Microsoft makes Teams integration in Windows 11 easier to remove

Microsoft will remove the built-in Chat app from Windows 11. Instead, there will be a Teams app, but it will be easier to remove than Chat is now, despite the fact that Chat is now actually a Teams client.

Microsoft does that Insider Preview 23481 of Windows 11. The standard Chat app is replaced by the consumer version of Teams, the company writes. This is not only a name change, but also a way to integrate Teams less deeply into the OS.

Previously, Windows 11 had the built-in Chat app, which was also pinned to the taskbar and could only be removed from it when users went to the Settings menu. Chat was essentially a Teams app, but only for consumers and not for business users. They then had to install the separate Pro version of Teams. There was no mutual communication possible between free and paying users of Teams, which made the app not very practical. Users therefore complained that the software was integrated too deeply into the operating system without being really useful there.

Earlier this year there were rumors that Microsoft would stop bundling Teams with Office. The company would do this in response to a possible investigation by the European Commission. That investigation is a result of a complaint from competitor Slack. Last year, Microsoft had already made ‘commitments’ to the European Commission regarding such antitrust practices, but to this day it is not clear what those commitments exactly entail.