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Microsoft to Force Web Links Shared in Teams to Open with Microsoft Edge (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Just got this right before midnight in my MS Admin app alerts. If you dont configure the policy, in September it defaults to opening web links in Edge regardless of OS default browser setting.

I woke up this morning to One Drive doing its usual thing being HOT GARBAGE, now I'm going to bed with Teams becoming HOT GARBAGE.

Full Excerpt:

Web links from Microsoft Teams chats to open in Microsoft Edge; Teams chat will open side-by-side with link

MC669480

Plan for change

Published date: August 21, 2023

Affected services

Microsoft Teams

Tag

MAJOR UPDATEADMIN IMPACTNEW FEATUREUSER IMPACT

The Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows will open web links from Teams chats in Microsoft Edge to enable a new web and chat side-by-side experience.

By opening web links in Edge, users will be able to see those links side-by-side with their Teams chats—web links will open as new browser tabs and the Teams chats will open next to them in the Edge sidebar. This new, single-view Teams experience in Edge is designed to minimize switching between windows and to help users stay in the flow of work while referencing web links.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 126334.

This change to use Edge to open web links from Teams chats follows a similar, previously announced change in the Outlook for Windows app. Customers impacted by this change in Outlook were notified via MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092.

Admin controls are available as detailed below.

Read more about how we’re optimizing the experience between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/02/16/discover-new-ways-to-multitask-with-microsoft-365-and-edge/

What's New in Teams | Microsoft Inspire 2023 Notes:

This change does not affect a device’s default browser setting in Windows.

This only affects commercial users signed into Teams with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) accounts.

The policy described in the following section configures which browser is used to open web links for both Teams (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email), or, if you did not receive an Outlook for Windows app Message center notification, this policy will only apply to Teams (chat).

When will this affect your organization:

Timing:

Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows: This change will start rolling out late September.

Outlook for Windows: Roll out in progress. If this change affects your users, you will have received either MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092, and can refer to them for specific timing.

Note: Depending on your Outlook for Windows update channel, you may experience the change in Teams first. Action:

Use the Choose which browser opens web links policy to configure which browser will be used to open web links and to set whether users will be able to make changes to which browser opens web links in both the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email).

If you did not receive a message center notification for the Outlook for Windows app (email), then the setting only applies to Teams (chat).

If you did receive a message center notification for the Outlook for Windows app (email), then the setting applies to both Teams (chat) and Outlook for Windows app (email). You will not be able to manage each app individually using this policy. If you’ve previously configured this policy for the Outlook for Windows app and wish to maintain that configuration, no action is required.

Note: There are no Microsoft 365 subscription restrictions in using this policy to configure which browser opens web links in Teams.

Use of the policy to manage the change in the Outlook for Windows app depends on your Microsoft 365 subscription. If you received the Outlook for Windows app Message center notification, please refer to MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092 for details on whether configuring this policy will apply.

If you have not configured the policy, or wish to change it, find the details below. How this will affect your organization:

Links from Teams chats will open based on the browser configuration in the Choose which browser opens web links policy. If no configuration is selected using the Choose which browser opens web links policy, web links from Teams chats will open in Microsoft Edge.

Only links set to open via a web browser are affected. Links that are set to open in a client app or within Teams itself will continue to do so. User experiences will vary by policy configuration; please see the next section.

You can manage this experience at any time. What you need to do to prepare:

If you’ve previously configured this policy for the Outlook for Windows app and wish to maintain that configuration, no action is required.

Use the Choose which browser opens web links policy to configure which default browser will be used to open web links and to set whether users will be able to manage which browser opens web links in both Teams (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email). You will not be able to manage each app individually using this policy.

The Choose which browser opens web links policy is available using the Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365 (formerly the Office Cloud Policy Service) or as part of the Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365 Apps.

Enabled: Configures which browser opens web links from the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email):

Microsoft Edge

Web links will open side-by-side with users’ chat or email in Edge.

Default browser

Users will not be able to change this from the respective apps’ settings menus.

Disabled/Unconfigured: Web links from the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email) will open in Microsoft Edge.

Web links will open side-by-side with users’ chat or email in Edge.

Users can manage the browser change: Via the in-product notifications explaining the side-by-side experience.

At any time via the Teams settings menu: Settings > Files and links > Link open preferences

Note: If you want to manage this change for your entire organization so that Teams only opens web links using the device’s system default browser, you will need to configure the policy to Enabled and select Default browser.

Additional Information

Read more about how we’re optimizing the experience between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge with this feature in our blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/02/16/discover-new-ways-to-multitask-with-microsoft-365-and-edge/

We always value feedback and questions from our customers. Please feel free to submit either feedback or questions via Message Center.

all 37 comments

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A browser so good they have to force their captive audience to use it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's like the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft 22 years ago. They are still trying to push their browser.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The thing is, it's actually decent. I don't know why they have to keep doing this. I used Edge as the main browser on my Surface Go to get a bit more battery life, and it's fine as my second browser; feels like someone is desperately trying to meet their KPIs to keep on pulling shit like this. Parts of the browser are getting worse too, that sidebar is a complete mess at default.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You are probably right, but the more they keeping pushing me to use Edge, the more I don’t want to use it. My experience of it is mostly negative, as a hindrance that gets in my way with its constant nagging, and having to disable it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally, I don't care how good it is, I refuse to use a Chromium-based browser and insist on supporting its only serious competitor: Firefox.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is pretty much me. I've never spent any significant amount of time with edge. I don't really see the point in trying multiple chromium-based browsers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Microsoft got screwed by antitrust officials for only putting it's browsers in new windows installs 20 years ago. Antitrust enforcement is a fucking joke in this country now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ironically, the larger market share of macOS (compared to back then), mobile platforms, and the fact that Chrome is now the #1 browser means there's a much weaker case for there being a monopoly now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Deja vu anyone?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is basically what all those reddit clients did on phones, now coming for us to enjoy on desktop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Could be referring to 90s Microsoft/Netscape history https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/xscreensaver-windows.html

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't Microsoft lose a large anti trust court case about this shit for internet explorer? So we're just going the same route again because fuck the law and fuck our customers?

