14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft moved Edge from EdgeHTML to Chromium, and this transition allowed the company to make its browser a cross-platform offering, something that represented a new growth opportunity for the application.
While third-party data shared by various market analyst firms indicated Microsoft Edge managed to overtake Firefox for the runner-up place in the global browser race, Microsoft’s stats indicate the application has already reached 600 million users.
This is according to numbers included by Microsoft in a job ad spotted by TheWinCentral and which is being used by Microsoft to find a new Principal Software Engineer to work on the browser.
“Microsoft Edge declared a while back that it will be making the web better through more open source collaboration while Edge promises to continue to enable customers to do more. With the general availability Edge has already reached 600 million customers and is taking a fresh approach to browsing by putting the end user at the center and meeting the user where they are, shipping on Windows 10, down level Windows, Mac and Android,” Microsoft says in the job ad (emphasis is ours).
The default Windows 10 browser
Microsoft Edge is currently the default browser on Windows 10, but at the same time, the transition to the Chromium engine allowed it to go live on non-Windows platforms too.
So right now, Microsoft Edge is available on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, macOS, Linux (in preview), Android and iOS.
Needless to say, Microsoft has also prepared features to allow synchronization between devices, thus making it easier to switch from one device to another when the same accounts are being used for browsing.
At this point, however, it’s not yet clear if by customers, Microsoft is referring to actual users or devices where the application has already been installed.