Microsoft has come openly yesterday stating that they won’t force their search engine on Chrome users who pay for the Office 365 ProPlus (not a typo) plan.
As per the initial plans, Microsoft was to install an extension on those running Office 365 ProPlus versions, that would make Bing the default search engine. That did not go well with consumers.
Due to the online backlash, the company has suddenly been left with no choice but to revert its plans. On the other hand, the company still thinks some users might still be interested in that – even for a bit. So, a new toggle will be deployed in the admin centre, that will help admins deploy the extension directly to their workers. In other words; let’s see who is interested and who’s not.
Part of the plan is also to “only deploy the browser extension to AD-joined devices, even within organizations that have opted in,” says the company.
They, however, plan to add more granular settings that will help manage the deployment of extension to unmanaged devices.
The end game is, Microsoft “will continue to provide end-users who receive the extension with control over their search engine preference”; clearly depicting they were kind of fighting a losing battle.
