Just got this right before midnight in my MS Admin app alerts. If you dont configure the policy, in September it defaults to opening web links in Edge regardless of OS default browser setting.

I woke up this morning to One Drive doing its usual thing being HOT GARBAGE, now I’m going to bed with Teams becoming HOT GARBAGE.

Full Excerpt:

Web links from Microsoft Teams chats to open in Microsoft Edge; Teams chat will open side-by-side with link

MC669480

Plan for change

Published date: August 21, 2023

Affected services

Microsoft Teams

Tag

MAJOR UPDATEADMIN IMPACTNEW FEATUREUSER IMPACT

The Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows will open web links from Teams chats in Microsoft Edge to enable a new web and chat side-by-side experience.

By opening web links in Edge, users will be able to see those links side-by-side with their Teams chats—web links will open as new browser tabs and the Teams chats will open next to them in the Edge sidebar. This new, single-view Teams experience in Edge is designed to minimize switching between windows and to help users stay in the flow of work while referencing web links.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 126334.

This change to use Edge to open web links from Teams chats follows a similar, previously announced change in the Outlook for Windows app. Customers impacted by this change in Outlook were notified via MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092.

Admin controls are available as detailed below.

Read more about how we’re optimizing the experience between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/02/16/discover-new-ways-to-multitask-with-microsoft-365-and-edge/

What’s New in Teams | Microsoft Inspire 2023 Notes:

This change does not affect a device’s default browser setting in Windows.

This only affects commercial users signed into Teams with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) accounts.

The policy described in the following section configures which browser is used to open web links for both Teams (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email), or, if you did not receive an Outlook for Windows app Message center notification, this policy will only apply to Teams (chat).

When will this affect your organization:

Timing:

Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows: This change will start rolling out late September.

Outlook for Windows: Roll out in progress. If this change affects your users, you will have received either MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092, and can refer to them for specific timing.

Note: Depending on your Outlook for Windows update channel, you may experience the change in Teams first. Action:

Use the Choose which browser opens web links policy to configure which browser will be used to open web links and to set whether users will be able to make changes to which browser opens web links in both the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email).

If you did not receive a message center notification for the Outlook for Windows app (email), then the setting only applies to Teams (chat).

If you did receive a message center notification for the Outlook for Windows app (email), then the setting applies to both Teams (chat) and Outlook for Windows app (email). You will not be able to manage each app individually using this policy. If you’ve previously configured this policy for the Outlook for Windows app and wish to maintain that configuration, no action is required.

Note: There are no Microsoft 365 subscription restrictions in using this policy to configure which browser opens web links in Teams.

Use of the policy to manage the change in the Outlook for Windows app depends on your Microsoft 365 subscription. If you received the Outlook for Windows app Message center notification, please refer to MC541626, MC545904, or MC548092 for details on whether configuring this policy will apply.

If you have not configured the policy, or wish to change it, find the details below. How this will affect your organization:

Links from Teams chats will open based on the browser configuration in the Choose which browser opens web links policy. If no configuration is selected using the Choose which browser opens web links policy, web links from Teams chats will open in Microsoft Edge.

Only links set to open via a web browser are affected. Links that are set to open in a client app or within Teams itself will continue to do so. User experiences will vary by policy configuration; please see the next section.

You can manage this experience at any time. What you need to do to prepare:

If you’ve previously configured this policy for the Outlook for Windows app and wish to maintain that configuration, no action is required.

Use the Choose which browser opens web links policy to configure which default browser will be used to open web links and to set whether users will be able to manage which browser opens web links in both Teams (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email). You will not be able to manage each app individually using this policy.

The Choose which browser opens web links policy is available using the Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365 (formerly the Office Cloud Policy Service) or as part of the Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365 Apps.

Enabled: Configures which browser opens web links from the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email):

Microsoft Edge

Web links will open side-by-side with users’ chat or email in Edge.

Default browser

Users will not be able to change this from the respective apps’ settings menus.

Disabled/Unconfigured: Web links from the Teams desktop app for Windows (chat) and the Outlook for Windows app (email) will open in Microsoft Edge.

Web links will open side-by-side with users’ chat or email in Edge.

