News Microsoft: Eu Tech Companies File Formal Complaint Against Windows "One Drive" Bundling

[Admin]

Dozens of European tech companies have lodged a formal complaint with EU and german authorities over perceived anti-competitive behavior from Microsoft for bundling One Drive cloud storage solution with Windows releases.

Microsoft: Eu Tech Companies File Formal Complaint Against Windows "One Drive" Bundling : Read more

 

[gggplaya]

Same stuff different day. I remember the Internet Explorer debacle.

I'll be so glad when Onedrive isn't turned on by default.

 

[Sippincider]

Will this apply to iCloud, which is also smoothly bundled and doesn’t take “NO!” for an answer?

 

[JinxTheWorld]

I always uninstall that whenever i see it on a PC. It's almost OCD at this point lol. First thing i get rid of.

 

[gggplaya]

Will this apply to iCloud, which is also smoothly bundled and doesn’t take “NO!” for an answer?

If Microsoft loses, you might see a domino effect. Android also requires a google account.

 

[gggplaya]

I always uninstall that whenever i see it on a PC. It's almost OCD at this point lol. First thing i get rid of.

The problem is, it's not a simple thing to turn off or remove. When you set it to disabled and log out. Sometimes it's magically logs back in or sometimes nags you to log back into Onedrive. Real pain in the arse for people that don't know how to properly remove it.

 

[JinxTheWorld]

The problem is, it's not a simple thing to turn off or remove. When you set it to disabled and log out. Sometimes it's magically logs back in or sometimes nags you to log back into Onedrive. Real pain in the arse for people that don't know how to properly remove it.

IObit Uninstaller does the trick. Removes the registry as well. One click and its gone forever.

 

[-Fran-]

It takes me more time to uninstall the bloatware from both the OEM and Microsoft than it takes me to install the things I really want, haha.

Regards.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I'll be so glad when Onedrive isn't turned on by default.

IIRC it asks you whether or not you want to set up Onedrive the first time you boot after installation. It's still installed and probably still running regardless what you choose, but it's not actually doing anything.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Android also requires a google account.

It's certainly more convenient with a google account, but it's not actually required.

 

[gggplaya]

IIRC it asks you whether or not you want to set up Onedrive the first time you boot after installation. It's still installed and probably still running regardless what you choose, but it's not actually doing anything.

I press skip on that setup, and it nags you from time to time when you're doing things in office or whatever. I go ahead and remove it on all new builds.

 

[salgado18]

Same stuff different day. I remember the Internet Explorer debacle.

I'll be so glad when Onedrive isn't turned on by default.

I'll be glad when it doesn't ship with Windows by default. Same for Teams and all the bloat the OS has, that can be easily downloaded if needed. Apply that to all vendors (Apple, Google, Samsung etc).

 

[bigdragon]

OneDrive has this habit of showing back up after certain updates get applied. I understand that some people may like the convenience, and that Microsoft uses cloud storage space as a mechanism to make recurring monthly profits. However, I really hate it when things I've uninstalled come back. If only my printer were so persistent ("driver unavailable" again? Huh?).

 

[mitch074]

If Microsoft loses, you might see a domino effect. Android also requires a google account.

not quite - if you never set it up several services aren't enabled, true, and Google Play is unusable. But you can , in most cases (depending on the manufacturer) use a different app store instead; it's actually not so difficult.
OneDrive is different in that you CAN'T fully remove it : Windows keeps prompting you to use it and it comes back with every major (and some minor) OS update - quite a pain, actually.

 

[jkflipflop98]

This is absolutely moronic and nothing but a blind cash grab aimed at Microsoft yet again. Disgusting.

"Oh, they bundled one of their products with the Operating System! The consumers may be harmed!" an operating system by default is just a giant bundle of programs. That's what an O/S is. It applies to any operating system on any device. There's no harm to any consumer here. They aren't blocking other developers from making their own cloud storage BS.

But, hey, at least the EU government will get to keep the ~$5B fine they levy against an American tech giant.

If I were running Microsoft I'd tell them to suck it. I double dog dare you to ban Windows.

 

[JinxTheWorld]

not quite - if you never set it up several services aren't enabled, true, and Google Play is unusable. But you can , in most cases (depending on the manufacturer) use a different app store instead; it's actually not so difficult.
OneDrive is different in that you CAN'T fully remove it : Windows keeps prompting you to use it and it comes back with every major (and some minor) OS update - quite a pain, actually.

Weird, I used IObit Uninstaller to remove it on my PC a year ago, and i have never seen it again. Even doing a search, the only thing that pops up is one note.

