Microsoft is forcing Outlook and Teams to open links in Edge, and IT admins are angry
www.theverge.com
Microsoft is ignoring browser choice again

Current-era Microsoft continuing to push the boundaries of consent.

Microsoft Edge is a good browser but for some reason Microsoft keeps trying to shove it down everyone’s throat and make it more difficult to use rivals like Chrome or Firefox. Microsoft has now started notifying IT admins that it will force Outlook and Teams to ignore the default web browser on Windows and open links in Microsoft Edge instead.

  • FergleFFergleson@infosec.pubEnglish
    4·
    2 years ago

    “continuing to push the boundaries of consent.”

    If by “push the boundaries” you meant “completely ignore them”, then yes. This kind of behavior from MS, or any vendor, should always be considered strictly unacceptable.

    • Pechente@feddit.deEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      This kind of behavior from MS, or any vendor, should always be considered strictly unacceptable.

      Yep but especially from MS since their OS is just so incredibly widespread that they pretty much have a monopoly that they abuse.

  • Clutch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Ran into this about two weeks ago. It can be turned off.

    Here’s the setting to change. It’s under File -> Options -> Advanced

    • TheAussie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      God I hate Windows and their dance with monopolistic behaviour. They’ll bring out a “feature” that changes how a program works so you have to change it back, in the hopes that most people don’t do it. They keep doing it with browsers because they siphon away enough users each time that it’s worth it for them.

      Windows should have a default browser choice in settings, and any program you use should automatically use it no matter what, unless you physically change it yourself. It shouldn’t even be possible for them to do. I really need to learn how to use Linux. I’ve got a spare SSD. Fuck it

      • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        It’s not that hard to use and it’s worth the transition. Gaming on Linux is pretty reasonable at this point, most stuff is in the browser or has a Linux app now too.

      • MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Linux is not even difficult to use and there is no telemetry slowing down the hardware you paid for and feeding some greedy org with your user data. Ubuntu desktop is perfectly fine as a daily driver as long as you don’t use it for gaming or windows apps through Wine. Thats when it becomes more complicated and error prone.

        • TenSlot85@lemmy.mlEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Gaming works surprisingly well. The last few years have made it a one-click affair for thousands of games with the efforts of the Proton team.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Even then, with the effort Steam has put in, there is a lot more support for games on Linux, one way or the other, than there was before, and not necessarily as difficult, either. All of my admittedly small collection of frequently played games should work on Linux. I need to refresh my Windows, maybe it’s time to try Linux out for my gaming machine.

        • what@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          When Windows 10 hits EOL we might actually arrive at the year of Linux. I’ve been daily driving Arch (obligatory, I use arch btw) for the past 7 months and aside from a few hiccups where I tried to tweak absolutely everything and NVIDIA shenanigans, neither of which was the fault of the underlying kernel or OS, it has been dreamy. Never going back.

        • xXemokidforeverXx@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          The day I can play all my games on Linux and know the games i want to play will come to it, I will rejoice. I want so badly not to be stuck on Windows.

          • Samihazah@programming.devEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            This is why, while I’ll probably never get a steam deck myself, I am all for people buying it en masse.
            More users will force game publishers to opt for native Linux support, just so they can advertise their products as deck-compatible.

      • barbecue_sprinkler@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Do it brother, try out a “just works” distro like ubuntu or mint. I switched to linux 1,5 years ago, im never looking back again.

    • Mog Spawn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      wow… this is hot garbage, windows products should auto-register the default programs… why!!!

    • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      That is a terrible dark pattern. “Let me just change the defaults away from the option that literally is the default setting (default browser) to the thing I want users to use instead”.

      Straight up maliciously ignoring “default browser”.

    • TheSacredOne@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Good to see. And if there’s a setting, there’s probably a registry key behind it storing the value…it’s about 30 seconds in group policy to set it back to “Default Browser” for everyone at my company once I know which one it is.

      Had to do the same thing to uncheck the “Also set up outlook on mobile device” box when Outlook initially adds the mail account last year…

      MS’s main goal nowadays seems to be to find new ways to annoy users by advertising their own crap instead of producing a useful product that gets our of your way and just works.

    • huxley75@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Many of us are forced to use Windows by our employers so “no Windows, no problems” is not an option.

      • itsJoelleScott@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Oh man, I dunno, I could put my foot down at work — but judging how the Windows-folk react in my personal life whenever anything goes wrong the first words out of their mouth is “Oh, is this a [MacOS, Linux] thing?”

        More often than not it’s not an issue related to the OS. I couldn’t imagine it dialed up to 11 in a professional development environment.

  • Coolcoder360@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    There’s a setting for this in Outlook now, basically a toggle to choose either edge or the system default.

    Not nice to have an extra setting for it but at least it can be turned off

    • dan@upvote.auEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      What’s even the point of having a system default if apps are just going to ignore it?

  • vulfneck@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    It’s annoying, for sure.

    File > Options > Advanced > Link Handling > Open hyperlinks from Outlook in: Default Browser

  • bean@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    What keeps me from moving to Firefox is the Translation option. Edge and Chrome are so good at quickly making the page available to read in my language. Firefox is not so good at this and requires adding which don’t seem to deliver the same functionality. At least from what I have found. So if someone has tips there, please share.