New Web Apps installed without Permission or User action

[TechFreak1]

Earlier today, I noticed something odd... there were three instances of Word installed on my PC.... :grincry:.

Labeled in the following order top to bottom.

W2A. Word webapp instance 1
W2B. Word webapp instance 2



Puzzled I did some digging and found that they were actually web apps using Edge as a proxy.





Now, I don't have any issue with the web app functionality or if it was pre-installed with o/s for new devices. What I do take issue with - is the way these web apps were installed without permission or consent.

What makes it even worse is that you cannot uninstall W2A as it's attached to W2B and this behaviour will throw people who are not tech savy.





After uninstalling W2B, W2A was effectively a dead shortcut.

Checked, edge web apps manager and W2A did not show up there - confirming it was indeed a dead shortcut.

Web app manager accessed via elipses menu -> Apps -> Manage (see .gif below).

It disappeared after signing out and signing back in.




I hope this was only rolled out to a few users....

Microsoft needs to handle this extremely delicately as it can snowball into a PR disaster. The best thing to do is remove these web app installs promptly and issue a notice via Edge that new web apps are available and would the user like to install them?

This is probably the second instance of Microsoft quite openly installing something silently without user consent. The first instance imo would be the addition of the Microsoft Repo to the Raspberry Pi O/S again without user consent.

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-repo-silently-added-raspberry-pi-os-folks-begin-freak-out

I'm baffled how these decisions got the go ahead....

This shoddy behaviour has me questioning should I just switch to open source free office alternatives (I am currently a office 365 subscriber) as my jobs as of late have hardly required me use the advanced functionality of office (mostly used bespoked CRMs) and the last time I used anything like mail merge was several years ago.

If Microsoft doesn't stop these questionable practises I will ditch paying for office 365 altogether. In the event they continue to engage in these questionable practises across the board I will no longer buy any Microsoft hardware and that includes Xbox consoles any other associated subscription services.

Putting personal feelings and principles aside - I have to ask has anyone else noticed these web app installs?


Edit:

After doing some further digging, it appears Microsoft has been slow rolling this out.

This is the only article I found... the article is from October 15th 2020.

https://phonemantra.com/microsoft-i...g-apps-on-windows-10-without-user-permission/

 

[anon(5327127)]

Waaaaaahhhhh-bulance is here!

This is not the first time MS, Google, or Apple has done this.

You know that thing called an EULA... it probably has the info you need. You own a licence to run the software, but own NOTHING. MS can, and WILL, push stuff to you from time to time. It's hardly a crazy nightmare. Maybe go for more walks, open a window, or play with next door's cat?

Make the switch! Do it. Leave MS behind and stamp your foot with Open Office. Yay. Bye for now.

 

[TechFreak1]

Waaaaaahhhhh-bulance is here!

This is not the first time MS, Google, or Apple has done this.

You know that thing called an EULA... it probably has the info you need. You own a licence to run the software, but own NOTHING. MS can, and WILL, push stuff to you from time to time. It's hardly a crazy nightmare. Maybe go for more walks, open a window, or play with next door's cat?

Make the switch! Do it. Leave MS behind and stamp your foot with Open Office. Yay. Bye for now.

The thing is, yes this may be "legally" covered by the EULA however it does not make it right.

Your bank could say they reserve the right to charge you $100 every day you use the overdraft facility in the terms and conditions. Now, say you've used public transport terminals to top up your pre-paid travel card over the course of a month, you do your shopping, pay your bills as normal.

But due to the delay in merchants taking payments you will have periods will multiple transactions overlap and you may go become overdrawn by a few dollars or more if your paycheck is late.

Now, by being overdrawn for by a few dollars you are being charged $100 dollars every day and your pay day falls on a weekend so you get paid on the monday or tuesday. Those two or three day delays now means you are 200 to 300 out of pocket due to being overdrawn by a few dollars.

Does that sit well with you?

If people sit idly by and do nothing, what do you think the greedy corporations will do :grincry:?

Hell I don't need to use an example, just look how much people pay for the mobile phone contracts and internet connections compared to the rest of the world. I don't even need to mention the woeful lack of infrastructure maintenance either.

Now that's get into a political discussion which is not the purpose of this thread.

 

[anon(5327127)]

We have a choice. Use the software, or don't. At the end of the day, Google, Microsoft and Apple have all done this and will do so again. This is an old issue that's happened many, many times before.

 

[tyoil]

We can choose. Either use the program or don't. In the end, Apple, Microsoft, and Google have all engaged in this behavior and will continue to do so. This is an old problem that has occurred countless times in the past.