In any case, I am forced to use teams and since I run Linux I use it in chrome as the teams executable is just non workable.

Besides that, who in their right mond used teams? It's a bit of a rhetorical question, my org uses it (for the moment, still) and it is godawful.

Teams on browsers is a fucking joke. Want gasp two tabs open with chats? Oh nononononon, Can't have that! We'll helpfully display an all page hiding modal asking you "are you still here?" on one of these tabs (almost always, but in typical Microsoft fashion, not always always) and if you click "I'm back" we'll helpfully reload that page. Since many pages don't have their unique URL, as they should because that is how the internet works, the reload just kicks you out of what you were doing... Were you in an important meeting? Well now you're not anymore with mo way to get back unless maybe your boss tries to add you back himself.

Camera randomly just disappears, when you go into a preplanned call sometimes half the people end up in different chats, ahw whatever. I have a long, LONG list of other bugs and not enough energy to write it all down again

People should NOT use teams and should NOT use any Microsoft software, it's all shit. I use Linux for servers and its all fast and easy. i use Linux for desktop and I never have to deal with any of the Microsoft shit

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't Microsoft lose a large anti trust court case about this shit for internet explorer?

Yes and no.

MS made Internet explorer uninstallable and made it even if you could install Netscape you couldn't set it as the default app. Forcing teams to open ~~internet explorer~~ edge is more in line with iPhones and Android. Both phone OSs will let you install different browsers, but opening links from most 1st party apps opens safari or chrome with no real way to change it. It's one of the worst things about phones and now MS is trying to move Windows that direction.

It's going to get worse. Once corporations start to adopt edge MS will move to make browser office the only office. Clicking a .doc in edge will redirect to browser word 365. Saving already defaults to the cloud, soon we'll have "virtual downloads" that save your download to your cloud and you can only meaningfully interact with it via edge.

We need more legislation and regulations allowing software choice for all platforms. We've never been allowed to own software, now we can't even buy a perpetual license. Soon we won't be allowed to have a copy of software saved on our devices, and files made by that software won't be allowed on our computers either.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you know what's funny though?

My company for the moment still uses teams. I'll get that fixed soon. But while using teams, teams runs in chrome on my Linux box. That still works because good luck fucking around with that in Linux Ms... So this is not a technical requirement, it's a corporate and marketing requirement.

Fuck Microsoft, switch to Linux

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fuck Microsoft, switch to Linux

Absolutely. But I wouldn't hold my breath on companies actually stopping use of MS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

We'll see

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh what a surprise! You know what's funny, is one time i compiled an app with pyinstaller but used the encrypted flag and some ip address from WA and microsoft were loading my executable all the time.... Not just visiting the download site, but running the actual EXE in some kind of automatic way I assume.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sounds like Microsoft Defender/other AV sandbox running it to check for malware, Ive seen it happen in the wild in a similar fashion. A client was running software with phone home licensing and the vendor auto disabled the license after AV sandbox runs touched their license server from the sandbox IPs. I think Quark also had that issue for another ckient, but that was almost a decade ago.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So glad I don't have to use Windows at work

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get to use a Mac for work. But they still require me to use Chrome, so...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Mac is the same. Linux is the only non bloated OS

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Any reason to not being using edge? Better performance than the other two, with more features

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

With every update Edge gets more and more useless features to sell their own services. Edge is an advertising platform for MS more than anything else.

Firefox on the other hand.. I just install and be done with it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's what happens to people using Windows and other Microsoft products.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Like you have a choice in 98% of workplaces.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At least in Sweden tech, it's fine to use Linux it seems. I haven't been blocked from it. But the company may not have official support for it, so you have to know how to set up vpn etc.

It's all habitual. Companies employees normally don't require windows for anything they do. I run outlook in the web browser, same with teams... Etc.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I, for one, welcome this. I have edge for everything work-logging related and Firefox for other sfw stuff (search for info for my work and occasional yt/reddit).

This will make it a bit easier, but I guess I'm a special case.

Edit: just to be clear, I'm not happy it's mandated, but it just happens to do something I will use in my windows work machine. I don't use teams, edge or windows 11 otherwise

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Teams should open links in the default browser, that's why windows give you the option to set one. If that's Edge for you, great. But others shouldn't have to suffer under MS' shitty decision making process.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Well, that's the feedback for Microsoft. Me being ok for my work flow doesn't change anything for you. If you don't like what MS does, fight them by not using them. I'm already doing my part, I don't use MS products unless I'm paid to do so.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

It seems so :)

I think Edge isnt all that bad. But for most its just this whole idea of beeing forced to use it, i think :)

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't have Microsoft edge on my Linux system. :)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Teams on Linux is already broken af, we won't even notice we can't open links

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I believe I read somewhere that they have abandoned the desktop app on Linux. Yep:

!In September 2022, Microsoft announced that they'd be retiring their Linux Teams client in December 2022 in favour of a new “Progressive Web Application” (PWA) version of Teams.!<

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

No I'm OK with it, whatever. It's worth it big time to not run windows. :)