Microsoft is once more drawing customers’ ire with new modifications coming to Microsoft 365 Outlook and Groups apps. Beforehand with these apps, clicking on a hyperlink would open the default browser {that a} consumer set inside Home windows. So, if you happen to clicked a hyperlink in Outlook and your default browser was Google Chrome, it will solely open in Chrome.
Nevertheless, Microsoft explains that these hyperlinks will now open in Microsoft Edge by default (opens in new tab). Edge is, in fact, the successor to Web Explorer, and Microsoft has tried every kind of methods over time to spice up the browser’s market share. Nonetheless, Microsoft says that this alteration is for the advantage of its customers.
“You probably have a Microsoft 365 Private or Household subscription, browser hyperlinks from the Outlook app will open in Microsoft Edge by default, proper alongside the e-mail they’re from within the Microsoft Edge sidebar pane,” Microsoft writes in a assist publish. “This lets you simply entry, learn, and reply to the message utilizing your matching authenticated profile. No extra disruptive switching—simply your e-mail and the net content material it is advisable reference, in a single, side-by-side view.”
In keeping with Microsoft, this alteration will first come to Outlook however later arrive for Groups to “allow you to keep engaged in conversations as you browse the net.”
Not surprisingly, many customers aren’t thrilled about Microsoft’s newest change of coronary heart to “assist” its customers. A fast journey to the sysadmin Reddit exhibits that IT directors are furious in regards to the change. “In all seriousness, forcing their browser on customers by way of unscrupulous OS selections and vendor negotiations was the prime cause for the unique anti-trust go well with. I overlook how that is any totally different in any respect,” wrote ripvannwinkler. One other consumer, unixuser011, added, “This is not the 90’s anymore, you possibly can’t act like Edge is the one sport on the town, it’s a must to respect folks’s browser selection. You are not Google, cease appearing prefer it.”Â
Redditor hume_reddit supplied additional context on how the change impacts organizations:
- Solely hyperlinks set to open through an internet browser are affected. Hyperlinks which might be set to open in a consumer app or inside Outlook itself will proceed to take action.
- Consumer experiences will differ by coverage configuration; please see the subsequent part.
- Net hyperlinks from all accounts within the Outlook for Home windows app will open in Microsoft Edge, however the side-by-side expertise will not be obtainable for non-AAD or non-MSA accounts at the moment.
As if sensing that this alteration would not be well-received by all customers, Microsoft concludes its assist publish by stating, “Finally although, if this expertise is not best for you, you possibly can flip off this function the primary time it launches in Microsoft Edge, after which in Outlook settings at any time after that.”
Apparently, this newest pro-Edge transfer comes as StatCounter stories that Apple’s Safari overtook Edge for second place in world desktop browser market share for April 2023. StatCounter stories that Safari captured 11.89 p.c of the desktop browser market, whereas Edge slipped to 10.95 p.c.