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How Microsoft forces us to use its apps

Microsoft's Windows operating system is the undisputed top dog on the PC.

(Bild: flickr.com/Brett Morrison)

Eleven years ago, the US software company Microsoft was fined one of the highest competition penalties in the EU to date: the company had to pay 561 million euros because it had given its Internet Explorer browser an advantage over the competition. The fine did not have a deterrent effect. Microsoft is still using its dominance to push its apps and services onto the market. We show you the latest example - and how you can outsmart the Windows manufacturer.

For the EU and its new Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations, Microsoft is one of the "gatekeepers" on the Internet alongside other IT giants such as Meta or ByteDance from the USA and China. With their enormous market power, almost unlimited financial resources to take over competitors and monopolies, such as Windows has built up with PC operating systems, they have all the tools in their hands to keep the competition small and customers dependent on their own services. The fact that "Big Tech" continues to make use of this power is demonstrated by Microsoft in the example of a new Windows update. It drives not only users, but also providers of competing software to white heat. Uninstalling is no child's play.