Looks like Microsoft will soon let us rid our Windows 11 PCs of the Microsoft Teams Chat feature, which is currently impossible to uninstall. Microsoft appears to be reacting to concerns over a potential antitrust investigation from the European Commission, after complaints were made by several companies over Teams being just too damn prevalent.
We've all been subject to bloatware. For companies like Microsoft, with a near-enough a monopoly on a PC gamer's operating system, making apps impossible to uninstall from your OS is a clever tactic to get you using their lesser known products... or at least make it look like people are using it when they're really not.
As Windows Latest explains, it's currently possible to unpin Teams Chat from your Windows 11 taskbar in the settings menu, but you can't fully uninstall it. You can hit the little toggle, but It just sits there on your PC, taking up space. It's actually not possible to find Microsoft Teams Chat under your Installed Apps in Windows 11 so I've no idea how much of your precious storage space it's taking up, but it does still sit there in the Taskbar personalisation menu, taunting you with its mere existence.
Soon, though, it looks like you'll be able to remove it from your system entirely, rather than just toggling it off in the settings. The giveaway? Windows 11 Preview builds from May include references to a "RemoveChat" feature, which totally wipes the software from the system, including any mentions of it ever having existed.
Since Teams Chat comes bundled with a bunch of frankly necessary Microsoft products, other communications companies have been getting a little irate about Microsoft's clever competitive edge.
Back in 2020, Slack and a few other companies made it clear to the European Union that Microsoft forcing Teams onto Windows users was a bit unfair on their business.
What's Slack supposed to do, come up with a competing OS to get their app noticed? As if.
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A spokesperson from the European Commission told Reuters at the time, "We have received several complaints regarding Microsoft, including by Slack regarding Microsoft's conduct in relation to its Teams product." They refused to comment any further, since it was ongoing, but it now looks like Microsoft is trying to make up for it due to the threat of a looming antitrust investigation from the European Union.
Microsoft 365 or Office 365 for Business are also likely to stop bundling the softwares together, too. Hopefully the announcement will give companies like Slack (my personal haven) more of a chance to shoot their shot when it comes to business communications.
