This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I just got this popup while playing New vegas. I don't even use chrome, i've switched to firefox. How can this be allowed? Also, this is Win10
If governments actually gave a fuck about antitrust anymore, it would be. 20-ish years ago, they dragged Microsoft to court over simply bundling IE with Windows. It didn't even constantly nag you to set as default; just the fact that it was bundled at all was enough to make it into the sights of regulators.
Microsoft clearly uses dark patterns and FUD to lure you into using Bing.
As long as they're using legal loopholes (or downright do not care because they have enough money to pay any fines) you cannot do anything against it except not using their OS.
I stopped using outlook entirely for this behaviour. Outlook would embed a bing search in your long press menu on android.
What kind of long press menu? I have it installed but don't have any such menu.
Oh God, that was so annoying! Once I realized which app had added that, I uninstalled it with alacrity. I have to use Outlook for my job, but that doesn't mean I'll use the mobile version ever again. And the web-based one actually works fine on Mobile devices.
Maybe I'm missing something, but why would this be illegal?
Anti consumer and anti competitive. Using their position as the OS to bug the living shit out of you to use their services
Anti consumer and anti competitive.
I'm not so sure how it's either of those things. I mean yeah, it's annoying (especially if it's popping up while you're playing a game), but I don't feel like it's crossing either of these lines. If you click "Don't switch", it goes away, and it's not changing anything without your permission. I've never seen it pop up again on my devices. I forget where in the settings it would be, but I seem to recall there being an option to disable suggestions like this, as well (although an argument could be made that this should be opt-in instead of opt-out).
I know this community has a (largely justified) hate-boner for big tech companies, but not every annoyance is a crime. If anything, I'm just glad to see that they're at least respecting the user's consent these days; in the before times, Microsoft would just revert all your shit to what they wanted, whether you liked it or not, permission be damned. I lost track of how many WinXP updates would reinstall that Bing Bar (or MSN or whatever they called it back then) without asking me.
Unless there's another angle that I'm not seeing, I don't see how this is that much of a problem. If anything, it's a good advertisement for Linux, though.
I think this sentiment come from the long history of Microsoft repeatedly breaking and then failing to address antitrust requests. At this point people just assume bas faith.
I remember maybe a decade ago how it seemed a big deal anytime they used their OS monopoly to fuck with 3rd parties alternatives. But yeah, I don't think every popup and annoyance is a crime. There's a fine line they walk to still push their first-party garbage.
According to Rules of the Internet § 12 "if I find something to be annoying, objectionable, or wrong it surely must be illegal."
I still don't get how Microsoft got in trouble for bundling internet explorer but now they are completely fine doing this
Anti-trust regulation has gotten very toothless in recent years. The shit many corporations are pulling now is insane when you think back about what happened to ms then.
One of the many reasons why I will never return to Windows.
I still have to use 10 for work, but on the plus side it's a 5 day per week reminder of just how terrible it is.
In the same boat. and recently of all the issues that could pop up, Teams has decided to become a buggy mess. Their own software on their own OS just stops working after just one year of using the machine.
Not to speak of all the other slowdowns and child-diseases that the thing has developed.
Meanwhile my desktop install of Linux is nearing its 10th birthday, has all sorts of legacy configs that I never bothered to clean up, has moved drives 3 times and to a different filesystem+partitioning scheme, changed bootloader... Yet still is way less of a pain than Windows at work.
Why wouldn't it be legal? You are using their product and they put out a notification on it asking if you want to use one of their products. Why would that be illegal!?
Like I understand people not liking it, but illegal?
I am pretty sure they are insinuating that it is antitrust violation. It probably is but our current governance seems unwilling to do anything about anti-competitive practices.
What company was it that lost an antitrust lawsuit again? It was something like Macrosoft? Microphone? idr
Microsuck??
Since everybody on this comm seem to be circlejerking, let me how to tell you how to get rid of this POS. Shit's called BGAupsell and resides in Windows\Temp\MUBSTemp, set yourself as owner of the file via your admin account and then delete it and replace it with an an empty EXE file that you assign ownership to yourself with. Then you write protect it and you're done. If you just delete the dir or the file, it'll come back next major update.
NOW, to really give MS a punch in the dick, you're also going to want to disable the search menu ad as well:
https://www.howtogeek.com/826967/how-to-disable-bing-in-the-windows-11-start-menu/
And all of you fucking *nux newfargs, grow up. Also, don't fucking drink and root you lusers.
Or you just install Linux and be done with it.
Yes, I am THAT guy. It looks and feels like windows, but prettier, nicer, and better. No more corporate rules bullshit, no more anti virus bullshit, no more bullshit.
Yes, most games do work now.
Yes, most windows software has equal or better alternatives, or run natively through wine.
You don't have to put up with Microsoft bullshit.
Get rid of office, Hotmail and teams while you're at it and get working software.
*facepalms in having told the newbie not to drink and root*
You're the reason most of us don't really tell others that we run Linux.
It's only illegal if it's enforced
They got in trouble for setting internet explorer as the default and had to pop a prompt when you installed windows a while ago.
I don't think asking if you want to is illegal though. But it could be as they are using their ownership of the operating system to push you towards their other products.
Run a debloat script for windows from christitustech. And if you want to start from fresh install w10/11 ltsb/ltsc and run the debloat script, that is the safest option, if you don't want to swap to Linux.
It's shit like this that will eventually drive me away from windows. I was baffled when it appeared.
As someone who was recently driven, leave it. It’s never going to get better, only worse. And linux is only going to get better the more you understand it.
will eventually
no time like the present, eh ;)
Idk man I'm pretty busy... With... Something less tedious than installing an operating system lol
The penguin is patient and will welcome you when you have the fish / time.
If you are unsure i'd personally would also advice you to start with a dual-boot setup, so you can always temporary switch back if you get frustrated with something (or are under pressure from outside forces to get something done) and dont know how yet.
Normally when you return later with a clear head you'll likely be able to find a solution to your problem that doesnt require you to switch the OS.
Just a suggestion.
Have a nice day anyways!
In Europe it isn't. But I got it too. Even worse, my default browser was changed to Bing after an update.
Everything is legal in the US if you can lobby enough
Not quite. You can also break the law, pay a fraction of what you grifted, say sorry and then continue.
The people at Microsoft who remember the ftc action have retired I guess
Use Linux and quit worrying about this kind of shit.
"Microsoft rewards points" wtf?
This shit is why I stopped using windows altogether
Since the antitrust laws don’t exist any more, it’s legal, yes. If you don’t want that, you have to switch to Linux.
It is perfectly legal. That's what you get for using and choosing a shitty corporation's useless operating system while harassing GNU/Linux users for decades. Frankly, all of you Microsoft bootlickers are getting what you deserve.
I really don't know why I bother reading the comments on any windows posts. It's just full of Linux users trying to convert people.
It's not going to happen. Most of us use our computers for leisure, not to have to find workarounds for most anything.
This is literally a post of someone trying to find a workaround for a problem that only exists on windows.... A question was asked and an appropriate answer given, if you refuse to accept the answer, thats on you, go read a different post
You are setting a stage where corporations can exploit people like you who're naive because they resist change. Change is good. Embrace it! I am not a linux user but I always keep my options open.
They lost a trial in this allnd paid a flick on the wrist.
They just so this because they know it will get them more than it will cost.
Install Linux, make the switch. Yes you can.
