Microsoft just won’t give up the ghost when it comes to its Bing search engine, even when it comes to the Windows 10 users who choose Google’s own web browser Chrome.
The company plans to ensure a Microsoft Search in Bing extension will be added to the Chrome browser for subscribers to the Office 365 ProPlus platform.
A Zdnet report on Wednesday revealed the cheeky plans, which effectively make Bing the default search provider within Google Chrome, makes use of the Office 365 installer.
Microsoft made users aware of the upcoming change, which will begin rolling out next month, in a support document published last week, promoting the change as a boon for IT administrators in the workplace.
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The firm wrote: “By making Bing the default search engine, users in your organisation 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.”
However, while the change will only affect Office 365 ProPlus subscribers, we wouldn’t rule out Microsoft bringing the change to the consumer version of the Chrome browser.
Thankfully, Office users can disable the setting, but admins will be able to remove the extension after it has been installed. Microsoft is only forcing the installation on browser updates that don’t already have Bing enabled as the default search provider.
The change will begin rolling out in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and India next month.
Microsoft is been playing a lot nicer with Google of late and has even based the latest version of Edge on the Google Chromium framework. It supports Chrome account and Chrome extensions and users can even bring across all of their data. However, while Microsoft is seemingly giving up on dominating the browser market, it seemingly hasn’t given up on making Bing a thing.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.