Posted on 12/06/2018 9:19:13 PM PST by dayglored
RIP: The Edge is dead... as in the EdgeHTML layout code
Microsoft on Thursday said it intends to use the open-source Chromium browser engine in the desktop version of its Edge browser, promising the two per cent of global internet users who favor Edge an improved web experience.
Joe Belfiore, corporate veep of Windows, announced the plan, which was reported earlier this week. "Ultimately, we want to make the web experience better for many different audiences," he said.
One of those audiences may be macOS users, who despite not clamoring for Edge should have access to Microsoft's browser at some point: Belfiore said the company expects to bring Edge to other platforms like macOS.
Web developers have the most to gain. They can expect fewer incompatibility issues, which continue to bedevil the web ecosystem. As can be seen from caniuse.com, a website that shows which features are available in which browsers, there's still a lot of fragmentation and quirky browser behavior.
As the same time, the emerging Chromium monoculture could have a downside. Vulnerabilities in the open source project may affect a broader set of browsers and innovations developed for Safari and Firefox may not be adopted elsewhere. Chromium is the foundation of Google Chrome, though the open source project is distinct from the company-owned browser.
In a slightly cheeky tweet Sean Lyndersay, principal lead program manager for Microsoft Edge, pointed out that his team needs new developers for the browser.
I feel like this may be an appropriate time to mention: We're hiring. :) https://t.co/nq0y10jRgF — Sean Lyndersay (@SeanOnTwt) December 6, 2018
The new Edge won't be a Universal Windows Platform app in order to make it usable outside of Windows 10, which accounts for about half of all Windows installations. Instead, it will be build in accordance with the Win32 API, for compatibility with Windows 7 and 8 as well as 10. A preview release is planned for early 2019.
Microsoft's decision to change browser engines in mid-flight demonstrates the difficulty of matching the pace of active open source projects. Once Edge shifts to a Chromium foundation, the company intends to deliver browser updates for all Windows versions "on a more frequent cadence."
Students of web history may recall Mozilla in 2011 did something similar, shifting to a shorter release cycle for Firefox in response to Google's rapid-fire Chrome updates.
Microsoft's decision to shift Edge to Chromium is less surprising in light of Edge for Android and iOS, which run on the Blink rendering engine from Chromium and WebKit (the basis of Apple's Safari browser) respectively.
The Register asked Microsoft what this shift means for ChakraCore, its Edge JavaScript engine which the company has been trying to integrate with Node.js via its Node-ChakraCore project as an alternative to Google's V8 JavaScript engine. A company spokesperson declined to respond.
Microsoft has outlined its intended plan of action in a GitHub post. In the near term, the company said it intends to finish porting the Chromium codebase to support ARM-64, to improve accessibility in Chromium via Microsoft assistive technology, to add support for modern input mechanisms like touch controls, and to contribute to ongoing security hardening.
"This is a big step for Microsoft, for the Microsoft Edge team, and we recognize it will be a big step for the Chromium project as well," the company says. "We are enthusiastic about the benefit we believe this will bring to the larger web community."
Meanwhile... Firefox maker Mozilla isn't happy, blogging today that: "Microsoft is officially giving up on an independent shared platform for the internet. By adopting Chromium, Microsoft hands over control of even more of online life to Google."
The software foundation has a point. "Making Google more powerful is risky on many fronts," said Moz's Chris Beard.
"And a big part of the answer depends on what the web developers and businesses who create services and websites do. If one product like Chromium has enough market share, then it becomes easier for web developers and businesses to decide not to worry if their services and sites work with anything other than Chromium."
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I don’t understand this article but I HATE EDGE and I WILL NOT use it.
Earlier than that. I guess you blocked Windows ME
from your memory...
Forgot to add this, if one wants to know the transformation of a communist to a libertarian read Orwell’s “Letters from Catalonia.” In reality this was actually an intellectual preface to his great novel 1984. Orwell gained much wisdom in Spain. In Spain he saw the belly of the beast. It changed him.
The Edge engine had nothing to do with why I didn’t use it. I had no knowledge, even, of the relative quality of the Edge engine. The reason I avoided it is the same reason i avoided Safari, even though may principal platform is MacOS: Portability across multiple operating environments.
You’re right about ME being a bad one. I think the difference is that ME was intentionally broken — it was purposely made terrible to convince Win95 and Win98 users to switch to Win2000 and later to WinXP.
Whereas Vista and Win8 were supposed to be good, and failed at that.
I never use Edge but it seems that Chrome has so weird issue that I sometimes cannot reach the Citrix server to do some work at home. Edge always works, weird.
I don’t think Yes had Microsoft in mind when they did ‘Close To The Edge’..
But then why they thought it would be great to replace a real pos Internet Exploder with an even crappier pos Edge - there has to be something in the water in Redmond..
Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the Edge
I’m trying not to lose my head
It’s like a jungle sometimes
It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under
To quote the actor Sal Basiglio, acting as an Indian in the movie “The Frisco Kid”, when he looked at a Jewish rabbi’s torah, “I’ve read every word and didn’t understand a thing”.
Same for much of this article. It was informative but I don’t have the computer knowledge to translate it.
I liked Windows 7, have 8 and it sucks, will probably get 10 with a new computer.
I like Internet Explorer. It works. Remember Netscape. It worked. Got some old 5-1/2 floppy disks right next to my foot. They once worked (no port any more).
However, since I’m stuck with Microsoft whatever, how does the Chromium engine effect my every day typing - nothing fancy, just articles, tables, and emails, and should I care?
Thanks from out in computer left field.
Lots and lots of soy, onesie pajamas, and cocoa mugs in Redmond.
The Edge > Bono
If Microsoft was going to surrender on the browser engine, then they should have done it a long time ago and kept the Internet Explorer name. Now they’ve lost the browser business.... probably permanently... to Google.
I'd like to know the same about Win 10. I have been using it on five computers since it came out and haven't had a moment's trouble with it.
Edge sucks. Chrome takes up too much space. I like IE.
I only use Chrome for utilizing Farcebook and Twitter, that's it. I use Palemoon for everything else, including my finances. I only use IE11 for when I have to do something that will only work on that browser.
I’ll just stick with “Duck Duck Go”, thanks anyway...I’ve had excellent results with it.
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