14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 will soon get the ax, according to a new report, as the Redmond-based software giant is currently working on a completely new browser based on Chromium.
It’s not a secret that Microsoft Edge has pretty much failed to gain traction in the browser market, despite Microsoft’s often very aggressive strategy to encourage users to give it a try.
With Google Chrome leading the desktop market with more than 65 percent share and Edge far behind at a little over 4 percent, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft needs to change something.
And it appears that the software giant is already working on this, as WindowsCentral is reporting that the company will soon give up on Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 and build a new Chromium-based browser to serve as the new default in the operating system.
Microsoft Anaheim
Basically, what Microsoft plans to do is to give up on the EdgeHTML rendering engine which the company has aggressively invested in, and embrace Chromium, the same engine that’s powering Google Chrome, Vivaldi, Opera, and others.
This would technically bring a series of benefits, including improved page rendering, support for more extensions given Google’s large repository, and more frequent updates.
Codenamed Anaheim, the project is under development right now and it’s expected to see daylight for insiders in early 2019. It’s believed that Microsoft wants this browser to go live in the next update for Windows 10, currently referred to as 19H1 and projected to be released in the spring.
For the time being, it’s not yet known if Microsoft wants to stick with the Microsoft Edge name or not and whether the company wants the new browser to look completely different. However, retaining the name and the UI would guarantee a more seamless transition between the two browsers.
Microsoft Edge is already using the Chromium engine for the Android version of Edge, so by the looks of things, EdgeHTML is pretty much dead.