After years of trying to prop up the failing (and extremely insecure) Internet Explorer web browser, Microsoft finally saw the writing on the wall and made the decision to abandon it.
To that end, Microsoft developed their shiny new Edge browser and released it along with the initial release of Windows 10.
Luckily, Edge isn’t just an updated version of IE.
It’s in fact a brand new browser, built from the ground up with a new browser engine that supports all the latest web technologies right out of the box.
And truth be told, Edge is indeed a massive improvement over IE in terms of both speed and security.
The problem is, Edge never really gained a foothold in the browser market. In fact, as of November 2018 it still only had a minuscule percentage of the browser market share according to market research firm StatCounter.
Microsoft has apparently grown weary of spending boatloads of cash on the development of a product that’s quite clearly stuck in the mud.
They have just announced that they’re planning to abandon Edge’s proprietary browser engine and transition Edge to Google’s open source Chromium engine.
I’m sure some folks will like this move, but I think it’s a bad one from the user’s perspective.
There are already dozens of Chromium-based browsers on the market (including Google’s own Chrome browser) so I don’t really think we need yet another one.
Although I like Chrome and use it as my primary browser, I use other browsers as well simply because some browsers just work better with some websites. And there are a couple of sites that I visit on a daily basis that seem to work better with Edge.
Switching Edge to the Chromium engine will effectively reduce the number of distinct browsers that we have to choose from, and I believe that will ultimately be bad for us users.
Of course all of the above is my own personal opinion, and your opinion might well differ. If so, feel free to express it by leaving a comment below.
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