[German]In this article I would like to summarize some information about the Chromium Edge and the Chrome Browser under Office 365 Pro Plus, which I've seen within the last hours. For example, Microsoft wants to force Bing search in the Chrome browser for Office 365 Pro Plus and may plan to advertise in the Edge browser. Addendum: Microsoft has explained the Bing search thing.
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Roll out Edge Browser via Intune
For corporate environments, Microsoft has created the ability for administrators to roll out the new Chromium Edge browser to clients using Intune's management tool.
Ready to pilot Microsoft Edge in your organization?
The new Microsoft Edge is available for deployment today directly from Intune: https://t.co/umfjcwwhVV
Use something else? That's cool – the MSIs are here for you to load into another deployment tool: https://t.co/QFXoUqRCD3
— Chris Jackson (@appcompatguy) January 20, 2020
The above tweet from Chris Jackson points this out and provides a link to the Microsoft document Add Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 to Microsoft Intune , where you can find more information.
Is Microsoft planning advertising in Edge?
A few hours ago, I was confronted on Twitter with the question whether or not Microsoft was showing ads in the Chromium Edge. The following Tweet shows a screenshot:
@etguenni Schon bekannt, dass MS nun Edge Chrome Werbung schaltet? Auch in Domänen mit WSUS. pic.twitter.com/EaR1e8xtfN
— Tobi van de Berg (@webtapete) January 22, 2020
Advertising
The German user asks me, if I know that Microsoft intends to display ads in Chromium Edge, even in domains with WSUS.
Microsoft forces soon Bing search in Chrome
In the following tweet, Catalin Cimpanu points out that Microsoft wants to force the installation of the Bing search extension in Chrome for Office 365 ProPlus customers.
This is going exactly as you'd expect pic.twitter.com/Kv8HdwokPM
— Catalin Cimpanu (@campuscodi) January 22, 2020
The extension changes the default search engine in Google's Chrome browser to Bing and is scheduled to be available for Germany from mid February 2020. The lower part of the tweet reflects user reactions in the feedback hub, where people are not amused.
The whole thing comes with the update for Office 365 ProPlus to the 2002 version. The first machines are due in February, the broad rollout will be in March 2020, writes Catalin Cimpanu in this ZDNet article. This step is officially announced in this support document Microsoft Search in Bing and Office 365 ProPlus dated January 17, 2020.
Starting with Version 2002 of Office 365 ProPlus, an extension for Microsoft Search in Bing will be installed that makes Bing the default search engine for the Google Chrome web browser. This extension will be installed with new installations of Office 365 ProPlus or when existing installations of Office 365 ProPlus are updated. If Bing is already the default search engine, the extension doesn't get installed.
By making Bing the default search engine, users in your organization with Google Chrome will be able to take advantage of Microsoft Search, including being able to access relevant workplace information directly from the browser address bar. Microsoft Search is part of Microsoft 365 and is turned on by default for all Microsoft apps that support it.
However, administrators in companies have the option of preventing the extension from being installed via Office Deployment Tool. The details can be found in this support article.
Addendum: Martin Geuß noticed, that Microsoft has published this blog post, addressing this topic in Office 365 Pro Plus. The posted this screenshot.
The first time you open the Chrome browser after installing the extension, the above dialog box appears. The user then has the option to decide whether to switch from Google to Bing as search provider.
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