WHY am I being FORCED to deal with Microsoft edge?

Your entitled to your opinion but the fact is there are hundreds of thousands, if not more, and the vast majority appear to be perfectly happy with Edge Chromium. While you may not be able to uninstall Edge Chromium there is nothing stopping you from using any other browser you choose.

I hope this helps and if you need any further assistance please post and we will be glad to assist you.

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." John Muir

Things like this drive, if not force, people away from using M/soft Edge. The very reasons I won't use their browser, and have never done so since pre-Windows 7, when they tried forcing it onto users back then, with constant barrage of notifications when online. That decided it for me and I've used other browsers since, and not one that likes to mine personal information without permissions. I deleted it recently and now it's been installed [again!] and I'm now having to do the same work to delete it all. 

I don't want it, [forced or not] and don't need it either, you're entitled to your opinion, but the fact remains this is a forced update.

https://9to5google.com/2020/07/02/microsoft-edge-windows-startup-takeover/

"When it first launched, Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser seemed like an excellent alternative to Chrome that millions could enjoy. However, in the past few weeks, there have been some negative aspects of Microsoft Edge revealed, and the one people are the most frustrated with is how it takes over their entire computer upon startup....

...Here’s what happens. A normal Windows update is downloaded by your device, and upon a reboot, everything looks as normal. Seconds after logging in, though, a full-screen pop-up takes over your device to “introduce” you to the new Microsoft Edge. It goes through a basic setup, prompts you to import your data from another browser — and does so in the background without asking. It does all of this with absolutely no warning, and more annoyingly, no obvious way to stop it.

Adding to it all, Microsoft also pins Edge to your taskbar (in the first slot too!) after this startup process as well as dropping the icon on your desktop...."

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-edge-is-reportedly-stealing-data-from-firefox/

"Love rebooting my computer to get treated to a forced tour of a browser I'm not going to use that I have to force close through the task manager to escape, and then finding out it's been copying over my data from Firefox without permission," a user report reads on Reddit (via Softpedia). Another user responded to the thread:

Yeah, I did not authorize Edge to copy my firefox / chrome data at any point. I've jumped through a lot of hoops in the attempt to maintain some level of privacy with this OS. Finally, it just takes my data without giving me the choice to opt out.

So basically they're putting out a reworked browser, and one that failed miserably too, and forcing their version of Chrome onto users without permission. Why should I want this when I already have a browser that does exactly what I want and doesn't get forced onto me, let alone mine my details?

Edit: To cap it all, there's a prompt at the top of this web page to download and install the same thing! It's invasive and pervasive to boot!

Microsoft can rightly go **** themselves for this update. Even now, as I pressed "reply" the website took me to some damn frontpage and PUSHED a "download Edge now!" thing at me. **** OFF MICROSOFT. Truly, I've not hated a company more in a given moment than this. **** OFF.

Add this registry key

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]

"DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium"=dword:00000001

You eat with that mouth

This is insane. I woke up, turned my pc on and see that while my computer updated Microsoft sneakily installed a new version of edge. The icing on the cake, however, is that my system's screen was commandeered by an unclosable presentation forcing me to watch a slow and meticulous explanation of all of the changes you've made to my system that I never asked for and want nothing to do with.

This behavior is doing the opposite of what your company wants to happen. These forceful tactics do not make anyone want to use your service and immediately make you a nuisance and enemy to the user. It's as if you as a company feel your users are going to be too stupid to notice this change or too lazy to go back to using their original browser and just passively accept the changes you've made. We're not cattle. We make our own decisions. 

So here I am, taking up my time and energy trying to change things BACK to the way I had them, on the computer I pay a lot of money to own and maintain.

I Agree, the more I'm pushed the more I don't want it or will even give it a chance. Only positive reviews from real people will do that for me. Another peeve is using Microsoft Bing and getting popups to try Edge with the only options of "try it now" or "maybe later". How about "don't show me this again!"