[German]Microsoft's bullying of users is going into the next round. Redmond wants to open web links in the Outlook for Windows app and in Microsoft Teams in the Edge browser by default. And this is to be independent of the user defaults that are set in the Windows settings for the default browser. What was already the case with Microsoft 365 Personal or a Family subscription is now said to be coming to Microsoft 365 enterprise customers.
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Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge (the goose browser) is, in my observation, mostly good for negative headlines. At the end of 2021, in the post WWindows 11: Microsoft enforces Edge browser in several protocols, bricks EdgeDeflector, I had reported that Microsoft was forcing the Edge browser to be the default in logs on Windows 11. This makes redirection to third-party browsers impossible. There was then a free helper app called EdgeDeflector that was supposed to fix this. But it was also torpedoed by Microsoft.
Now there's a new "move" a la Microsoft sucks, as I read at The Register. Microsoft has admittedly blown a lot of "white smoke" in the air, regarding "users should retain control over what happens on their Windows systems." But what does yesterday's chatter matter?
Edge as standard …
Back in February 2022, there was this article from Microsoft about how customers with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription can open browser links from the Outlook app in Microsoft Edge right next to the email. Was explained as "convenience", customer doesn't have to worry about anything, Microsoft does then times. As they say, "no annoying switching". Customers who use another browser, of course, look into the tube.
At the time, it was said that users in managed environments (companies) were not affected. However, there was a threat that in the future links from Microsoft Teams messages would also be opened in Microsoft Edge so that users could participate in conversations while surfing the web.
… behavior is also coming for enterprise customers
This is now expected to roll out to enterprise environments for users with Azure Active Directory (AAD) accounts and Microsoft (MSA) accounts in the coming weeks. The support document Stay in your flow with Microsoft 365 on Microsoft Edge says that links from the Outlook app will open in Edge. Business customers are now also confronted with this change – this is probably communicated for affected customers in the Admin Center of Microsoft 365 under MCS48092 (see the following screenshot). On reddit.com there is this post about it.
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However, administrators can disable these defaults via policies and specify which browser opens the links in the "Select which browser opens web links" policy. According to The Register, the cloud policy service for Microsoft 365 or the management templates for Microsoft 365 Apps should be used to configure this. Locally, the group policy would need to be configured via ADMX template under, for example.
Users/Administrative Templates/Microsoft Office 2016/
can be found. For organizations with a Microsoft 365 for Business plan (<300 workstations), admins apparently need to manage these settings individually, according to The Register. A user prompt is also expected to appear for Outlook for iOS and Android over the next month, requiring users to choose which browser to open.
The Register quotes a Microsoft spokesperson as saying that the new Outlook behavior is "being rolled out slowly so the company can gather feedback." It said enterprise customers will receive a notification when the change is due in Outlook for Windows. The change will then occur no earlier than 30 days after that notification. I don't know how administrators feel about Microsoft's bullying, but I think it's time for the competition authorities to take a look.
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No. Stop it Microsoft. Just stop all this. If I want to use Edge I will, but until it stops being a data leeching ad stuffed cesspool, I will not. And also, companies have policies about browsers among many other things. You clearly don't care. Nice work pissing off admins, again.
Microsoft is a huge software monopoly and urgently needs controlling and even breaking up. The EU has the power to curb Microsoft's bullying. This however leaves the UK out in the cold and powerless thanks to stupid Brexiters who are totally lacking in knowledge and anticipation. I voted to Remain in the EU (shrug).