Microsoft starts rollout of Windows DMA compliance changes in Europe - gHacks Tech News
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Microsoft has started the rollout of Digital Markets Act changes in its Windows 10 and 11 operating systems for users from the European Economic Area.

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.
  • le_saucisson_masquay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    941·
    10 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.netEnglish
      37·
      10 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.worksEnglish
        42·
        10 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.worldEnglish
      251·
      10 months ago

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

      • deur@feddit.nlEnglish
        11·
        10 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.

        • timewarp@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          10 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.worldEnglish
      112·
      10 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.worldEnglish
        9·
        10 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.worldEnglish
      4·
      10 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.