Microsoft will make it easier for developers to guide users through customizing standard applications in Windows. Soon it will be possible to direct a user to the right menu.

Microsoft really wants you to use Microsoft applications and services with Windows. That means not only misguided appeals to use Edge and Bing, but also a fairly complex system for customizing standard applications. To set an alternative application as default as a user, you need to navigate through the settings menu to do so. This is certainly an obstacle for less tech-savvy people.

URI

Microsoft is repeatedly criticized for its monopolistic practices around standard applications. The Windows Builder therefore concedes in droplets and murky. For example, it initially required an advanced computer science degree to customize browser settings, but Redmond has now made that less of a pain. In a new humble addition, Microsoft will give developers the ability to more easily guide users to the right menu.

This is done with a new Unifrom resource identifier (URI): A type of hyperlink that developers can use to take someone from an application to the right-hand corner of the settings menu. A new API also requires users to grant permission by pinning an application to the taskbar.

Unmusical

In a blog post, Microsoft talks about its “historic approach to giving people control over their Windows environment” and “allowing developers to use our open platform”. Given Microsoft’s active policy of pushing its own applications and even ramming them down the throats of users, these claims read pretty hollow. It’s true that Windows is an open platform and users always have control over which apps they prefer, but Microsoft doesn’t hide the right buttons for that very well with Windows 11. What Redmond is now announcing is like limiting itself to the bare minimum.