Windows 11 could get a change to help banish Edge and Bing - but don't get your hopes up too high

• Microsoft could make the Windows 11 taskbar search box fire up your default browser and search engine, rather than Edge and Bing
• This is based on clues in an early test version of its Edge browser
• The EEA region already has the benefit of this change, so the hope is very much that Microsoft is considering rolling this out globally

Microsoft might just make a much-wanted change to Windows 11 in terms of having the search box open up a query in the operating system's default web browser rather than Edge.

Windows Latest reports that there are flags in a test build of the Edge browser (in the Canary channel), which are a hint that Microsoft is working on this functionality, though it may not ever come to fruition.

The flags in question are for features related to the 'WSB' or Windows Search Bar – meaning the search box on the taskbar – or so Windows Latest theorizes, and this seems likely (though technically WSB could refer to Windows Sandbox, which doesn't fit with the context).

One of the flags indicates that the default browser will be used from the search box instead of Edge, and there's also a flag for the default search engine to be used instead of Bing. On top of that, Windows Latest further uncovered a flag to invoke both of those behaviors.

In that latter case, it would mean that if you ran a search in the taskbar that produced a web result, instead of using Edge and Bing automatically, Windows 11 would bring up your chosen default browser and search engine (Chrome and Google, perhaps, or Firefox and DuckDuckGo – whatever you've picked).

Note that these are hidden developments in Edge so far, but they'd theoretically be linked to broader changes in Windows 11 whereby the mentioned defaults would be respected by Microsoft.

Analysis: leveling the Windows playing field

Respecting your default service and app choices is, of course, exactly how things should work, but they don't. Microsoft would rather summon its own browser and search engine in Windows 11 whenever it can. If that annoys Windows 11 users, then so be it – things have been this way for a long time.

Well, that's not quite true for everyone, as notably, not so long ago, Microsoft tweaked Windows 11 in the EEA (European Economic Area) to follow this behavior. Yes, folks in Europe have their default browser and search engine choices adhered to by the Windows search box due to legislation in the EU (the Digital Markets Act).

So, what this move – if it happens – will be about is bringing everyone else in the world in line with those European countries. That'd be a big step forward for Microsoft in my book, and doubtless a popular move, helping to diminish the perception around Windows 11 starting to become a two-tier OS based on what region you live in. (This is a point I recently discussed regarding a helpful change to extended free updates for Windows 10 that's happening in the EEA only.)

However, before we get carried away with the notion of this great levelling of the search box playing field, this is still a nebulous hint indeed. Flags tucked away in an early test build of Edge are a very vague clue, and even more so because we're guessing somewhat at their meaning.

Even so, this is a tantalizing suggestion that Microsoft might be moving in the right direction, though I'll only believe it when I see it.

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