Microsoft Confirms Chromium-Based Edge Coming to Older Windows PCs, Mac

Microsoft has agreed to bow down to Google’s monopoly on the internet yet again, by confirming that it will move its Edge browser to the same web rendering engine as Chrome. This verifies thereport earlier this weekwhen we learned that Microsoft was possibly mulling this move with the objective of removing some pain points users face with Edge

The revamped Edge browser will continue tohave the same interface and visual appealbut will “make the web-experience better for many different audiences“, said Joe Belfiore, the corporate VP of Windows. This willimprove the compatibility of websites on Edgeand possiblyincrease the power efficiencyof the browser – and we hope it does not follow the suit in Chrome’s massive appetite for RAM.

Microsoft has come to realize that the majority of the developers are optimizing their websites or other web services specifically for Chrome since it dominates the market for web browsers. Despite trying to keep up,only 4% of the web users depend on Edgewhile 68% still use Chrome.Microsoft Edge

Besides gaining Microsoft more users, thenew Edge browser will also attract some new developers, for its choice of an open source and more widely used rendering engine. This also means that since most web developers depend on macOS,Microsoft will be rolling out the browser for MacbutThe Vergenotes that it could take as long as a year to finally take shape.

Further, Microsoft is alsobringing Edge to the older versions of Windows, includingWindows 8andWindows 7, as an executable package, so it’s easier to install on any Windows machine. Besides this, Microsoft and Google engineers have also been collaborating for a “native version” of Chrome suited for laptops powered by ARM chipsets.

The beta builds of Edge running on Chromium engine willbegin rolling out to testers in early 2019and so, we can expect to hear some more news on the development next year – hopefully at the Microsoft Build 2019 conference.

Rupesh Sinha

Rupesh is a section editor here and one of the hosts at our YouTube channel. A long time mobile lover and technology aficionado, he loves to indulge in all things technology! In his free time (which is non-existent), he loves watching Westworld, Silicon Valley, and Game of Thrones, obviously.

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