14 DAY TRIAL // News of Microsoft switching to Chromium for Microsoft Edge browser comes as a big surprise given all the effort the software giant has put into getting EdgeHTML right.
And while the transition does make sense considering how slowly Microsoft Edge improved lately, opinions on whether this is a good thing for the industry are very much mixed.
Google, for example, has no reason not to be pleased with Microsoft finally surrendering and embracing the Chromium engine.
“Chrome has been a champion of the open web since inception and we welcome Microsoft to the community of Chromium contributors,” a company spokesperson says. “We look forward to working with Microsoft and the web standards community to advance the open web, support user choice and deliver great browsing experiences.”
With Microsoft promising substantial contributions to the Chromium engine, there’s a good chance that the full industry would benefit from this decision, including browsers that rely on the same technology, like Google Chrome and Vivaldi.
Mozilla says it remains committed to an open web
But on the other hand, Mozilla has no reason to be pleased with Microsoft moving to Chromium. Mozilla says that despite this decision giving Google a major advantage in the browser market, it would continue to invest in its own browser in order to give consumers a powerful alternative to Chrome.
“This just increases the importance of Mozilla’s role as the only independent choice. We are not going to concede that Google’s implementation of the web is the only option consumers should have. That’s why we built Firefox in the first place and why we will always fight for a truly open web,” a Mozilla spokesperson was quoted as saying by VentureBeat.
Microsoft says the very first preview build of the new Microsoft Edge should be ready for testing in early 2019, while the final version could land sometime later the next year.