Microsoft Search is a unified enterprise search solution that offers contextual work-related information by sourcing data from Office 365, including: OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, and Exchange. It tends to deliver personalized results which are powered by Microsoft Graph to make search within the organization more effective, and save everyone time.
While the idea is novel, Microsoft's attempt to change the default search engine of Chrome browser to Bing on PCs running Office 365 ProPlus without users consent has been hugely criticized. Albeit, Microsoft's scheme to switch Bing as default browser from Office 365 ProPlus customers' PCs, was perhaps part of Microsoft's Search strategy.
Microsoft Search has become a key component of Microsoft 365, the enterprise subscription bundle for Office 365, which includes Windows 10 and management tools, allowing employees to search for colleagues by simply typing the team name, title, or even office location in the address bar.
Microsoft sought to spread the use of its new search service by enforcing it on enterprise users, those running Office 365, with Chrome as their default browser, even though it knows that the plot could result to serious backlash and possibly, to users rising against the service.
Why the Angst for Microsoft's decision to change the default search engine?
The force-changing of settings on a user's PC for arbitrary reasons, definitely falls under 'unlawful' browser hijacking, which Google has spent significant time blocking hijackers from taking over its browser, and even barring unofficial extensions in the Chrome Web Store from installing, as part of a process to lock down the browser.
Microsoft's attempt to do just what Google has tried to stop is perhaps equating to the unsolicited search engine change practiced by malware makers and scammers.
Microsoft's own policies forbids Browser hijacking
Microsoft's browser extension policy for the old-school Edge states that "All extensions for Microsoft Edge must be deployed from the Microsoft Store," and "The installation must be initiated and completed by the user, using only the user experience provided by Microsoft Edge and the Microsoft Store".
The company's definition of unwanted software includes phrasing that may match how it distributes the Chrome extension. In the support documentation, "How Microsoft identifies malware and potentially unwanted applications," under "Unwanted software," Microsoft said, "Software should obtain your consent before installing." But Microsoft said nothing so far about users consent when it rolled out the update to Office 365 ProPlus.
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