Office 365 ProPlus Forces Bing to become standard search engine in Chrome - starting in February

Microsoft is shoving something down some people's throat again as if they have not learned from EU regulation and the big fines for making Internet Explorer the default browser years ago, this round they are quietly injecting a feature into Office 365 ProPlus. Office 365 ProPlus will make Bing the default search engine in Chrome starting next month.

Bing search thus will be the default automatically unless admins proactively block it. It will be made so in Germany and France first and then spread to other countries. Microsoft will enforce it by installing a Chrome extension that replaces the default search engine to Bing. Administrators can stop this via Group Policy or remove the extension after installation. Microsoft lets users know via Message Center, the company says. Administrators report that it'll be a mess receiving all the personal change requests from end-users.

In a later stage, Firefox will also get the same treatment. Administrators are afraid to get many requests for help because the default search engine of their browser has changed. For now, the extension is only in ProPlus and not in Office 365 Business.