Users can manage the browser change: Via the in-product notifications explaining the side-by-side experience.

At any time via the Teams settings menu: Settings > Files and links > Link open preferences

Note: If you want to manage this change for your entire organization so that Teams only opens web links using the device’s system default browser, you will need to configure the policy to Enabled and select Default browser.

Additional Information

Read more about how we’re optimizing the experience between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge with this feature in our blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/02/16/discover-new-ways-to-multitask-with-microsoft-365-and-edge/

We always value feedback and questions from our customers. Please feel free to submit either feedback or questions via Message Center.

  • ✨Abigail Watson✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    95
    ·
    1 year ago

    At my org, edge for all outlook links rolled out last week. Not only does it not let you use your default browser, half of the screen is taken up with a popup asking to make edge your default every time!

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      1 year ago

      There’s a setting in outlook options, but it’s buried pretty deep.

      Open Links with under advanced something

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m in tech support, I’ve had several users hit by this in office programs as opening links via plugins to sites they need to be logged into would suddenly open a different browser which they weren’t logged into. None of them realized what was going on. That alone should cause for a lawsuit, since they’re changing defaults for reasons entirely unrelated to eg. preventing security risks.

    • pastromic@citizensgaming.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Everyone hates this new feature at work. Now we have to close the extra side-chat bar in edge every time we click a link in Teams. This kind of feature will drive people to share links using any other program.

      I swear… MS program managers are some kind of alien that don’t understand user experience at all

  • SaltyLemon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    95
    ·
    1 year ago

    This shit makes me want to quit IT. Technology is no longer helping humans. Technology is controlled by capitalist cunts.

    • mailerdaemon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m with you. I’m so completely and utterly over working in IT. The industry used to be full of companies founded by people who loved tech, and were staffed by kids who grew up on Lego and Logo. Today these same businesses are owned by investors who don’t know the first thing about technology, and staffed by grown up kids who were told by their guidance counselor that IT was a high paying field. Nobody knows their ass from a hole in the ground anymore, and getting anyone remotely competent on the phone is like pulling teeth. If I could bail on this industry tomorrow and build picnic tables I’d never look back.

    • mall_ninja@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 year ago

      Same. Streaming services reinvented cable. The open web is increasingly hidden behind paywalls. Instead of having the sum of all human knowledge at your fingertips, you have 5 billion tiny creators begging you to sign up for their goat-fat candle-making course on udacity. You can’t look in any direction without advertisers stabbing you in the eyes and claiming that it’s their god-given right to scream their snake-oil sales pitch directly into your brain; and if you install an ad blocker you’re the one stealing food out of content creators mouths, not the ~5 people who control 50 % of the total wealth of humanity…

    • BURN@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m out of software the first chance I get. I hate it. Tech is no longer fun and inventive, it’s exploitative and designed to milk the most money out of every user.

      I don’t even particularly care about the capitalist part. I just find that the new things are no longer fun, but terrifying and causing anxiety about the future. I used to love keeping up with the newest stuff, but I already feel like a Luddite after the last few years

    • TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      I joined an IT career out of excitement for technology and gaming, but most that I see about both those industries makes me lose hope for the future.

    • TwoGems@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Don’t quit IT. Combine your abilities with other IT people and make new things that create competition.

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    48
    ·
    1 year ago

    Didn’t this very same issue result in MS being called a monopoly all those years ago. And now they are right back at it again.

  • madcaesar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    48
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Fucking Microsoft, they could right now be the beacon of the Internet right now, had they chosen Firefox as the base of their browser.

    I’d actually be using it, as a counter to Chrome.

    But no, of course they had to go with chromium and just become another dicksucker.

    • SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Even if they used Firefox or any other browser as a base I wouldn’t use it, it started as a decent browser but they just had to stuff it with cruft, they even took things they were offering as an extension and baked it in instead of letting people choose what they want to install on their PC.

    • dezmd@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      of course they had to go with chromium and just become another dicksucker.

