1950

Microsoft now permits uninstalling Edge, Bing, and OneDrive to adhere to the EU's Digital Markets Act. (www.ghacks.net)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

401 comments fedilink hide all child comments

These changes are only applicable to users in the EEA. For those outside the region, Windows will continue to function as it is!

The changes to Windows for DMA-compliance include:

You can now uninstall Edge and Bing web search using the built-in settings. Earlier, the option was greyed out.
Third-party web search application developers can now utilize the Windows search box in the taskbar using the instructions provided by Microsoft and choose any web browser to show results from the web.
Microsoft will no longer sign-in users to Edge, Bing, and Microsoft Start services during the initial Windows setup experience.
Data collected about the functioning of non-Microsoft apps, primarily bug detection and its effects on the OS, from Windows PCs will not be used for competitive purposes.
Microsoft, from now on, will need explicit user consent before combining data from the OS and other sources. It will also deliver new consent screens where required.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] le_saucisson_masquay@sh.itjust.works 93 points 5 months ago

So where are the people saying edge couldn’t be uninstalled because it’s a core part of the system that other element depended upon. I swear I have seen this answer on every reddit post about uninstalling edge, yet Microsoft show its absolutely possible (although only in Europe, because dependencies don’t work the same in Europe 😂).

[-] root@precious.net 37 points 5 months ago

That's what they said about Internet Explorer right up until the moment where Microsoft wanted everyone to switch to Edge. Not only could you suddenly uninstall it, but it even started uninstalling itself!

Funny how that happens

[-] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Wasn't it actually a core component until they phase it out in Win7 or Win8? AFAIK (at least on WinXP) the entirety of GUI is rendered from the IE.

[-] mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago

Protip: Microsoft uses social media manipulation to shape public opinion. Some of those people claiming that were on a payroll.

[-] deur@feddit.nl 0 points 5 months ago

Yeah this is bullshit get the payroll conspiracy theories out of here. Edge did provide the webview but it likely does not anymore.

[-] mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

what the fuck are you even talking about? Webview? I'm talking about forum manipulators here you chatbot reject.

[-] timewarp@lemmy.world -2 points 5 months ago

This claim isn't bullshit. I don't know the extent, but I know that when I worked at Microsoft they had datacenters dedicated to NVIDIA Tesla GPUs mining Reddit data... now they host ChatGPT. Are you even familiar with Playwright & Puppeteer. You honestly find it hard to believe that they manipulate social media? I guess some people really want to believe that what they see online is organic.

[-] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

I’m sure it’s just uninstalling the browser chrome. The backend is woven into too many MS products to be completely removed.

[-] nutt_goblin@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

Kinda yeah. WebView2 is edge (chromium) based and definitely is not uninstalled by uninstalling edge. But it won't have the browser chrome or the MS Account association (for now, we all know it's possible for ms to make things worse 💀)

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

A lot of apps do use Edge as an embedded control to display web content. (Back before Edge was a thing, they would do the same thing with Internet Explorer.) Doing this is the path of the least resistance to whoever is developing these pieces of shit, since they can (up until now) expect Edge to be present on the user's system without having to cart around their own copy of a web browser and keep it updated in perpetuity with all the potential security holes not doing so could bring, yadda yadda yadda. Uninstalling Edge will indeed cause those particular programs to break.

There is now also the "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime Environment" (via) which may or may not be able to run on its own even if the regular user-facing version of Edge is uninstalled -- I have no idea, and I haven't tried.

[-] arin@lemmy.world -2 points 5 months ago

Kinda hard to download a browser without a browser

[-] StopSpazzing@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago

winget install firefox

[-] sunbeam60@lemmy.one 8 points 5 months ago

Ah yes, I’ll tell my mom that.

Of course the real way to do it is force a browser choice on OOBE.

[-] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Probably be able to redownload it through the MS store.

[-] root@precious.net 4 points 5 months ago

There are other protocols on the internet you know..

[-] dont_lemmee_down@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

If windows ships curl, then it's easy!

[-] le_saucisson_masquay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

What you mean? No one is asking for removal of default browser, i say it should be possible to uninstall it. That’s different.

this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024

1950 points (99.2% liked)

Technology

57226 readers

3876 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS