Early version of the browser published online

Mar 25, 2019 03:42 GMT  ·  By

An early version of Microsoft’s new Chromium-based browser got leaked during the weekend on a series of file sharing websites.

While the release isn’t official, this appears to be an experimental build of the new browser, and users installing it can get a taste of what’s o come when the preview version of the application lands.

Microsoft announced in late 2018 that it’s giving up on EdgeHTML in Microsoft Edge, instead going for Chromium, the same engine that powers Google Chrome and a series of other browsers.

While the software giant did not offer a target release date for the new browser, it did say that a preview version of the new Edge would be shipped in early 2019. In the last few weeks, evidence that a release was just around the corner made the rounds on several occasions, again without any official announcement from Microsoft.

However, given that the download links are now live, I expect Microsoft to publish the preview build of the Chromium browser very soon, possibly this week.

The same Edge look and feel

Originally, it was believed that the company could wait until the Build developer conference in May to ship this preview build, but all signs now seem to indicate that a release is imminent.

Microsoft promised to keep the Edge look and feel untouched, despite the migration to the Chromium browser. The new Edge will support all Google Chrome extensions in the Web Store, but at the same time, the company will also maintain its very own extension store with recommended add-ons for its users.

In addition to Windows 10, the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge will also make it to other platforms, including Apple’s macOS. However, the focus right now seems to be Windows, as Microsoft wants to replace the existing Edge version in its operating system with the one running on Chromium as soon as possible.