Thursday, December 6th 2018
Microsoft's Edge Browser Confirmed Dead; Long Live Microsoft Edge
So, it goes like this: Microsoft has confirmed they will be killing of their own-developed Edge browser in favor of a Chromium-based alternative. However... The new browser will retain Microsoft's Edge nomenclature, instead of parting ways with the (likely damaged) branding. Microsoft is committing to the open-based Chromium backbone, and will be building upon its database to contribute towards a more open Internet.
The idea is to deliver more frequent updates - and of course, reducing the engineering and coding efforts to keep an in-house browser up to date and secure from all manner of Internet threats. And this will likely be achieved; whether Microsoft's efforts will bring it a higher market share than the current 4%, though, is anyone's guess. It seems to be a usual Microsoft dilemma in that the first search on its browsers is for another web browser... And it might remain especially so without a branding change. Living in Chrome just sounds better than living on Edge.
Sources:
Microsoft Blogs, Image via TechCrunch
The idea is to deliver more frequent updates - and of course, reducing the engineering and coding efforts to keep an in-house browser up to date and secure from all manner of Internet threats. And this will likely be achieved; whether Microsoft's efforts will bring it a higher market share than the current 4%, though, is anyone's guess. It seems to be a usual Microsoft dilemma in that the first search on its browsers is for another web browser... And it might remain especially so without a branding change. Living in Chrome just sounds better than living on Edge.
102 Comments on Microsoft's Edge Browser Confirmed Dead; Long Live Microsoft Edge
But honestly I quite like Edge..
Also, Microsoft should forever be punished for giving us the abomination that was Internet Explorer. That alone set development back a decade.
I don't know what it is about tech, but it seems to like becoming more and more limited over time, and there's a lot of wasted effort in the road towards this path. Take consoles, CPU designs, OSes, etc., etc.. for another example.
It's different than, say, my hobby with music equipment. You might see acquisitions here and there, but you don't see the same level of waste or rebranding. People can actually put their heart into their craft and see their brands/products thrive for decades.
And yes, I agree. As much as I love this place some of the headlines have been a bit sensationalist lately. Friendly criticism team, take it for what it's worth...I don't feel corporate culture has anything to do with why they lost the browser wars. As a matter of fact, it might be more the former culture had a good deal as to why they lost them. Thumbing your nose at open standards pisses off the universe and you can't fight them all forever...
It's not just MS. Look at Adobe. I hear flash is doing swell. :p
But it's hypocritical. Google is more ubiquitous and intrusive than they ever were - not to mention are overtly making moves against free speech (and even admits it).. and no one does a thing.
edit: I'd say the same for what happened to AT&T back in the day as well. Multiple companies nowadays are bigger than they ever dreamed of.
You can't abuse dominance in one position to artificially boost your market share in another, essentially. It's the definition of anti-competitive behavior.
Google needs a smacking for abusing it's homepage to "sell" chrome, speaking of which.
I sure hope Firefox maintains a decent place in usage. To me, it's one of the more standout open source projects (and almost representative as Linux or LibreOffice). It'd be a shame if Chromium takes over the OSS world too, and we get the same level of shitty sameness there too. It's bad enough that Google already has a giant presence in the Linux world at all. Any casual Linux (Android) user probably already thinks they're synonymous.
Not anymore. It’s using the Chrome rendering engine, and still looking and acting exactly like Avant used to.
I think this will be the result with Edge as well. No one will know unless they are geeks like us.
Sadly, welcome to the real world.
Because Nadella is a saboteur, like I said. Either that, or he's just incompetent. It seems like things magically turn to shit under his watch. He put zero effort into mobile and UWP. Xbox has partly burned under his watch as well.