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You could spend your earnings on XBOX games or PC accessories
If you're one of the 3 billion worldwide who use Google Chrome, Microsoft wants to change your mind. And it's willing to spend some cash to convince you to make the switch. Yes, it's true – if you become an evangelist for Microsoft Edge, you could earn a free subscription to XBOX Game Pass, new apps for Windows 11, Surface Laptops, or more.
The Redmond-based firm has launched a new initiative that rewards you with points when you invite friends or family to try Microsoft Edge via a referral link. Each successful invite earns you 500 Rewards points, and you can earn up to 7,500 points per month, Windows Latest reports. You can accumulate up to 90,000 points in a year.
There are a few conditions. First up, the person you refer must be a first-time Edge user on mobile — either iPhone or Android. Next, they'll need to sign-in and start a web search on two separate days within the first fortnight of joining. When they meet those conditions, both of you will receive the rewards.
Microsoft typically charges around 12,000 – 14,000 points for a one-month subscription to XBOX Game Pass, which is a Netflix-like streaming service for video games, offering a rotating catalogue of titles like Call of Duty, Minecraft, Halo, Forza, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Fallout, and Gears of War, to name just a few.
The exact amount for the one-month subscription depends on your region.
You can also buy accessories — like XBOX wireless controllers — or anything else from the Microsoft Store, including its Surface Laptops and desktop PCs, which recently underwent a price hike in the UK.
If you're based in the United States, there's a chance to win a $2 million prize draw.
This isn't the only initiative launched by Microsoft to drive up interest in its Microsoft Edge. The US company created a standalone utility for Windows 11 called Microsoft Recommended Search Settings. It exists solely to install the Bing extensions in rival web browsers, like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Bing is the rival search engine owned and operated by Microsoft, which adds ChatGPT-like smarts to searches.
The roughly 22MB installer suggests setting Bing as your search engine, with the option already ticked. When Chrome detects what's happening, it immediately offers to revert to Google. Microsoft then counters with a warning that switching away will disable the Bing extension.
For a little while, your web browser becomes a tiny corporate battleground.
There's nothing wrong with Microsoft wanting more people to try Bing. You can still switch your search provider whenever you like, and Bing offers plenty of genuine features that work well for many people.
The question is whether building an entire application just to nudge Bing into browsers you've already set up represents a step too far. It feels like considerable effort devoted to solving a problem you never asked Microsoft to fix.
When you've deliberately chosen Chrome or Firefox and configured them to your liking, Microsoft's persistent attempts to change those settings start to seem a bit much. The company clearly wants Bing on every device you own, but whether that's what you actually want is another matter entirely.
