Office 365 ProPlus will change default search from Chrome to Bing

Microsoft has announced that it will change the default search engine of Google Chrome to Bing for your Office 365 ProPlus customers. This change will take effect in February 2020 and will affect users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The company says this move is aimed at giving users better access to Microsoft Search, which is integrated with Office 365 and can deliver relevant workplace information directly from the browser. Microsoft Search can also connect to other Microsoft services such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams.

However, some users may not appreciate this change and prefer to keep their current default search engine. Microsoft says users can opt out of this change by using an opt-out registration key or by setting up Office 365 ProPlus through Group Policy. Administrators can also revert the change after it has been applied using the Microsoft Search extension in Bing.

Microsoft says it will provide more details and guidance on how to handle this change in the coming weeks. The company also says it welcomes feedback from its customers and partners on how to improve its products and services.

It appears that Microsoft's decision to automatically change the default search engine in Chrome to Bing for business users, specifically those using Office 365 ProPlus, has caused frustration and backlash among users. The main motivation behind this move is to integrate Microsoft's search functionality into the Chrome browser so that users can access workplace information directly from the browser's address bar.

In fact, forcing such a change can be controversial, as users often prefer to have control over their default settings. In this case, it seems that the forced change has caused negative reactions, as seen in the Reddit discussion you mentioned.

It is not uncommon for changes to default settings to generate negative reactions, especially when they are perceived as intrusive or unnecessary. Microsoft may need to carefully consider user feedback and potentially offer more flexibility or options for users to choose their preferred search engine within the Office 365 ProPlus environment. User experience and flexibility are crucial aspects to consider when implementing changes that impact established workflows.

Microsoft has decided to make Bing the default search engine for Office 365 ProPlus users, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you are a system administrator and want to prevent this change from occurring, you have a few options to do so. You can modify the settings.

xml in the Office Deployment Tool and remove the line that installs the Bing extension, or you can apply a group policy that disables installation of the extension. Alternatively, if you are using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager or Microsoft Intune, you can simply turn off the switch or uncheck the box that allows the extension to be installed. You can find more details on how to exclude Bing from your Office 365 ProPlus installation on the Microsoft Docs support page.