Windows has a history of carrying over user settings like that since the DOS times. You can literally upgrade from DOS through every version of Windows and end up with the same desktop background/widget colors/etc.
I'm obviously biased because I work on a browser (specifically a browser that isn't made by Microsoft), but to me this is clearly about trying to capture the users who stopped using IE over the years.
>to me this is clearly about trying to capture the users who stopped using IE over the years.
But those users never used Edge ;) A cynical person could say preserving the previous choice is just Firefox's fear that once a user tests the new Microsoft browser they won't jump back to Firefox.
It also shows that Firefox doesn't have the greatest opinion of their users if it thinks all it takes for them to stop using Firefox is for it to require twice the number of mouse clicks to set it to default.
Having just installed windows 10: disabling the browser change is well hidden. There's no customize "button" or link, there's a bit of text with no decoration or underline that's lighter and appears greyed out that says "customize" on a screen filled with text. The chances of a user discovering this unless they're actively hunting for this (like I was) are close to zero.
Some will like Firefox enough to change back. Some won't. But why should they have to?
I got really sick of Microsoft trying to force me to do what they wanted back in the 1990s. In the 2000s, they seemed to change for the better. (Maybe that was due to the antitrust settlement.) Now here they are back to their old ways.
I'm obviously biased because I work on a browser (specifically a browser that isn't made by Microsoft), but to me this is clearly about trying to capture the users who stopped using IE over the years.