uBlock Origin for Microsoft Edge

[Sephr]

It wouldn't surprise me if there is an internal conflict at Microsoft about allowing Edge extensions.

Back when Windows 10 came out, Cortana opened Bing searches in your default browser. Someone made a Bing2Google extension for Chrome, and Microsoft responded by making Cortana only open Bing searches in Edge.

Now that Edge supports extensions, I can make a Bing2Google extension for Edge, but Microsoft will never accept it. If I make a Bing2Google userscript for Tampermonkey[1], Microsoft will probably take down Tampermonkey eventually once they learn about the userscript. There is already a very simple userscript available[2] that you can install right now to get this "banned" functionality in Edge.

Edge's extension ecosystem is a walled garden. When it comes to browsers, I prefer freedom over performance and efficiency. This is why I'm still not switching to Edge. I'll give Edge another chance if/when they open up their extension platform to everyone. For now, it's useless without Microsoft approval.

I use Tampermonkey for some userscripts on other sites and I don't feel comfortable relying on Microsoft's goodwill to not remove this extension.

[1]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/tampermonkey/9nblggh...

[2]: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/11308-bing-to-google/code

[BugsJustFindMe]

> Edge's extension ecosystem is a walled garden. When it comes to browsers, I prefer freedom over performance and efficiency. This is why I'm still not switching to Edge.

That's one reason, I guess. My reason for not using Edge is that Edge still, after all this time, can't save files from the internet. That's, like, the second thing that I expect a web browser to be able to do after looking at files from the internet.

( You can test this at home. Go to visit some arbitrary text file in Edge. Let's say https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Microsoft/vscode/master/LI... for example. Now save it. File menu? Nope. Ctrl+S? Nope. Right-click? Nope. )

[josteink]

> Someone made a Bing2Google extension for Chrome ... Edge's extension ecosystem is a walled garden. When it comes to browsers, I prefer freedom over performance and efficiency.

Maybe I'm reading your comment wrong, but to me it seems like 1. you use Google Chrome and 2. Google search.

If so, how are these not walled gardens? How do these promote freedom? I'm not sure I see how those are any better.

If I misread your comment and you use actual free software for browsing the internet (which leaves you at Firefox and seemingly only Firefox), please have me and my comment excused :)

[rehemiau]

Why would I need such "Bing2Google" extension if I can set Google as default search provider already?

[ocdtrekkie]

Let's not pretend Google Chrome is somehow less of a walled garden. You can only install extensions from their store, and yes, they've removed extensions for business reasons before.

[roryisok]

I doubt they'd kill tampermonkey for that. Switching their own app to use edge is a soft response, taking down a general extension because it might be used for that would be very hostile, and MS are not in the business of being openly hostile to developers of software for their platform

It's also worth pointing out they allowed an Evernote extension, even though its a direct competitor to OneNote

[awqrre]

I don't think that they care about tampermonkey/greasemonkey... a very small minority would be using it...

[nugget]

I am old enough to remember that Chrome didn't really take off until Google released an extension framework with many popularly supported extensions. There's likely a lot of room in the browser market for custom browsers curated and managed by trusted third parties but my sense is that a) given their history, people wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable having Microsoft fill that role and b) given their size, Microsoft wants Edge to compete directly with Chrome and Firefox for absolute majority market share, rather than chase single digit % niche markets (which would be a very exciting business for almost anyone else).

[mattkrea]

I find it odd you mention freedom but run Windows. Bit of a conflict there, no?

[flashman]

Microsoft (not being dependent on ad revenue) could make some big strides by incorporating UBlock into the browser and marketing Edge as "the internet, without ads."

'A faster browser' is why Internet Explorer lost users to Firefox and Chrome in the first place. Microsoft could still win that back.

[bobajeff]

In addition to all the points people brought up there is the problem of having a browser block ads without getting banned ("This site will not work with Edge") by the vast majority sites that rely on ads.

Edge doesn't have enough marketshare to deter retaliation and they are easy to detect because they are the only ones to use EdgeHTML so it would be hard to counteract that via spoofing.

[MichaelGG]

Microsoft seems to want to be in the ad business. Ads in Windows, ads all over the Xbox UI. Plus they probably want to think bing will sell ads?

Maybe if MS showed dedication to their hardware and actually cared about users they could pull it off...

[wjossey]

Bing search ads are actually a non-trivial amount of revenue for MSFT.

Older article but still valid in Q4 as well: http://marketingland.com/microsoft-reports-21-7b-revenue-201...

[Roritharr]

If they provided a faster alternative to Firefox on Android to get rid of ads without rooting or vpns, i'd install it instantly.

[matt4077]

Preinstalled ad-blocking would probably decimate what is left of quality media landscape within a few years. I'm quite happy if it requires at least a tiny bit of effort from the user. Some people simply don't mind ads, and we should all be grateful to them.

(I'm using uMatrix and try to allow all non-terrible ads on quality sites)

[mtgx]

If this didn't work 5 years ago with Ballmer, when he should've done exactly that instead of pushing the useless "Do Not Track" thing by default, then it's definitely not going to happen under Nadella, who is filling Windows 10 with all sorts of tracking and ads.

[griffinmichl]

Microsoft is the third biggest internet company in the world by ad revenue. Why would they ever do this?

[Mandatum]

I think security was also a big issue. Seems they've made some strides in that department, and now Chrome is the most targeted browser for 0-days. That'll change once Edge takes the remaining IE user market share and they do a Windows-10 style force-grade.

