14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced that it’s aligning its browser development work with Google’s, so after the search giant decided to update the Chromium schedule and skip version 82 of its browser, the company’s doing the same thing with Microsoft Edge.
The new Chromium-based Edge will skip version 82 completely, Microsoft confirmed today. The next major release is Microsoft Edge 81 due in early April, while version 83 will land in mid-May.
The decision comes due to the coronavirus outbreak, which keeps many developers at home, and the release of new browser versions typically requires additional compatibility work to address any issue that might arise.
“In light of current global circumstances, the Microsoft Edge team is pausing updates to the Stable channel for Microsoft Edge. This means that Microsoft Edge 81 will not be promoted to Stable until we resume these updates,” Microsoft announced today.
“We are making this change to be consistent with the Chromium project, which recently announced a similar pause due to adjusted schedules, and out of a desire to minimize additional impact to web developers and organizations that are similarly impacted.”
No changes for testing builds of Edge
The other channels of Microsoft Edge will continue to be updated just normally, so if you’re running the Canary, Dev, or Beta versions of the browsers, new releases should continue to land at the same pace as before.
Microsoft Edge is now based on Chromium, so it’s available on both Windows and macOS (a Linux version of the browser is also believed to be in the works, but an ETA isn’t available just yet). The changes here obviously apply to all platforms where Edge is available.
Microsoft says further information would be posted in the coming days, especially as a new stable release is just around the corner.