      Interesting take to put Google higher on the list of fuckery corps than Microsoft, but what goes around comes around in different ways. I’d make a guess it’s more likely they’re just doing what they do, going full embrace and extend on chromium to dilute Chrome’s dominance. Unfortunately they determined that means going full Internet Explorer with their integration into the OS (which they get to play technicality over with antitrust concerns since their ‘apps’ are what default it rather than an underlying OS ‘default’ that this effectively deprecates).

      Cheers.

    • loics2@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      58
      ·
      1 year ago

      Teams on Linux is already broken af, we won’t even notice we can’t open links

      • wax@lemmy.wtf
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        I believe I read somewhere that they have abandoned the desktop app on Linux. Yep:

        !In September 2022, Microsoft announced that they’d be retiring their Linux Teams client in December 2022 in favour of a new “Progressive Web Application” (PWA) version of Teams.!<

      • 1984@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        No I’m OK with it, whatever. It’s worth it big time to not run windows. :)

    • Petter1@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      What if I tell you, that Teams has edge integrated, since it is basically a browser with custom UI

        • AreaSIX @lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Unfortunately, I’m unable to make or answer calls in Teams on Firefox. It only works for booked meetings. So for work stuff, I’ve got to use Edge even on my own home desktop. Honestly, I like it more than I did Chrome, but if I get to choose, it’s Firefox all the way.

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yep it’s a terribly engineered pile of shit built on random scraps of other stuff. That’s why it has problems all the time.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    ·
    1 year ago

    Didn’t Microsoft lose a large anti trust court case about this shit for internet explorer? So we’re just going the same route again because fuck the law and fuck our customers?

    In any case, I am forced to use teams and since I run Linux I use it in chrome as the teams executable is just non workable.

    Besides that, who in their right mond used teams? It’s a bit of a rhetorical question, my org uses it (for the moment, still) and it is godawful.

    Teams on browsers is a fucking joke. Want gasp two tabs open with chats? Oh nononononon, Can’t have that! We’ll helpfully display an all page hiding modal asking you “are you still here?” on one of these tabs (almost always, but in typical Microsoft fashion, not always always) and if you click “I’m back” we’ll helpfully reload that page. Since many pages don’t have their unique URL, as they should because that is how the internet works, the reload just kicks you out of what you were doing… Were you in an important meeting? Well now you’re not anymore with mo way to get back unless maybe your boss tries to add you back himself.

    Camera randomly just disappears, when you go into a preplanned call sometimes half the people end up in different chats, ahw whatever. I have a long, LONG list of other bugs and not enough energy to write it all down again

    People should NOT use teams and should NOT use any Microsoft software, it’s all shit. I use Linux for servers and its all fast and easy. i use Linux for desktop and I never have to deal with any of the Microsoft shit

    • ohlaph@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      They lost something similar. But the US is different now. We don’t hold companies accountable anymore. Look at the food industry, look at Facebook, Google, etc.

    • ShranTheWaterPoloFan@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Didn’t Microsoft lose a large anti trust court case about this shit for internet explorer?

      Yes and no.

      MS made Internet explorer uninstallable and made it even if you could install Netscape you couldn’t set it as the default app. Forcing teams to open internet explorer edge is more in line with iPhones and Android. Both phone OSs will let you install different browsers, but opening links from most 1st party apps opens safari or chrome with no real way to change it. It’s one of the worst things about phones and now MS is trying to move Windows that direction.

      It’s going to get worse. Once corporations start to adopt edge MS will move to make browser office the only office. Clicking a .doc in edge will redirect to browser word 365. Saving already defaults to the cloud, soon we’ll have “virtual downloads” that save your download to your cloud and you can only meaningfully interact with it via edge.

      We need more legislation and regulations allowing software choice for all platforms. We’ve never been allowed to own software, now we can’t even buy a perpetual license. Soon we won’t be allowed to have a copy of software saved on our devices, and files made by that software won’t be allowed on our computers either.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Do you know what’s funny though?

        My company for the moment still uses teams. I’ll get that fixed soon. But while using teams, teams runs in chrome on my Linux box. That still works because good luck fucking around with that in Linux Ms… So this is not a technical requirement, it’s a corporate and marketing requirement.

