These changes are only applicable to users in the EEA. For those outside the region, Windows will continue to function as it is!
The changes to Windows for DMA-compliance include:
- You can now uninstall Edge and Bing web search using the built-in settings. Earlier, the option was greyed out.
- Third-party web search application developers can now utilize the Windows search box in the taskbar using the instructions provided by Microsoft and choose any web browser to show results from the web.
- Microsoft will no longer sign-in users to Edge, Bing, and Microsoft Start services during the initial Windows setup experience.
- Data collected about the functioning of non-Microsoft apps, primarily bug detection and its effects on the OS, from Windows PCs will not be used for competitive purposes.
- Microsoft, from now on, will need explicit user consent before combining data from the OS and other sources. It will also deliver new consent screens where required.
About 20 years ago, Microsoft was found guilty and convicted, because they forced their browser on their users, driving out competitors by abusing their de facto monopoly on PC operating systems. These days, they are doing the exact same thing again, just on an even broader base. I don’t even understand how this verdict took so long.
It makes perfect sense once you understand that regulators have only cared about stock prices for the last 40 years. The EU coming down on giant corporations is a new development
Only because we don’t have any tech giants, we’ve slept on it so we get the money this way and try to slow down others until we figure shit out.
You can see that we don’t care about consumer that much in markets we’re strong.
It’s just lobbyism
Lol this is asinine.
America let their tech companies get too big to the point that they are all behaving ridiculously anti-competitively, and you think the solution is that the EU should have let their companies get so big that they behave anti-competitively?
This is the EU steeping in to clean up America’s mess when it spills over to them.
Yes, if only the rest of the world would be so selfless.
Your simplification of the issues to steer this into your preferred narrative and conclusion is also asinine. The EU power broker’s hands weren’t getting their share of the bribes and are punishing orgs that didnt realize that the corruption they take part in is everywhere. Corruption in EU countries is old world corruption and is just part of the system bottom to top. Nobody has clean hands.
Your simplification of the issues to steer this into your preferred narrative and conclusion is also asinine.
It’s always projection.
You really have less than zero idea of what you’re talking about, this is actually hilarious.
Checkmate, amiright.
Yes you do. SAP is gigantic. You just don’t hear about it because they’ve infected every business instead of being a consumer-oriented brand.
Who puts up with this shit anyway? Go buy an Apple. You can eat it while installing Linux.
Had me in the first half.
I stick around with Windows due to shitty DRM and VR compatibility. It’s been a couple years since I last tried Linux, so maybe it’s gotten better. I should probably try it again.
ALVR is totally capable at playing steamvr games if you have a quest headset, and htc headsets work aswell as valve indexes
I’ll have to look into ALVR. I’ve got an Index.
I also remembered that I wouldn’t be able to play The Crew 2 due to shitty DRM, as well as Forza Horizon, unless I re-purchase it on Steam, as the windows store edition doesn’t work on Linux (from what I understand). I really don’t want to dual-boot again. I’ll wait just a bit longer for Linux to get better and windows to get more enshitified.
The valve index has native linux support so you don’t need alvr or anything, its the same setup process as windows. And for most games with drm, pirate them. its just better.
That’d be wild if it works. Might have to try Linux just for that.
The DRM and Anticheat (that I forgot to mention) games are online, so piracy isn’t really an option so that’s still an issue :/
It’s been a couple years since I last tried Linux, so maybe it’s gotten better
Have been seeing this same comment for two decades now so I’m guessing -
Narrator - “It hadn’t”
It has. It’s been two or three years. In that time the SteamDeck has launched, bringing huge attention to Linux.
The question is whether the things that I want to play have improved.
That’s great, I’m in! Now, workflow – how do I install Adobe Audition?
That’s the neat part - you don’t! Fuck Adobe.
Me for the rest of the week:
Is you regional settings set to a European country?
(by the way, life pro tip, setting your region to a European country solves a ton of issues people have with Windows, most complaints I see I never had a problem with even though I live in Canada, my settings are set to UK)
Are there any downsides to setting your region to some place other than where you actually are?
No, it just uses that to know which signs and types of spelling to use.
Interesting that setting your location to the UK gets you EU protections. Do the EU protections apply in the UK? They Brexited didn’t they?
IIUC when they separated they basically ended up with a snapshot of EU regulations. So most of GDPR applies. But IDK if the DMA will apply as it was created after they split.
On iOS in the UK you’re not able to sideload on the new update so probably not
Linux solves the rest.
Wrong conversation
You could always uninstall with the Revo Uninstaller
Seriously we did this in 1998, why this again??
This ought to happen everywhere. Either I’m the admin on my machine or I’m not. If it’s not, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll tolerate a Windows machine.
