Microsoft will let users uninstall Edge, Bing, and disable ads on Windows 11 as it complies with the Digital Markets Act

I'm a Linux guy and I don't really care about Windows, but I'm glad to see this happening and every day I thank Europe for being the main entity fighting for regulation of big tech monopolies, because America is really failing.

ABOUT FUCKING TIME. Take edge and shove it so far up your data tracking sphincter of a face hole.

Can we please get these laws on a global level.

Why yes Microsoft, I am totally a European in Europe right now...

Hey, 'Muricans, how come we need to pressure every company into compliance for you?

Thank you Europe. Once again you prove yourself to be what we all aspire to be.

As an American, all I can say is thank you Europe for continuing to have sensible legislation that forces these companies to have decent policies worldwide if only to comply with EU laws. I only use Windows on my company provided laptop but just because I don't need to worry about it personally doesn't mean that I shouldn't care about how it affects others.

So apparently having consumer-friendly laws does in fact lead to better products. Cool.

Perhaps the USA and other countries should follow the EU's good example on this.

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Thank god for Europe!

Now there will be two versions of Windows. One that adheres to EU regulation, and another that's filled with ads for everyone else.

Yeah turns out businesses behave when you legislate their misdeeds instead of just calling them job creators

They say if you don't pay, you're the product, but that's obviously bullshit, paying solves nothing. The saying should be never trust corporations.

I just switched to Linux. Get fucked!

Regulation works.

Does Linux let you disable its system-embedded advertisements? Didn't think so!

Once steam covers 90% of games windows becomes irrelevant.

Only in EU/EEA countries. So us here in Gilead America are SOL at the moment

At last. This is actually good news for Windows itself because people will be more inclined to use it again if they don't see ads, aren't tracked, can set any default browser etc.

So it's good for both users and Microsoft.

Sometimes these corporations just can't help themselves by adding trash and they need a mommy figure to force them to stop doing that which ultimately benefits themselves.

I'm moving to the EU.

Based EU.

FUCK YEAH! EAT SHIT MICROSOFT!

I mean...I still would've blocked the ads no matter what. I paid for my computer it's mine and I should be allowed to control it.

I’m genuinely worried if hell is okay, are you guys getting a tad chilly?

Hell has truly frozen over. I guarantee that uninstalling edge will break something else in Windows

EU to the rescue once again.

As a Linux user, this is freaking funny.

is EU based or something

Does this also mean Google will let me uninstall Chrome from my Android device? Or is this only about PC's?

How do they verify that I'm in the EEA? Do I need to sign up through a VPN when I register Windows or do I just specify an EEA country during the install?

You should still switch to Linux.

It seems in some cases when it comes to protecting you from industry practices can only be handled by government agencies.

I will do whatever it takes for my non-European windows install to behave like a European windows install.

If I got rid of ads on windows if be much happier with the OS and would not have such a grudge against using it.

I can’t wait until benchmarks are run on the two versions side by side to see if it impacts battery life and or performance.

Wait, what's the RCS news you're referring to OP?

But will they let you disable tracking and telemetry?

I live in the UK, and because of Brexit we won't get this. Thanks Nigel Farage.

This is Microsoft... What's the catch?

How do I trick my computer into thinking I'm in Europe?

I read elsewhere that this good news only benefits EU users of Windows 11.

What is the point of Microsoft keeping Edge when most people avoid it?

I wonder if this also applies to allow uninstalling Safari browser on MacOS, and allow other browser engines into iOS devices instead of WebKit Safari clones.

I'm desperately waiting for a reputed company like Samsung to ditch windows and introduce linux pre-installed laptops

Brussels Effect at work again.

The sad thing is that this happens because someone forces them to comply and not out of principle.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Microsoft has published a new blog post which details how Windows 11 will be made compliant with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Economic Area (EEA.)

To be compliant, Microsoft has made several changes to the OS, which now allows users to choose between providers and uninstall most in-box apps.

The company describes these changes as specific to Windows 11 PCs in the EEA, so it's unclear if users outside this area will be able to utilize these functions.

These changes will rollout in preview on Windows 11 in the Insider Beta Channel in the coming weeks, and will become generally available early next year.

The EEA is an economic and political union that spans 27 countries in the European and surrounding area.

In the case of Microsoft, this means not forcing users to use Edge or Bing, and ensuring the OS is interoperable with other services where necessary.

The original article contains 488 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

All for a $12 a month subscription!

Will they?

Or will you just be able to hide them?

This is cool and all, but why do we always stop at Microsoft? I think it would be more impactful in 2023 if we can uninstall Safari from iOS devices and Chrome from Android?

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Uninstall Bing? When did Bing become an installable thing?

This is the first time I saw a post get over 1000 upvotes in 15 hours.

RCS and this? Seems hell has indeed frozen over in the tech world today.

What happens if you uninstall edge and you don't have any other browsers?

How do you reinstall it or install a different one without a secondary computer?

Didn’t we do this already back in the 90s with IE bundling??

Bless the EU

So it won't force Secure boot anymore?

It does specify the European economic area for (EEA) for these changes. Looks like I'm living in Europe ;)

Wow, are we getting Windows N again?

...what happened? Did someone in upper management realize, it would be more expensive to suck?

Only in the EU right? Also what's up with RCS?

What about RCS?

I might upgrade now from 10. Imagine giving what consumers want.

I wonder whether Microsoft makes enough money on analytics and ads worldwide, minus Europe, to split off a separate dev team. I hope not, but I think they do… Please choose the easier, objectively better option and just make these a checkbox for everyone, windows.

I'm a bit surprised, this time it took them so long I thought they stopped about even pretending.

What happened with RCS?

I wonder if this affects any of the telemetry systems they use to send user data back to the mothership (Microsoft servers)? I haven't looked into it in a while but there used to be a powershell script to disable a lot of it in the registry.

I wish Apple would let me uninstall Apple Music and stop media keys opening it by default.

This sounds to good to be true.. What's the catch? A monthly subscription??

I always hear people complaining about ads on their win 11 and it confuses me, as I've never seen a single ad in my win 11 install.

In what section are the ads showing up?

Just in time for Windows 10 going out of support. I guess the next time Windows nags my wife about updating to 11 I can tell her to go ahead.

Huh, so not in Switzerland?

damn, Europe is wild!

I seem to recall this also applies to WebKit on iOS. Thank god.

Adesso è godopoli

Holy shit I am going back to Windows then!

This is terrible news for everyone like me that wants to incessantly tell people to switch to Linux. While I'm here, do it. Any distro other than Ubuntu and it's deranged derivatives please.

I mean it's a good thing they are doing this, but I was kinda hoping they would go full suicide like unity or musk's twatter. It's also too little too late. They should allow straightforward telemetry disabling.

Fake