Microsoft backtracks on plans to make Bing the default search engine in Chrome for Office 365 customers

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Microsoft last month revealed its plans to make Bing the default search engine for the Google Chrome web browser. For all Office 365 ProPlus users using Google Chrome, Microsoft announced that it will install an extension for Microsoft Search in Bing. After the extension is installed in Chrome, Bing will become the default search engine. Even after the extension is installed, users can change the default search engine back to Google whenever they want. Based on the feedback that customers don’t want Office 365 ProPlus to change the default search engine, Microsoft today announced the following changes to its plans.

  • The Microsoft Search in Bing browser extension will not be automatically deployed with Office 365 ProPlus.  
  • Through a new toggle in Microsoft 365 admin center, administrators will be able to opt in to deploy the browser extension to their organization through Office 365 ProPlus.  
  • In the near term, Office 365 ProPlus will only deploy the browser extension to AD-joined devices, even within organizations that have opted in. In the future we will add specific settings to govern the deployment of the extension to unmanaged devices. 
  • We will continue to provide end users who receive the extension with control over their search engine preference. 

With this new policy, the Microsoft Search in Bing extension will not ship with Version 2002 of Office 365 ProPlus as previously announced. Microsoft will provide more details about its plans in the coming weeks.

Source: Microsoft

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