PSA: Once this rolls out into the actual downloadable Windows builds, everyone should be able to do this by reinstalling Windows.
European Economic Area PCs
As noted above, some functionality is only available in the EEA. Windows uses the region chosen by the customer during device setup to identify if the PC is in the EEA. Once chosen in device setup, the region used for DMA compliance can only be changed by resetting the PC.
I’d worry about how that might effect other things. Windows isn’t the only thing that changes its behavior based on region. What other software would be looking at that specific region setting?
That’s the real gift given by Microsoft:
Once chosen in device setup, the region used for DMA compliance can only be changed by resetting the PC.
Just change your region back to where ever you are after setup. Nothing on your PC outside of the OS will be reading the region set during Windows Install, they’ll be asking for the currently set region.
Maybe I’m misreading what you quoted but it seems to suggest you can’t do what you’re suggesting.
Once that region is set, it’s locked in unless you do a reset of the PC…which would presumably go through the windows set up again and ask for region.
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm…
Can we get THIS fucking comment on the front page please? Outstanding work, friend! Sincere thanks!
still not switching to windows
How do you know a linux user?
Dont’ worry, they’ll tell you.
Plot twist: he’s a BSD user
How do you know a linux user?
Because you’re in lemmy
Judging by the vote ratio, looks like not that many lemmy users are linux users as you think.
How do you know a Windows user?
Don’t worry, they’ll bitch and moan about all the different ways Windows sucks.
The reason you don’t ever hear linux users say how much their OS sucks is because all of you are just fucking cultists.
I don’t like windows, I don’t like microsoft, but I’ll tell you this the headaches I’ve gotten from supporting 10 Ubuntu desktops was five times greater than the 200 other windows users on-site.
The reason you don’t ever hear linux users say how much their OS sucks is because all of you are just fucking cultists.
Acktshully,
All the Linux users you’re not hearing bitching about their OS is because they can’t get to a browser right now, due to their environments all being borked due to [ the latest update putting them in circular dependency hell / a default option shipped with their distro hidden in a config file somewhere is not set to a sane value / their Wi-Fi driver is not compatible with the latest kernel version / nVidia drivers exploded after enabling the wiggly window effect / unexplained kernel panic / failure to read the wiki ], choose all that apply.
/s
Not going to lie I’ve had some of those issues be the reason I gave up on any one of my 9 attempts to go full linux as a daily driver.
After being a Debian and Ubuntu user for many years, im fairly satisfied with win 11. Once you get rid of all that bloatware and enhance some privacy settings. Q
Lmao windows is a messy POS. It limits your capabilities and removes your freedoms to the point the eu needs to force them to allow the shitty browser that’s included to be removed.
Just stop using microsoft. Why would you sign into the cloud to use your local computer. Actually own your hardware with Linux or BSD. Do I own it or do they?
It takes the EU to force Microsoft to act reasonable.
Seriously, it took the EU to force Microsoft not to grey out “uninstall Edge”. Still there are non-billionaire people who want to eliminate government regulations, it boggles my mind. I mean, besides brainwashed business school bros.
Install Linux, get rid of Windows and be done with the nonsense
Microsoft now permits
The benevolence! Letting people do what they want with their purchased software. wow!
You don’t buy the software. You buy a license to use their software.
Yeah and with Apple, it feels like we buy a license to use their hardware.
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted because you’re right. You don’t really own hardly any of the software you buy. You don’t buy the software, you buy a license to use it in almost all commercial cases. It would be financial suicide for companies to revoke those licenses in most cases, but it still is what it is.
Just because software vendors legally made it that way doesn’t make it right. Also probably the main reason, many people don’t have any qualms pirating.
Sure, but I’m not making a statement about the ethics of it. I’m just stating that that’s the current reality. That’s how commercial software is sold. I’ll freely agree it’s a bullshit practice and we should actually be able to own things, but that’s a whole different discussion.
K, but conquer4 certainly seemed to be either implying it or making an irrelevant distinction, since the comment they replied to was a “should” kind of comment.
I see hive mind stupidity is alive and well as your completely factual statement is downvoted by absolute morons.
I’m baffled by all the downvoting. It was also my first thought that we rarely own the software we use.
Finally! Always glad to see the EU forcing Tech Giants to be user friendly
Seriously. The EU is the best thing to happen to the US.
We kinda see California like someone bought the EU on wish.com, so they’re heading the right direction
But I thought this was a crucial part of the operating system?!
Awesome. How do I port this ability over to an American PC?
I’d say that everyone should use Linux but that is materially impossible for many folks. Microsoft should just make consumer friendly products instead of this bullshit.
after ‘repairing’ my edge, enabling ‘get updates as fast as you can’ and updating everything, I was able to uninstall edge. Rejoice.
