Microsoft releases first test builds of Chromium-based Edge for Windows 10

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft releases first test builds of Chromium-based Edge for Windows 10

Microsoft officially is releasing the first Developer and Canary test builds of its Chromium-based Edge browser for 64-bit Windows 10 only. Here's where to get it and who should (and shouldn't) download it.

 

 

 

 

Microsoft is making available test versions of the first of its Chromium-based Edge browser builds. On April 8, Microsoft officially released the first Canary (updated daily) and Developer (updated weekly) Edge builds for 64-bit Windows 10. They are available for download from the Microsoft Edge Insider site by any interested parties. Beta-quality builds and promised builds for Windows 7, 8.1 and the Mac will come later, officials said. 

The new Edge builds released today are early and focused on fundamentals, so all the intended features, language support and UI changes are not there yet. Today's builds have not been optimized for performance and promised capabilities like smooth scrolling, inking on the Web, PDF support and tab sweep are not yet enabled. Right now, Chromium-based Edge feels a lot like Chrome, except with MSN news feeds built in.

Today's test builds are meant for web developers, early adopters and "enthusiasts," not everyday users. Sometime this summer, Microsoft is expected to add more features and functionality of interest to the IT pro audience to Chromium-based Edge test builds and introduce a "Beta" channel at that time. 

Anyone downloading today's test build who may have installed any builds of Chromium-based Edge that leaked recently are advised to first uninstall the leaked builds before trying the ones released today.Even though the leaked Chromium-based Edge build worked fine on Windows 7 (ask me how I know), Microsoft is not releasing officially its Chromium-based Edge for Windows 7 yet.

Anyone using the current Microsoft Edge (based on EdgeHTML, not Chromium) can just continue using the existing Edge browser for the foreseeable future; Microsoft has not said when the company plans to switch users off the current Edge browser. And users of Edge on iOS and Android won't be affected, as those Edge browser apps already use the WebKit and Blink rendering engines tied to those OS platforms, not EdgeHTML.

 

In December 2018, Microsoft officials said they were redoing Edge so that it would be built on top of Chromium in the name of improving compatibility across the web. Chromium is an open-source browser implementation that is used as a base by a number of browser developers, including Google (with its proprietary Chrome browser), Vivaldi, Opera, Yandex, Brave, and more. Simultaneous with the launch of Chrome in 2008, Google released the bulk of Chrome's code as open source, birthing Chromium in the process.

 

 

 

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Chromium-based Edge: Hands on with Microsoft's new browser

The first public preview of Microsoft's replacement for its Edge browser is now available. Should you try it out?

 

 

If you can't beat 'em, clone 'em. After trying and failing to convince Windows 10 users to adopt its Edge browser, Microsoft is returning to its roots with an all-new Edge that is, for all intents and purposes, a clone of archrival Google's Chrome browser.

 

The new Edge, based on the open-source Chromium engine, makes its public debut today, four months after Microsoft's announcement that it was giving up on the EdgeHTML engine that had defined the new browser for the past four years. I've been using an earlier build of the new Chromium-based Edge, supplied by Microsoft, for the past few days. Based on that experience, here's what you can expect.

 

This initial release is a stripped-down build, available only for 64-bit versions of Windows 10, that focuses on the core of the browsing experience. (Later releases will be available for Windows 7, for 32-bit Windows 10, and for MacOS.)

Although I found this preview stable and usable, it has almost none of the consumer or enterprise features that will be part of the final shipping product. Instead, the goal of this release is to make a basic, highly compatible browser available for early adopters and web developers to provide feedback on. That feedback, of course, includes the telemetry that is at the core of Windows 10.

 

In terms of the "highly compatible" goal, this build succeeds admirably. The widely used HTML 5 test page, for example, gives the new Edge a score of 535 out of a possible 555. By comparison, the shipping EdgeHTML-based browser in Windows 10 version 1903 scores 492 points, and Google Chrome version 73 scores a mere 509 points.

 

The new Edge Dev release runs alongside the current Edge and can be installed or uninstalled anytime. Edge Dev is distinguished by a green banner across the blue Edge icon, as shown above.

 

It uses the same menu structure as the current Edge release, with options available when you click the three dots arranged horizontally at the right side of the address bar. That menu includes the traditional options for Favorites, History, Downloads, and Extensions, along with a new category, Apps. Those lists appear in cascading menus rather than in the dockable pane that's part of the current Edge version, an example of a consumer feature that will arrive later.

 

Speaking of extensions, the Chromium-based Edge Dev includes roughly 120 Microsoft Edge Insider Add-ons, including stalwarts like LastPass and AdBlock Plus. But that assortment pales compared to the massive selection of extensions available in Google's Chrome Web Store.

The solution? A switch on the Edge Dev Extensions page that allows you to install extensions from other stores. When you flip that switch and visit the Chrome Web Store, a banner appears at the top of the page alerting you that the "Add to Chrome" menu works in Edge, too. The resulting interface should be familiar to any Chrome user.

The new Edge can install extensions from the Chrome Web Store

I had no problem installing extensions from both sources. The Extensions menu in Edge Dev opens the edge://extensions page shown below, which groups all installed extensions by source.

The Edge Extensions page groups installed items by source

 

For advanced users, that's a perfectly acceptable workaround, which takes advantage of the compatibility of the underlying Chromium browser engine. In the long run, though, Microsoft will have to deal with some usability issues that are certain to confuse unsophisticated users: How to navigate between the two stores, how to deal with the fact that one store uses a Microsoft account and the other requires a Google account, and how to explain that "Add to Chrome" really means "Add to Edge."

