2026-03-22 13:11 UTC
@mjdxp
all I know is that "Windows 8.1 with Bing" was a real thing that could absolutely hurt you.
(MS giving Windows away for free, if it defaulted to their unwanted search engine)
(probably trivial to work around, but still heralded their move towards a "users are the real product" business model)
Replies (2)
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@mjdxp@labyrinth.zone 2026-03-22 14:37
@moses_izumi geez, they really wanted people to use bing lmao
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@sugar@i.use.akkoma.btw.sylveon.social 2026-03-22 15:21
@moses_izumi @mjdxp windows 8.1 with bing essentially was microsoft providing windows for free to manufacturers, as long the manufacturer didn't install another web browser, and kept internet explorer's default search engine as bing as far users are concerned, there is nothing to bypass, they could still install another web browser, or if for some reason they want to use internet explorer, they could change search engine in it themselves