Microsoft is backtracking on plans to force Bing on Office 365 ProPlus users following pushback.

On January 22, Microsoft announced it would include the Microsoft Search Bing extension with Office 365 ProPlus, effectively making Bing the default search engine, forcing it on users whether they wanted it or not. Needless to say, the backlash was immediate and severe, prompting Microsoft to revisit their decision.

In a community post Tuesday, the company acknowledged the negative feedback it had received, and outlined the adjustments they are making.

“But we’ve also heard concerns about the way we were planning to roll this value out. Most importantly, we heard that customers don’t want Office 365 ProPlus to change search defaults without an opt-in, and they need a way to govern these changes on unmanaged devices.

“Based on your feedback, we are making a few changes to our plan:

• The Microsoft Search in Bing browser extension will not be automatically deployed with Office 365 ProPlus.
• Through a new toggle in Microsoft 365 admin center, administrators will be able to opt in to deploy the browser extension to their organization through Office 365 ProPlus.
• In the near term, Office 365 ProPlus will only deploy the browser extension to AD-joined devices, even within organizations that have opted in. In the future we will add specific settings to govern the deployment of the extension to unmanaged devices.
• We will continue to provide end users who receive the extension with control over their search engine preference.”

This is welcome news to Office 365 ProPlus users.