I think this is already happening, to a lesser degree, in recent versions of Windows 10. Every so often, I get a notice asking me if I want to make Edge my default browser. It isn't quite "opt out," but users who weren't careful could easily find themselves switching to Edge without meaning to do so.

It sounds a little like desperation by Microsoft, imho. Many people are just not going to spend time selecting each default type.

I also wonder how this might sit with the authorities.

Seems they have already forgotten the EU competition penalty for this. It's time to go for an other penalty.

Like EG I get an occasional reminder which happens after every update which seem to have been quite a few recently.

What annoys me with MS though is that Edge is / was very good on their Lumia phones that still work perfectly yet I cannot use since neither Signal nor WhatsApp support the OS. My industry uses both these, and Telegram, intensively.

I once read that MS stopped supporting 10 mobile since 85% of users never updated their OS! Is there any truth in that story?

I hate it when things "not broke" get fixed ... for whatever reason.

Confusion follows, with frustration not far behind.

Any wonder why some folks opt out of routine updates that keep changing what they know and love?