14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft announced in late 2018 that it would be giving up on EdgeHTML and instead push Microsoft Edge browser to the Chromium engine, technically building its very own Google Chrome browser.
And while the company hasn’t shared a specific timing as to when the reworked application could go live, it did reveal that a preview version of the new Microsoft Edge would land in early 2019.
With everyone now waiting for this preview build to go live, it was originally believed that the company would tie this early release to the Windows Insider program.
But as discovered recently, this won’t be the case, as Microsoft wants to release a standalone installer that would allow anyone to see what the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser is all about.
No ETA for stable version
“We can't commit to specific timing just yet, but we do plan to make this available as a separate download, so you can install whether or not you're configured for Windows Insider builds,” a Microsoft engineer said on reddit.
He further added that a specific date as to when the preview version of Microsoft Edge could be released isn’t yet available, though it’s expected an announcement would follow in the first months of this year.
“We’re working on getting preview builds out as soon as possible - “early 2019” is still the idea, but we want to make sure the first preview is a great experience, so we’re not quite ready to commit to something more specific than that just yet. Stay tuned!” he explained.
Microsoft hasn’t shared an ETA regarding a possible release of the final Chromium-based Edge, but it’s believed this could happen in the fall when the next major OS update for Windows 10 would be finalized. The upcoming April 2019 Update will ship with the current version of Microsoft Edge as the default browser.