Except for Microsoft, and that just became a problem. Why? Because the company created a new Chrome extension for Office 365 ProPlus customers that forces Chrome to use Bing as its default search engine. “By making Bing the default search engine, users in your organization with Google Chrome will be able to take advantage of Microsoft Search, including being able to access relevant workplace information directly from the browser address bar,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post (opens in new tab). Office 365 ProPlus, primarily used by businesses, is similar to regular Office except for some licensing differences. It also gets updated regularly, unlike the version for consumers. IT admins should be aware thta installing a new version of Office 365 ProPlus or updating a current version will lock users into Bing as a search engine. Naturally, IT admins aren’t thrilled with Microsoft’s restrictive new policy. Office 365 ProPlus customers have taken to Reddit and Github urging Microsoft to make the browser lock optional. Microsoft will release the extension in February starting in the US, UK, Germany, India, Australia, France and Canada. Let’s hope it changes its mind before then.
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