this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2023
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451
The EU will finally free Windows users from Bing (www.theverge.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

All of these Windows 11 changes are part of key tweaks that Microsoft has to make to its operating system to comply with the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, which comes into effect in March 2024.

Alongside clearly marking which apps are system components in Windows 11, Microsoft is also responding by adding the ability to uninstall the following apps:

  • Camera
  • Cortana (already removable and thrown in the trash)
  • Web Search from Microsoft Bing, in the EEA
  • Microsoft Edge, in the EEA
  • Photos

Only Windows 11 users in the EEA will be able to fully remove Microsoft Edge and the Bing-powered web search from Windows Search. Microsoft could easily extend this to all Windows 11 users, but it’s limiting this extra functionality to EEA markets to comply with the rules. “Windows uses the region chosen by the customer during device setup to identify if the PC is in the EEA,”

Microsoft will allow EEA machines to remove the Bing results, so Google could provide its own search results here and effectively become the default if a user has uninstalled Bing. “If the user has more than one search provider installed, Windows Search will show the last one used when opened,”

So possibly search engines like ddgo and others may be able to develop an integration to be able to be used in the windows search menu.

But no nice things for outside the EEA.

Now I hope that when uninstalling edge, it won't auto reinstall back like the f piece of s omen software which installs itself because I have an hp display.

Also what would happen if a user, who has no idea what they are doing, uninstalls edge without having another browser available?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They are. Chrome will have to be optional on Android.

Microsoft is being very pro-active by acting on this in November when the regulation stipulates a March deadline. I'd expect most gatekeepers to be well on the way towards that March deadline by now but they'll start actually shipping that work around February.