14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently working on migrating Edge browser from EdgeHTML to Chromium, and while the software giant promised a preview build in early 2019, little is known at this point about the current status of the project.
But screenshots posted today by Neowin show that Microsoft is currently maintaining two different versions of the new Edge, called Dev and Canary.
As expected, the Dev build receives updates every week, while the Canary version of Microsoft Edge is being updated daily.
By the looks of things, Microsoft has tried to retain the UI of the existing Edge browser, though some changes still needed to be made. For example, the new Edge comes with a profile picture next to the address bar a la Google Chrome, and Microsoft has removed some Edge-specific features, like setting tabs aside.
Microsoft’s own extension store
At the same time, Microsoft Edge also comes with a redesigned settings menu that opens in a dedicated tab, exactly like in Google Chrome, and new tabs come with the Bing daily wallpaper. Most likely, users will be allowed to disable or customize the wallpaper option. Microsoft News powers the articles showing up in the new tabs, just like in the current version of Microsoft Edge.
Obviously, Bing is the default search engine in this updated version of the browser.
Surprisingly, despite the new Microsoft Edge working with all Google Chrome extensions, Microsoft wants to have its very own extension store. A quick shortcut to this store will be placed in the main UI, and users will be allowed to install other extensions from the Chrome Web Store after enabling a dedicated option in the settings screen.
There’s still no ETA as to when this Microsoft Edge version could launch, but I believe a preview could be released to users at the upcoming Build developer conference. The release of the stable sibling depends on a lot of factors, including the way the project overall advances.
