Microsoft Corp. is making its search engine Bing the default search engine for Office 365 ProPlus customers who use Chrome, at least according to a Microsoft support document.

“Starting with Version 2002 of Office 365 ProPlus, an extension for Microsoft Search in Bing will be installed that makes Bing the default search engine for the Google Chrome web browser,” the support document reads. “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 Search is part of Microsoft 365 and is turned on by default for all Microsoft apps that support it.”

When Version 2002, which is actually the first 2020 update, is set to roll out is not certain. Most reports claim the update will come mid-February, but AskWoody noted that only “bleeding edge” users will receive in that month, with “normal folks” not seeing it until July.

What is clear, though, is that Microsoft is forcing Bing on Google Chrome users. Aside from most people being surprised that Bing still exists in 2020, the more serious aspect is that if Microsoft goes ahead with forcing Bing on users, it may attract legal attention.

Over the years, Microsoft has settled lawsuits by promising not to force services and software on users, the most famous being the Internet Explorer settlement. That it is, in its own words, now hijacking Google Chrome to change the default search engine to Bing is arguably a return to previous form for Microsoft, something that under Chief Executive Satya Nadella hasn’t occurred, at least until now.

As CNET pointed out, people are not happy with the news, particularly given that Microsoft’s first response was to note that the company wants “to provide our customers with choice and customization based on their preferences, and have provided an option for both admins and users to opt out or change back search preferences by taking a few simple steps.”

Those steps take time and effort. It may be a simple step for an individual user, but the solution doesn’t scale up well.

“Are you intentionally trying to cause a helpdesk nightmare? What is wrong with you people?” a person wrote on Microsoft’s GitHub page. “This is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that there is a GPO to disable it doesn’t change that. Now our IT department has to deal with additional unexpected work to mitigate something that nobody asked for.”

Meanwhile, the person continued, “anyone that doesn’t have an IT department to back them up is going to cause all sorts of confusion. Have you people seriously learned nothing from the last time you tried to force feed people with unwanted products?”

The last part is a reasonable question, but unfortunately the answer appears to be that even under the management of Nadella, the anticompetitive Microsoft of the past that everyone loved to hate is still there under the surface.

Image: Marco Verch/Flickr