 

One of the most compelling features of the new Edge browser is the fact that it doesn't require a connection to Google's data-collection networks. Signing in with a Microsoft account uses Microsoft's servers to sync favorites and saved passwords. In a later release, the browser will sync open tabs between devices running Edge, including mobile devices, PCs, and Macs.

 

In theory, using a Microsoft account should be a more attractive option to users who are concerned about Google's data-collection practices, which drive the world's largest advertising network. It remains to be seen, however, whether Microsoft can convince the public at large that it's a better steward of data than its corporate rival.

 

In this release, you can adjust browser settings, including user profiles and privacy options, by going to edge://settings.

User profiles and settings, including privacy options, are available here

Advanced users and developers will find the expected edge://flags for working with advanced settings and experimental features.

Web developers will find this page familiar

Should you install an Edge Insider build? Although this early release is far from feature-complete, it's surprisingly solid, in my experience. If you're comfortable with the idea of using multiple browsers, I can't think of any good reason not to add this preview release to an existing Windows 10 installation.

 

To install the preview build, go to the Microsoft Edge Insider page. You can choose from Canary builds, which are updated daily, or Developer builds, which are updated weekly. Although the update process is fast, most users will probably prefer the weekly Developer channel to minimize disruption.

 

 

 

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[Melgas]

#
Hi, "The AchieVer".
I already installed it.
It is fast and stable.
I do not know how to put it in Portuguese.
Thank you.
#

[Karlston]

Popular around the net right now, so here's a couple more links...

 

Hands-on: First public previews of Chromium-based Edge are now out (Ars Technica)

 

Official Microsoft Edge Preview builds available (gHacks - Martin Brinkmann)

[Screen]

Aaha! Edge Chrome! you are here finally.

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft reveals all the Google things it removed in its Chromium Edge browser

 

Microsoft just released preview versions of its Chromium-powered Edge browser today. If you’ve downloaded it to test it, you’ve probably noticed it’s very stable and performs surprisingly well. It even performs better than Google’s own Chrome browser on Windows 10, despite being built on the same Chromium open-source project. While it’s early days for Microsoft’s new Edge, the company has revealed all of the Google services it has replaced or removed from its new Chromium-powered browser to optimize performance.

 

Microsoft has removed or replaced more than 50 of Google’s services that come as part of Chromium, including things like ad blocking, Google Now, Google Cloud Messaging, and Chrome OS-related services. Microsoft’s Edge engineering team is due to reveal more about its Chromium work during a BlinkOn 10 keynote tomorrow, and this will include more details on what has been removed and changed over Google’s own implementation of Chromium.

 

 

MICROSOFT IS WORKING WITH GOOGLE ENGINEERS TO IMPROVE CHROMIUM FOR WINDOWS

 

Microsoft is also working on ARM support for Chromium, alongside PDF enhancements, battery life improvements, smooth scrolling, editing, layout, dev tools, and web authentication. Developers can help test these changes using daily Canary builds of Edge or weekly Developer versions, and Microsoft is expected to release a more stable beta version soon (with updates every six weeks).

 

Microsoft also notes that “building Edge on Chromium was a relatively smooth process,” and that it has made hundreds of changes to Chromium to produce its Edge version with more than 300 merges so far. It’s clear we’re only at the starting phase of a Chromium-powered Edge, and Microsoft is also developing versions that will run on Windows 8, Windows 7, and macOS.

 

 

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[Melgas]

#
Hi, "The Achiever".
NEGATIVE:
EDGE can not import passwords from Google Chromium.
But it is stable and fast. It promises to be even better in the future.
#

[BioHazard]

I Like it 

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft Sends Thanks to Google for Making Chromium Microsoft Edge Happen 

Microsoft has officially released the preview version of its Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser, so the company shared a quick glimpse into how the project altogether came to be.

Naturally, Google’s engineers worked together with Microsoft’s to make this happen, and in posts on Twitter, the Microsoft Edge developers took a moment to thank to everyone working for the search giant for all their support.

“It seems appropriate today to send thanks to the Chrome team and all of the engineers who have contributed to the Chromium project over the years,” Sean Lyndersay, who is part of the Microsoft Edge team, said in a tweet.

Joe Belfiore also replied to the tweet, suggesting that the collaboration between Microsoft and Google engineers went smoothly in the last few months.

“Yes! ...and not only over-the-years, but also for being collaborative in the few months that we've been working together. Thank you!” he said.More features on their wayMicrosoft says it worked together with Google for several features, including accessibility tools that will be part of the new Microsoft Edge browser.

“We’re partnering with Google’s Accessibility team and other Chromium engineers to land commits and expect the full feature to be completed later this year,” the Microsoft Edge team confirmed.

Furthermore, as part of the transition to Chromium, Microsoft also started work with its long-time rival on bringing the engine to Windows 10 on ARM. In other words, Microsoft Edge will soon run on Windows 10 ARM too, and there’s a chance Google Chrome would follow shortly.

“We’ve been collaborating with Google engineers to enable Chromium to run natively on Windows on ARM devices starting with Chromium 73. With these contributions, Chromium-based browsers will soon be able to ship native implementations for ARM-based Windows 10 PCs, significantly improving their performance and battery life,” the team noted.

 

 

 

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