The new Outlook does not escape criticism. At the end of last year it became known that it not only transfers its users’ emails, but also IMAP and SMTP access data associated with their email accounts to the Microsoft cloud.
Well posted Reddit user Happymemersunite in the area “Asshole design” a screenshot with an error message in which the text “The new Outlook for Windows needs Microsoft Edge to be installed” you can see (“The new Outlook for Windows requires Microsoft Edge to be installed”).
As the Reddit community explained shortly afterwards, the new Outlook does not need Edge itself, but rather its runtime environment Webview2. This also applies to the new team.
Soon to be uninstalled separately
This would mean that users in the EU would soon be able to uninstall Edge the official way, but keep the Webview2 component. Both are listed separately in Windows Settings. The uninstall button for Edge is currently grayed out.
Microsoft has already integrated the option to uninstall the Edge browser in Windows 10 with the update KB5032278 and in Windows 11 with the update KB5032288. However, both functions are not yet activated. Microsoft should make up for this at the latest with the upcoming Moment 5 update.
Mozilla recently published a report on Dark Patterns (g+), which Microsoft wants to use to get users to use the Edge browser.