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Google Finally Agrees to Add Microsoft Edge Browser Search Support

OpenSearch 1.1 now supported by Google too

Jul 15, 2015 09:09 GMT  ·  By
Microsoft Edge OpenSearch support
   Microsoft Edge OpenSearch support

Microsoft Edge is the next big thing happening in the browser world, and since the Redmond-based software giant really wants Windows 10 to be successful, it struggles to make the app really powerful on PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

One way to reach this goal is to provide users with support for as many features and services as possible, including a wide variety of search engines to choose from.

Needless to say, Microsoft hopes that most people would use Bing as the default search engine, but nobody should be surprised if some want to stick to Google. But until today, configuring Google as the default search engine in Microsoft Edge was impossible.

OpenSearch 1.1

Microsoft Edge uses OpenSearch to make more search engines available to users, but Google wasn’t supporting this technology until today.

As Jacob Rossi, Microsoft Edge developer, has tweeted today, Google has rolled out OpenSearch 1.1 support for the new Windows 10 browser, so everyone using the default Windows 10 browser can now configure Google as the preferred search engine.

Microsoft Edge will be offered as the default browser in Windows 10, but Internet Explorer will continue to be there as a backup option just in case users come across some websites that do not load correctly because of the new engine.

Edge will be pinned to the taskbar and offered as a universal app, which allows it to become available not only on PCs but also on tablets and smartphones. The same feature pack will be provided, as Microsoft wants to make sure that the very same experience will be offered across all devices.

Edge will be updated with Chrome extension support sometime later this year, and Microsoft says that this feature is also projected to reach mobile devices, but no details on timing have been provided. The first Windows 10 update, which is likely to bring Chrome support too, will arrive in the fall of 2015.