It’s official: Microsoft is rebuilding its Edge browser with Google’s open-source Chromium platform, moving away from its proprietary EdgeHTML engine. Beyond that, Edge will be coming to MacOS for the first time. Here’s what you need to know.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/12/report-microsoft-is-replacing-edge-with-a-chromium-powered-browser/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/edge-install-chrome-410×231.jpg” title=”Report: Microsoft Is Replacing Edge With A Chromium-Powered Browser” excerpt=”Rumours are spreading that Microsoft is ready to throw in the towel with Microsoft Edge, the browser that replaced the much-maligned Internet Explorer in the release of Windows 10. Not even four years in, Edge has failed to throw off the bad reputation of its predecessor, and now it looks like Microsoft is getting ready to start again from scratch. Here’s everything we know so far.”]
Rumors of the change started spreading earlier this week, and now they’ve been confirmed by Microsoft. Edge is going to be rebuilt in Chromium, a change that will happen under the hood and will mostly go unnoticed by users.
The reason for this jump to Google’s browser engine is simple: compatibility. It’s also an acknowledgement that Chrome is basically the standard in browsers now, a position Microsoft hasn’t held in a long time. It’s a smart move from Microsoft, in a time where Edge just doesn’t have the market share to be worth investing so much in its own engineering.
Perhaps the bigger news is that the new version of Edge will be coming to MacOS, though it’s not expected to have a large uptake on this platform. The main reasoning behind the MacOS release is because many web developers work in Apple’s operating system, and often just skip testing for Edge as it’s not available to them.
The change isn’t expected to roll out until next year sometime, but it should be good news from Edge. The new browser will also come to Windows 7 and Windows 8, and will update independently of Windows updates.
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