To comply with the Digital Markets Act, Microsoft is announcing several upcoming changes to Windows 10 and 11 in the European Union. In particular, it will be possible to uninstall an application that was previously impossible to delete.
A law implemented in all European Union countries. This is what it took for major American tech companies to loosen the screws on their systems and give users more freedom. May 2, 2023, marks the entry into force of the Digital Markets Act, or DMA. Not to be confused with the Digital Services Act, also in place on the Old Continent, it has since had very concrete repercussions.
Some are quite anecdotal, others much more significant. On Windows 10 and 11, we are thinking in particular of the possibility of uninstalling the Edge Internet browser, previously considered an unremovable system application. Microsoft will soon go further by allowing, among other things, deleting a program that we thought we were doomed to keep on our computers.
Microsoft will allow the uninstallation of this Windows application, not a moment too soon
On its blog dedicated to Windows Insiders, those who receive operating system updates in advance in order to test them, we can read about the changes coming to Europe. For example, choosing a default browser will automatically associate more file types and links with it than currently. Among others, .xml, .svg, or the ftp protocol. You can also set your browser as a PDF reader, which saves you from installing a dedicated program.
The biggest new feature, however, remains the uninstallation of the Microsoft Store. It will be deleted like any other program, without this preventing your applications from receiving their updates. It will always be possible to reinstall the store afterwards if you wish, of course.
Other new features are expected, for example opening web content by Bing in the default browser instead of Edge. The deployment of all these options will be spread between now and the end of 2025. The uninstallation of the Microsoft Store will come last, or almost last, so be patient.
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