Microsoft has announced that its new Chromium-powered Edge browser is now available for developers. The US software giant noted that it’s releasing its Developer and Canary builds too. Developers will be getting daily or weekly updates. Both downloads can be accessed on Microsoft’s new Edge insider website. The goal is to give developers a preview of how the browser is changing and the kind of new features to expect from it.
However, it seems like Microsoft has actually focused on the fundamentals in these new changes. The company is also trying to enhance reliability as well as extension support. Over the next few weeks, the Windows giant will be gathering feedback from developers and other stakeholders in order to make the browser better in the long run.
Despite this, the new Edge browser is running quite well at the moment. People who have already used it note that there is full support for Chrome extensions and other features. Microsoft has even said that it will be building in sync support for things like browsing history and favorites. The company is also hoping to provide extension sync in the near term.
For the last few months, engineers from Google and Microsoft have been working together to improve Chromium. The two companies want to make sure that Edge and Chromium can actually run better on Windows. In fact, Microsoft had over 150 commits accepted into Chromium as part of this collaboration. This has helped to improve Edge and Chromium, especially for Windows 10. So far, there have been notable improvements in accessibility, Windows Hello integration, smooth scrolling support, and overall usability.
Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president at Microsoft, confirmed that the collaboration with Google will continue. A statement released shortly after the new Edge started rolling out, Belfiore noted that the new browser is simply a “work in progress that is not yet fully complete for installation.” However, the two tech giants will continue to work together in order to fine tune the product further. The latest version of Edge had been leaked online a few weeks ago and a number of people were actually able to download and install it. That version wasn’t any different from the browser launched today. In addition to this, the new browser actually looks and feels like Chrome right now. But this will change over time.
Microsoft is expected to add a few design tweaks before the browser rolls out. This will give it a different look. It’s also important to note that the Canary and Development builds are only meant for 64 bit installations of Windows 10. The plan is to provide support for Windows 8 and 7 too in the next few weeks. Microsoft wants to provide support for macOS too but this will only happen later in the future. The beta version of Edge will be available in the next few months and users will be able to download and use it anytime.
