EEA-based Windows 11 users can already experience the region's compliant policies on the operating system

As you might know already, Copilot is now available on Windows 11, but those users who are EEA-based do not have access to it yet. Microsoft is listed as a gatekeeper under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, and many of the AI-backed features, including the now ever-present Copilot won’t be available in the region for now.

However, the Redmond-based tech giant is planning on releasing Copilot to EEA-based Windows users sometime in the future, and so the company has begun the process of becoming an EEA-compliant entity from now on.

This means all the Microsoft products and services, including Windows 11, will be released with some updates that will follow the EEA policy guidelines. The updates must be released by March 6, 2024, which is also the date Windows will be fully compliant with the EEA policies.

Coming soon, we will be releasing the November 2023 non-security preview update for Windows 11, version 23H2 to the Release Preview Channel that will preview many of the changes we’ve made to Windows 11 to meet these obligations. These changes will gradually be rolling out to devices in Release Preview over the next couple weeks.

Microsoft

Last week, EEA-based Windows 11 users were able to download the first updates that would turn Windows 11 into a compliant OS, and now, according to the Windows enthusiast, @XenoPanther, Windows 11 is starting to showcase the obvious changes.

This is how Windows 11 becomes EEA compliant

According to the Windows enthusiast, a recent change to Windows Spotlight that would let users open tourist recommendations using the default browser has reverted back to only being able to open them with Microsoft Edge.

However, apparently, the European area is not affected by this sudden reverse.

It would make sense as one of the changes Microsoft needs to make to turn Windows into an EEA-compliant operating system is to allow users to uninstall Microsoft Edge and Web Search within Bing.

As this Windows Spotlight recommendation would only be opened with Microsoft Edge, it doesn’t follow EU’s regulations at all, so the change was not reverted back to its original form in the European region.

Microsoft being listed as a gatekeeper in the region means that the company would only let users open web-based tasks through Microsoft Edge, instead of allowing the preferred default browser.

While Edge has come a long way, and it’s now regarded as one of the fastest browsers around, Microsoft’s intentions can be seen as gatekeeping, aka shoving the competition by not allowing it to thrive on Windows, something that the EU doesn’t agree with.

To continue enjoying a European community, Windows must become compliant with the region’s policies, something that a lot of users agree with.

Seriously though, the European Commission has done great work with this. It’s incredibly frustrating that Microsoft has fallen back into their late-90s habits regarding their leveraging of the Windows market position, and even more so that the FTC hasn’t pulled them up on it. Changing your default browser on Windows 11 forces you to jump through so many hoops, and you can’t even change the web search in the Start menu. Recently I had Microsoft Copilot dropped into my taskbar. Considering AI as an independent market, which it now so clearly is; who said I wanted to engage with the Copilot offering for this? Is there a framework for other participants to develop an AI offering with equal capability and software preference?

Windows user on Reddit

What do you think about this? Is it the better way?