        Fuck Microsoft, switch to Linux

    • gandy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Did you try to use the Progressive Web App (PWA) version of Teams instead? It is not perfect either, but I find it more useful that way than running it somewhere in a browser’s tab.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Tried the Linux app. It’s about as stable as a methhead junkie and it was simply unusable. The browser version is damn near unusable as well but at least I manage to sometimes use it, sometimes answer a call etc… it’s hilariously bad but at least it starts.

        Seriously Microsoft, what is it with MS web pages not understanding that people might shudder open up two tabs? I open a second tab for teams and all hell breaks lose.

        This is something indonwith all types of web pages without problem. Only Mickeysoft teams fucks it up just like all web pages on Microsoft.

  • legion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    1 year ago

    For the last X number of years, I’ve listened to people proclaim how Microsoft has changed, they’re not the '90s Microsoft anymore. They make things open source! They’re putting Linux in Windows now instead of trying to murder Linux! They’re not doing Internet Explorer things anymore! You old Slashdot readers are stuck in the past!

    '90s Microsoft sends their regards.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          20
          ·
          1 year ago

          Macs don’t force you to use a specific browser. That was my point. This isn’t really about bloatware.

        • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’ve been using Macs for work since the early 2000s and they don’t add bloat. If you consider apps like Pages and Numbers to be bloat, you can drag them straight into the trash and they go away.

          Windows is a whole other story. Like who the absolute fuck thought it was a good idea to have ads in the OS?

    • Dalë@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      In my case won’t matter company has deplyed Edge on all company Mac’s for better integration apparently. (͡•_ ͡• )

  • Vilian@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    how much more IT guys want to be abused before switching to linux in companies, it’s not like they use something windows exclusive, only if it’s the insecurities

    • maynarkh@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Just as soon as Linux sales people wine and dine the CTO better than the Microsoft ones. Usually it’s not IT people. If it was up to IT in my experience, Jan from Accounting would be using a tiling VM on Linux.

      • Vilian@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        if the jan com accounting is using only the browser or a standalone app to do the work, the OS do’nt matter, except if it is to intall other things, but it’s the company computer why are they intalling other things

        • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          1 year ago

          Until Google finishes ramming Web Integrity Framework into Chrome, and then Jan can’t use her browser from Linux anymore because QuickBooks took a bunch of money from Microsoft to lock their website to Windows only. The Internet is fucked by corpo greed.

        • Droechai@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          The BankID-app in Sweden only supports Windows and Mac, so if you need the improved security with cable you are locked.

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    will open web links from Teams chats in Microsoft Edge to enable a new web and chat side-by-side experience.

    I am so sick and tired of this fluffy language every tech company uses these days. “New experience” this, “New experience” that, the only new experience I want is the experience of kicking a shoe up Nadella’s ass.

  • Swarfega@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    1 year ago

    I used Edge during beta and upon release. It’s a decent browser. But Microsoft started adding their bloat to it and now just throws it in my face every chance they get. I no longer use Edge as a result.

        • Thorned_Rose@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          18
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Obligatory, that’s not socialism, that’s Totalitarianism. Don’t work so well as a portmanteau but it’s a teeth grinding pet peeve of mine - like, if we’re going to mock greedy despotic corporates, let’s at least insult them using the correct words 😅

          • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            It’s just capitalism without legitimate regulation or consumer law. Totalitarianism would be forcing you to use MS/Windows/Edge.

    • kescusay@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      You’re going to want to remove other parts of Windows as well, such as Windows Explorer, the Win32 runtime, the kernel, etc.

      (In other words, install Linux.)

    • CumBroth@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Edge is so invasive now that people have developed tools to remove it, for example https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil. And you still have to run them after any update that ends up reinstalling Edge! It’s like removing malware, but it’s even worse because this gets reinstalled by updates from the same legitimate authority that provides your security updates. This recently got me so mad that I decided to quit the games that don’t run on Linux and replace Windows with Linux on my gaming PC.

      It’s a shame I can’t avoid Microsoft at work as well.

    • Elderos@lemmings.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Removing internet explorer caused a whole lot of issues back in the days. I’d wager some programs would still depend on Edge nowadays and ignore your default browser.

  • xavier666@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 year ago

    Good luck trying to open it on Edge when it’s blocked from installing via policy