Microsoft Gives Up: Microsoft Edge Browser Will Soon Be Chromium-based
Microsoft has always bucked the trend. They didn’t want to use Adobe’s Flash, so they created Silverlight which really never caught on. They didn’t want to modernize Internet Explorer and ended up losing the browser wars to Chrome and Firefox.
Now they’re throwing in the towel and going with the most popular open-source browser platform on the planet: Chromium. Google Chrome is the world’s number one browser and it’s built on Chromium. Ifyou can’t beat them, why not join them?
Microsoft announced this week that they’re going to tear apart Microsoft Edge and rebuild it on Chromium open source browser framework. So, in the coming months Microsoft Edge will morph into a Chromium-based browser joining the likes of Google Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, SlimBrowser and several others.
Microsoft Edge will eventually be available on available on Windows 7, 8.1 and macOS. Edge will continue to be shipped with Windows 10. Microsoft will update Edge the independently of the operating system, which means that Edge should be updated and patched more frequently than it is now.
If you’re running Windows 10 and using Microsoft Edge, you don’t need to do anything in preparation for the coming “new” Microsoft Edge. Edge will updated automatically and if all goes well, you’ll only notice that sites and Web apps will work better and faster.
According to a Microsoft blog post:
“…What happens next
If you’re a Microsoft Edge customer, there is nothing you need to do as the Microsoft Edge you use today isn’t changing. If you are a web developer, we invite you to join our community by installing preview builds when they’re available and staying current on our testing and contributions. We expect to have a preview build ready in early 2019 for you to try for yourself…”
Who would have ever thought that Microsoft Edge would become a kissin-cousin of Google Chrome?
Thanks. i often read your stuff. nice. i was always puzzled by Edge. another program, utterly redundant, unhappy to look at. Edge had silently bothered me so much that i had to comment here, for the good news
I wish Edge was not integrated into the operating system. It would be removed, I think on mine. This right here does not change my opinion of Edge what they’re doing to Edge. This is Microsoft’s fault and they should be ashamed of what happened to their browser and how long they left it alone. This does not give me a lot of faith in the days ahead with Microsoft or should I say a branch of Google. I guess the Microsoft sign outside is still up :=) . You can thank the management for this (just my opinion).
Hi TC & EB,
Thanks for the advice, I guess that Microsoft finally realised that their browser didn’t have the edge !! 😉