journalists have incentive to create the most click bait headlines possible, to get your click and earn some Google adwords revenue

Hence "Microsoft set to force Bing on Chrome users" it is

I believe it's related to the plan to make a company's intranet searchable in the same way staff search the internet: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/microsoft-search-bing-uniting-internet-intranet-jordi-ribas/ But yeah it seems like sleezy behaviour.

Even if it's done in the name of what does sound like a useful feature I admit, the way Microsoft has pushed users into Windows 10, creating a Microsoft account, and years ago pushed users to IE etc, just means they've lost all public trust for this sort of stuff.

My view is not panic but disappointment. Companies like MSFT provide a service not force a service, I thought under Satya Nadella MSFT had moved beyond these forced installs, settings updates. 

I agree about IE but it's hardly a problem to be assisted to leave unsupported versions of Windows (2000, XP, Vista) and be enabled to synchronise my settings across multiple devices.

Most people find it easier to disable a plug-in than to enable a plug-in so I think it does make some sense in a business/corporate environment where there tends to be higher levels of support.

Arguments why this isn't a big deal is that it only affects Office 365 ProPlus users, which are probably all company users.

But even so (and perhaps even more so) it should be up to the IT managers to decide wether this is installed, not something that is just installed and enabled by default.

jarledb:

 

Arguments why this isn't a big deal is that it only affects Office 365 ProPlus users, which are probably all company users.

 

But even so (and perhaps even more so) it should be up to the IT managers to decide wether this is installed, not something that is just installed and enabled by default.

 

100% agree. I was an IT Manager.

MikeB4:

 

My view is not panic but disappointment. Companies like MSFT provide a service not force a service, I thought under Satya Nadella MSFT had moved beyond these forced installs, settings to updates. 

 

they are providing a service.  They are providing an additional plug-in to be able to access it. Which one can turn off/remove.

i think it is important to remember that it is mainly business people that pay for office 365 proplus, and they would have an expectation that MS would support the business’s ability to be able to access the MS services being paid for.

LMAO @ the comments.... Hilarious!! :D

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/microsoft-search-bing

TwoSeven:

 

I found it interesting reading the headline of this thread vs reading the content of the actual article from MS.

 

 

 

basically, they are releasing a plugin for chrome that enables bing search. There instructions on how to remove it, turn it on and off etc. Just like with every other plug-in.

 

considering it is an office 365 plugin and they are only releasing it for 365 pro plus! I am not sure what the issue is.  

 

The extension is bundled with 365 & changes the current default search engine to Bing, which is how Browser Hijackers work. In fact it is a Browser Hijacker.

Additionally the extension cannot be removed until after installation, by way of either Group Policy or Office Deployment tools.

What the article fails to mention is that starting with W8 Group Policy Editor (gpedit) is only included with Pro & Enterprise editions. 

So about as easy to install as a BHO & just as hard to remove.

Re spin - for example take "only' on devices in a "limited number" of "locations".  "Limited locations" being seven very large countries. 

Sounds a little bit like there's shares in tinfoil...

My take on it is that;

A. It should be opt-in not opt-out. Either through admin center or through Office Customisation Tool toggle. 

B. It's targetting Pro Plus so we're looking at O365 Pro Plus, M365/O365 E3 or E5 which is predominantly SME/Large Enterprise who might be quite deep in Microsoft cloud already and would benefit strongly from Microsoft Search within their O/M365 tenant. 

It's not nearly as nefarious as some comments make it out to be, it has been executed or pitched badly. Put the pitchforks down, I'm expecting changes to Opt-in/Opt-out to be honest.

Jogre:

 

Sounds a little bit like there's shares in tinfoil...

 

My take on it is that;

 

A. It should be opt-in not opt-out. Either through admin center or through Office Customisation Tool toggle. 

 

B. It's targetting Pro Plus so we're looking at O365 Pro Plus, M365/O365 E3 or E5 which is predominantly SME/Large Enterprise who might be quite deep in Microsoft cloud already and would benefit strongly from Microsoft Search within their O/M365 tenant. 

 

It's not nearly as nefarious as some comments make it out to be, it has been executed or pitched badly. Put the pitchforks down, I'm expecting changes to Opt-in/Opt-out to be honest.

 

On behalf of support staff within corporates everywhere, i'm not looking forward to the 'why has this changed, put it back!!' deluge of calls to the Service Desks...

One thing we learn is - don't 'just change stuff'.
Presuming the impact is less just because it'll be chiefly a corporate audience it impacts, is a bit narrow-minded.

I'll believe the opt-in/opt-out changes, when I see the changes. I'm too cynical now. That and if we want change, we need to make noise - or they'll forget we care.

aschteev:

 

Isn't this essentially how malware spreads? Or those toolbars and default search engines that used to hijack browsers back in the day?

 

Remove the addon and report it as malicious.