome to Edge every time they launch the browser.
Previously, a similar feature was launched back in 2022, with Microsoft Edge allowing users to "import browser data on each launch."
This feature can be turned off through Edge's settings.
But what it turns out, Microsoft is building on top of that idea.
Later, it's also realized that Edge can also regularly import user data from other browsers, not just Chrome.
Users can turn off this feature, by offering a one time option to choose the 'Not Now' option.
Beyond that, some users have noticed that even with this import setting disabled, Edge can still imports Chrome data every time it starts.
Long story short, the feature is buried deep within Edge's browser settings on Windows machines, but this is more than just a one-time import of user data.
Microsoft initially didn't comment about this behavior, but what's certain, Edge gets aggressive that it's not only pushing Edge in front of people's eyes, because it also steals it and claims it.
The data Edge can 'steal' include favorites, browsing history, cookies, autofill data, extensions, settings, and other browsing data.