14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently decided to surrender to Google Chrome in the browser market, choosing to move from its very own EdgeHTML engine to Chromium.
While the news was surprising for many, Microsoft migrating to the Chromium engine was something that made total sense.
Edge itself has never managed to become the browser that Microsoft expected it to be, and switching to Google Chrome’s engine guaranteed several major improvements, including access to a large collection of extensions.
Microsoft promised an early build of the new Chromium-based Edge browser in early 2019, but no further specifics were shared. I expect a testing build to be shared at the Build developer conference in May, so in the meantime, all we have is a collection of early screenshots providing us with an early look at the current browser.
As you can see in the photos here, Microsoft is trying to keep the UI and features of Microsoft Edge untouched, despite the transition to Chromium obviously requiring more or less significant changes.
As it turns out, Microsoft is giving up on one of Edge’s key features, setting tabs aside, while also making a series of changes that are obviously copied from Google Chrome.
For example, there’s a new profile picture right next to the address bar just like the one you can find in Google Chrome. Furthermore, the Settings menu no longer shows up on the right side of the screen, as it’s the case in the current version of Chrome, but loads in its very own tab, again like the current version of Google Chrome.
These are all changes that at some level make total sense, but at the same time, they also raise questions as to how much Microsoft is actually copying Google.
In the last few hours, I’ve seen a growing number of users claiming that Microsoft Edge is becoming just a clone of Google Chrome, and all these changes seem to be suggesting this is more or less the case.
Microsoft, however, wants to do things a little bit differently, probably in an attempt to set Microsoft Edge aside from Google Chrome and the rest of the Chromium-based browsers. One of the key features will be a Microsoft-maintained extension store, which the software giant wants to offer to its users and guarantee for their security. Extensions published here will be verified in advance, and will basically be the ones you should check before heading over to the Chrome Web Store.
Because yes, the new Microsoft Edge will work with all Google Chrome extensions, as it actually was the plan with the original browser ever since Project Spartan was still in its early days. Somewhere along the road, this plan was abandoned, and Microsoft Edge received extensions at a painfully slow pace that pushed many to other browsers.
Right now, Microsoft is clearly on the right track to provide users with a more capable browser, but judging from these screenshots, Edge is in the process of embracing a future that’s dictated by Google Chrome.
While this could make sense at a time when Microsoft needs to reinvent itself in the browser market, with Chrome being the leading choice on the desktop, it might fail in the long term, especially because Microsoft users always expect the software giant to create something that’s better than competitors.
Judging from these screenshots, do you think that Microsoft Edge is becoming just another clone of Google Chrome? If this is the approach that Microsoft wants to use for the final browser, do you think that giving up on Google Chrome for Edge makes any sense?
Let us know what you think in the box after the jump.