[Sylos]

The problem with that - and also the reason why for example Mozilla is for the most part not doing that either - is that it takes away pretty much all incentive for webpage developers to support your browser.

[vegabook]

intriguing idea. Especially if we could also get Edge on Linux and OSX. Personally I quite like Edge when I have to use it.

[Tempest1981]

Microsoft made it relatively easy to port your Chrome extensions to Edge. (Smart when you're playing catch-up): https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/platfor...

[wjossey]

What is your take on the morality / consequences of ad-blocking?

Having worked in the ad-industry for almost five years, I'm remarkably conflicted. Malware, duping users, and scams are a real issue on the modern web. However, blocking ads comes with significant consequences for businesses, as most users aren't willing to pay direct for content.

What's the alternative most feel comfortable with? Google contributor? Patreon? Something that I'm not aware of?

[cuddlybacon]

Nice. I've been using the version from off github. It works well, but it is annoying to have to confirm that you want to start it every time you start Edge.

Happy to see it in the store.

[slipstream-]

If you sideload it as an unpacked appx in developer mode rather than an unpacked extension it doesn't do this.

[ysleepy]

Same happens with Chrome, when I side-load my own chrome extension. It's really annoying.

I assume they just copied this behavior.

[cobalt]

Ooh finally. I've been using the github build for a while and Edge has this annoying design where any 'untrusted' (not from the store) extensions are disabled every time you (re)start the browser

[intrasight]

Not (yet) an Edge user, but as a UBlock Origin user, it's nice to know this will be there when I need it.

[roryisok]

Nice to see more extensions for Edge. I don't use it a lot, but when I do I'll be glad to not have ads.

[partiallypro]

Would really like to see Ghostery and Privacy Badger make their way to edge. I'm sure once they actually roll out extensions out of beta we'll get more. Supposedly porting is extremely easy from Chrome.

[bitmapbrother]

I like uBlock Origin, but I find that it breaks functionality on a lot of sites. Case in point, go to:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-A-9.7-Tablet-1...

With uBlock Origin the "Customers also considered" section is hidden and the Read More link doesn't work. But they show up and work in Adblock Plus just fine.

[gorhill]

I updated the neutered script from googletagservices.com, I found the site was throwing an error because of a missing method in uBO's neutered version of the script. Not sure whether it's a new method or whether I missed it when I created the neutered script.

There is no filter in EasyList or EasyPrivacy for googletagservices.com (hence it worked fine with ABP), it's something I added to "uBlock filters - Privacy" a long while ago, and created a neutered script to replace the real one to minimize web page breakage.

If you want uBO to behave just like ABP blocking-wise, just select the same exact filter lists -- though I strongly advise you at least keep "uBlock filters" for best results.

For reference, ABP comes with only EasyList enabled by default + a regional list if applicable. Privacy-wise though, you lose a lot by not using EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe's and other uBO's own filter lists. See this graph[1]: second bar is when only using EasyList + "uBlock filters". Third bar is uBO's default list/settings.

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode

[dEnigma]

Are you sure it's not one of your other extensions? It works fine with Firefox Nightly and uBlock Origin on Windows 10.

[ChrisClark]

I went to check, you're right, on my Chrome 55, Windows 10 and uBlock 1.10.0.

[aembleton]

Yep, that's broken on Firefox 50.0.2 on Linux Mint 17.3

[xeromal]

Worked for me.

Chrome 55 and UBlock 1.10

[free2rhyme214]

uBlock Origin uses less resources than AdBlock Plus, so it's not an issue for me.

[gnuarch]

Love to see uBlock Origin for Microsoft Edge on Windows Mobile.

[gressquel]

I may actually give Edge another try. Wish they would have chrome like developer tools, I would be sold!

[joe563323]

Why not just use firefox or chrome ?. What is that firefox does not offer that edge offers ?

[SnowingXIV]

Awesome, one of my bosses has been wanting adblocking for awhile but loves using Edge and wouldn't switch to Chrome like I've advised. He's going to be pretty happy knowing he can have the "best of both worlds."

[shaunol]

It is unfortunate that you are required to use the MS Store (sign-up required) to install Edge extensions. This is not a requirement of the base browser application itself. Chrome doesn't force you to sign-in to install extensions, why does Edge?

[MikusR]

I just tested on Windows 10 Home. You don't need to sign-in to install extensions.

[pawadu]

This is actually a good thing. It means Microsoft have the means to remove badly behaving extensions.

And no, you don't need to sign in (on PC, on mobile you cant event start the phone without signing in)

[chrisper]

I'd love to switch to Edge, but my only problem is that you can't synchronize your history, settings, etc. without having to convert the whole account to an MS account.

[cm2187]

Does anyone know if uBlock origin will be ported to iOS?

[mindful_dev]

Chrome for iOS doesn't support extensions, Firefox for iOS doesn't support extensions, and iOS Safari supports Content Blocker extensions, which is a very different API from how uBlock Origin currently functions on the desktop.

A simple port has nowhere to go on iOS right now. (Though there are rumblings that Firefox might introduce some sort of add-on support for their iOS browser in the future.)

[anotheryou]

As a web developer I really hate that someone makes edge bearable :)

No sprinkles on that turd please!

[ryuuchin]

Now if only I could use extensions in private browsing mode...