In order to comply with the requirements of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Windows 10 and 11 users in Europe will soon be able to completely uninstall the Edge browser and Bing’s Internet search. In addition, in the future it will also be possible to completely remove the Camera, Cortana and Photos applications, and not just in Europe. Microsoft has now announced this and made the changes visible in a preview for versions 22H2 (Windows 10) and 23H2 (Windows 11). The US company announces that the final updates should come to all computers with one of the two operating systems by March 6, 2024. The DMA also requires this date.
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First partial rejection of announced changes
The announcement makes it clearer what specific consequences the EU Digital Markets Regulation will have. This has been in force for a year, but sets the target for the implementation of the changes specified in it next March. The DMA is intended to put an end to unfair practices by corporations that act as so-called gatekeepers in digital markets, including, for example, exploiting the distribution of the operating system in order to favor other proprietary services. Because the regulation also applies beyond the 27 EU member states to the EEA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, Microsoft is implementing the measures everywhere. In the future, you will not only be able to remove Bing from the operating system, but also add your own provider. Google, for example, could benefit from this – if they are interested in developing an integrated search.
Alternative search providers for Internet searches and the complete uninstallation of Edge will only be possible on computers where the location is specified as a country from the European Economic Area (EEA). This can only be selected during the initial installation, explains Microsoft; a subsequent change is only possible by completely resetting the PC. This should prevent users in the rest of the world from changing their selected region en masse in order to benefit from the additional options for customizing their operating system. Only in the EEA is the option not to share the Microsoft account with Microsoft so that it can be accessed from other devices.
It was only at the end of August that Microsoft announced that Windows 11 in the EEA states will in future open all links with the standard browser and will no longer partially use Microsoft’s Edge. However, the US company has apparently already refrained from doing so, the blog entry now suggests. It says that apps on Windows will still be able to use an alternative to the default browser when opening websites. “Some Microsoft applications” – such as Internet searches with Bing – would therefore continue to use the Edge browser in Europe to display content from the Internet.
(mho)