Microsoft is again drawing users' ire with new changes coming to Microsoft 365 Outlook and Teams apps. Previously with these apps, clicking on a link would open the default browser that a user set within Windows. So, if you clicked a link in Outlook and your default browser was Google Chrome, it would only open in Chrome.
However, Microsoft explains that these links will now open in Microsoft Edge by default. Edge is, of course, the successor to Internet Explorer, and Microsoft has tried all kinds of tricks over the years to boost the browser's market share. Nevertheless, Microsoft says that this change is for the benefit of its users.
"If you have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription, browser links from the Outlook app will open in Microsoft Edge by default, right alongside the email they're from in the Microsoft Edge sidebar pane," Microsoft writes in a support post. "This allows you to easily access, read, and respond to the message using your matching authenticated profile. No more disruptive switching—just your email and the web content you need to reference, in a single, side-by-side view."
According to Microsoft, this change will first come to Outlook but later arrive for Teams to "help you stay engaged in conversations as you browse the web."
Not surprisingly, many users aren't thrilled about Microsoft's latest change of heart to "help" its users. A quick trip to the sysadmin Reddit shows that IT administrators are livid about the change. "In all seriousness, forcing their browser on users through unscrupulous OS choices and vendor negotiations was the prime reason for the original anti-trust suit. I fail to see how this is any different at all," wrote ripvannwinkler. Another user, unixuser011, added, "This isn't the 90's anymore, you can't act like Edge is the only game in town, you have to respect people's browser choice. You aren't Google, stop acting like it."
Redditor hume_reddit provided further context on how the change affects organizations:
- Only links set to open via a web browser are affected. Links that are set to open in a client app or within Outlook itself will continue to do so.
- User experiences will vary by policy configuration; please see the next section.
- Web links from all accounts in the Outlook for Windows app will open in Microsoft Edge, but the side-by-side experience is not available for non-AAD or non-MSA accounts at this time.
As if sensing that this change wouldn't be well-received by all users, Microsoft concludes its support post by stating, "Ultimately though, if this experience isn't right for you, you can turn off this feature the first time it launches in Microsoft Edge, and then in Outlook settings at any time after that."
Interestingly, this latest pro-Edge move comes as StatCounter reports that Apple's Safari overtook Edge for second place in global desktop browser market share for April 2023. StatCounter reports that Safari captured 11.89 percent of the desktop browser market, while Edge slipped to 10.95 percent.
