[HN Gopher] EU companies issue formal complaint against Microsof...
___________________________________________________________________
EU companies issue formal complaint against Microsoft OneDrive
integration
Author : 1cvmask
Score : 32 points
Date : 2021-11-28 17:26 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.zdnet.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.zdnet.com)
| nodamage wrote:
| This is getting ridiculous. Just because OneDrive is pre-
| installed does not mean you are forced to use it or are blocked
| from using an alternative service.
|
| What's next, calculator apps lobbying for Microsoft to be banned
| from shipping a calculator with Windows? Drawing apps lobbying
| for Paint to be banned? Windows shouldn't be allowed to ship with
| decompression support so WinZip can compete?
|
| Can we not recognize there are legitimate reasons to bundle
| helpful utilities with an operating system and that banning OS
| manufacturers from including them might actually lead to a worse
| experience for most users?
| adriancr wrote:
| Replace onedrive with internet explorer and see how microsoft
| was wrong there in the past, got fined and had to provide a
| version without it.
| nodamage wrote:
| Of course I am familiar with Microsoft's history with IE and
| perhaps this will be a bit controversial but I believe the EU
| got this one partially wrong. They could have simply forced
| Microsoft to allow IE to be uninstalled without also forcing
| them to ship a version of Windows without a browser
| altogether.
|
| After all, if you're okay with banning IE and OneDrive from
| being pre-installed where does the slippery slope end? What
| stops the exact same argument from being applied to every
| single other application that ships with an operating system?
| Now you've banned solitaire, paint, file explorer, media
| player, photo viewer, pdf viewer, disk defragger, etc. etc.
| and created a crippled operating system that forces the user
| to hunt down and install all these third-party applications
| to get functionality that should have been included in the
| first place.
|
| Is the end user really better off under such a scenario? Not
| in my opinion.
| owisd wrote:
| > where does the slippery slope end
|
| Should have to convince a judge that bundling the
| particular application is causing a distorting effect on
| the market. The complainants might have a case for
| OneDrive, but seems much more unlikely the video game
| industry would have a case for solitaire.
| nodamage wrote:
| > but seems much more unlikely the video game industry
| would have a case for solitaire.
|
| Based on what? It seems entirely plausible that the
| developer of a solitaire game could make the exact same
| argument that Microsoft shipping a free version of
| solitaire with Windows makes it impossible to complete
| against them, and therefore (under the same logic applied
| to OneDrive) solitaire should be banned from Windows in
| order to ensure a "level playing field".
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Perhaps OS vendors should ship platform tooling, such as
| to make games easier to make. Not shipping games and apps
| themselves.
|
| Like stable APIs for file sync, calendars, contacts,
| gaming, common hardware, etc.
| s17n wrote:
| Why not? Bundled solitaire surely has a significant
| impact on third party solitaire games.
| DaiPlusPlus wrote:
| > Just because OneDrive is pre-installed
|
| OneDrive isn't just pre-installed, it's somewhat (aggressively,
| even?) marketed from within Windows. For example, even if you
| aren't using OneDrive you cannot remove or hide the OneDrive
| icons in the Explorer folder tree (not without registry
| tweaks).
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| It's also not an open standard. And one cannot just swap it
| out for another provider.
|
| Which _would_ be a nice uncontroversial feature: "choose
| your default sync service"
| rstat1 wrote:
| I just opened a folder window on my Win10 PC...no OneDrive
| icons in sight.
| nodamage wrote:
| I just attempted to verify your claim but instead found that
| I could easily uninstall OneDrive from Windows Settings ->
| Apps. Now it is completely gone and does not show up in
| Explorer at all.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Will it come back after the next automatic upgrade? Because
| I recall turning it off only to see it reappear every few
| months with updates.
| DaiPlusPlus wrote:
| What version of Windows are you running and do you have
| Office installed?
| nodamage wrote:
| Windows 10 Pro 20H2. Yes I do have Office installed.
| hulitu wrote:
| I presume you have limited experience with windows 10. Windows
| 10 almost forces you to save on one drive. One drive is the
| default. To save on local disk you have to select local
| computer, then your drive. (3 clicks away).
| nodamage wrote:
| I use Windows 10 all the time. OneDrive is installed but I am
| not logged into it because I don't use it.
|
| My Windows save file dialog defaults to the Downloads folder.
| OneDrive is listed as an option (along with Dropbox which I
| do use) but I basically never notice it so I am not entirely
| sure what you are referring to.
| xmodem wrote:
| Do you have Office installed? try saving a document from
| that.
| bjustin wrote:
| I saw this for the first time on my parents' Mac computers,
| where Microsoft Word's weird save dialog shows OneDrive first
| and has a button for choosing a location on the local file
| system.
|
| Meanwhile my Windows desktop does not have behavior like this
| in the apps I use, mostly web browsers and Discord. I don't
| believe I installed or uninstalled onedrive. Maybe I disabled
| some easy to find settings in Windows for the very annoying
| bits.
| xmodem wrote:
| I had to collaborate with an external client who worked
| heavily in Office, so I installed office on my mac, asked
| IT for a license, and signed in with my personal account in
| the meantime.
|
| A couple of months later I open the Office web UI on my
| home PC to add a family member and find a bunch of the
| documents I had worked on had ended up saved there somehow.
|
| Fortunately none of it was particularly sensitive. Some
| stuff I work with we would have to report to a regulator if
| this happened.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-11-28 23:02 UTC)