Perhaps it keeps coming back because of the leftover registry that IObit uninstaller removes.

 

[hotaru251]

Android also requires a google account.

are ways to get around it.
it basically disables the features (such as play store) but it is possible to use 1 w/o it.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I call BS on this.

I can definitely see where having the ability to uninstall OneDrive with one click would be great, but that is for experienced and advanced PC users who will be using Google Drive, Dropbox, the own NAS remotely, or another cloud storage option.

For novice users who think the $750 computer from HP at Walmart with a dual core i3 and 4GB of RAM is a great deal and who don't take any safety precautions (we all know these kinds of people), and who don't know and wouldn't use any other cloud service anyway, having OneDrive with easy activation is a great way for them to help protect their tax documents and other things against ransomware and viruses.

Also:

"Local, more specialized vendors are unable to compete "on the merits" as the key to success is not a good product but the ability to distort competition and block market access," noting that "This makes it nearly impossible to compete with their SaaS services."

So say OneDrive is removed, what's going to keep most people from going to Google Drive or iCloud because that's what's on their Android and Apple phones and where their mobile documents and pictures are saved? It's cloud storage, people are going to use what is most convenient.

 

[gggplaya]

are ways to get around it.
it basically disables the features (such as play store) but it is possible to use 1 w/o it.

It's also possible to disable Onedrive and use windows without it. What I'm saying is that if Microsoft loses, there could be a domino effect and set a precedence for what OS's can and can't require or be installed.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

It's also possible to disable Onedrive and use windows without it. What I'm saying is that if Microsoft loses, there could be a domino effect and set a precedence for what OS's can and can't require or be installed.

But what if it works out well and the ruling becomes a law which states "Anything non-central to the operating system of a device must allow the User to choose if it is to be installed and allowed to uninstall it at any time"? Imagine computers and phones requiring the user to consent to install crapware that's typically preloaded onto it, and Google allowing people to uninstall, not merely disable, unwanted Android apps.

 

[USAFRet]

But what if it works out well and the ruling becomes a law which states "Anything non-central to the operating system of a device must allow the User to choose if it is to be installed and allowed to uninstall it at any time"? Imagine computers and phones requiring the user to consent to install crapware that's typically preloaded onto it, and Google allowing people to uninstall, not merely disable, unwanted Android apps.

Notepad, picture viewer, File Explorer.....
Given too much choice, the majority of users will end up with an unusable system.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Notepad, picture viewer, File Explorer.....
Given too much choice, the majority of users will end up with an unusable system.

Most people would consider those things "central" to the operating system. Teams, OneDrive, Spotify, Norton 360 3 Month Trial, Amazon Shopping, things like that have no effect whatsoever on the operating system itself and can be used without any loss of functionality other than the functionality that they provide.

You probably remember me saying on multiple occasions that I consider Windows 2000 to be the best Windows OS Microsoft ever released, and part of that is because absolutely everything was an optional install other than the core OS, and it was light, fast, and absolutely stable because of it.

 

[USAFRet]

Most people would consider those things "central" to the operating system. Teams, OneDrive, Spotify, Norton 360 3 Month Trial, Amazon Shopping, things like that have no effect whatsoever on the operating system itself and can be used without any loss of functionality other than the functionality that they provide.

You probably remember me saying on multiple occasions that I consider Windows 2000 to be the best Windows OS Microsoft ever released, and part of that is because absolutely everything was an optional install other than the core OS, and it was light, fast, and absolutely stable because of it.

I know what you're saying, and I mostly agree about OneDrive.

But there is a dangerous road we go down when we start to cause things to be removed from the install.

 

[Endymio]

Once again we have European firms whining over their inability to compete. Some of the posters have referenced the IE debacle, but long before that were the complaints when Microsoft began including an TCP/IP stack with Windows ... had Europe had its way back then, you'd be forced to buy your own stack separately and install it, simply to get network access in Windows. And the same arguments were raised back then, that network services were in no way "central" to an operating system.

And yes, I know it wasn't only European firms lodging complaints. Same principle applies.

 

[Chung Leong]

Will this apply to iCloud, which is also smoothly bundled and doesn’t take “NO!” for an answer?

No, since Apple doesn't enjoy such dominance in the OS market. Bundling software (or service) is not illegal. What's illegal is the abuse of monopoly power. The way Microsoft pushing OneDrive is almost certainly beyond the pale. The latest version of Office actively makes it hard for the user to save their documents somewhere other than on OneDrive.