Windows Pins Services to Favor Edge

Platform vendors can embed their own apps and shortcuts (taskbar search, pinned assistants, hardware keys) in the OS so links and user attention are routed back to first‑party services even when users choose alternatives. That practice quietly reduces real competition by denying rival apps the chance to handle actions at the system level. — If operating systems routinely steer default behaviors toward their own services, regulators, antitrust enforcers, and consumer advocates need to address a new class of anti‑competitive design tactics that occur below the application layer.