The world’s most unpopular internet browser now comes with opt-in Super Stalking. Microsoft wants people to use its Edge browser so badly it will even pay people to use it.
Windows 10 and Edge users can earn credits that can be spent in the Microsoft online store on things like three months of advertisement-free Outlook and Amazon cards. But – Microsoft won’t let you just run Edge and cash in: they will monitor the user’s mouse and keyboard movements for “active use” of the browser. If you’re busy enough, Redmond will hand over credits, soon to be renamed points under a program detailed here.
It will take about 1,000 Bing searches and about 19 days to earn about $5 which you can put towards a Starbucks coffee. Microsoft will offer additional credits to users who click things like training videos, MSN videos on how to make s’mores, and other Microsoft promotional content.
The new effort involves the renaming of Bing Rewards to Microsoft Rewards, and expanding it to cover Edge. Under the change, users who sign up before the pending switch from Bing Rewards to Microsoft Rewards will be promoted to level two, a title that can only be maintained by searching enough every day to earn that Starbucks coffee. Level two users get access to “exclusive offers” and get 10 per cent off certain Microsoft offerings.
As Internet browsers go, Google’s Chrome is the uncontested champion of the web browsing wars, with some 51.04% of the market, according to NetMarketShare. The analyst site places Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in second place with 21.76% , Safari with 11.12%, Firefox with 6% and Edge lagging behind them all at a dismal 3.91%. ‘Other’ web browsers account for 6.18% of the total.
For additional information: Get rewarded faster by browsing with Microsoft Edge. Earn points for every hour of active browsing with Microsoft Edge – up to 30 hours a month.
