14 DAY TRIAL // UPDATE, April 1, 2016: Microsoft says that it's not building an ad blocker for Microsoft Edge and the slide shown during build was poorly written and misinterpreted. Original story below.
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update will bring a built-in ad blocker for Edge browser that will basically make browser extensions such as Ad Block almost unnecessary.
Although the company initially seemed to ignore requests for an ad blocker and let extension developers create their own add-ons in this regard, it now appears that it has changed its mind and is planning to release an important update for its browser.
In a session during the first day of Build 2016, one of the Microsoft executives showed a slide presenting the roadmap for Edge, revealing that, in addition to extensions, the next update, which will be called Windows 10 Anniversary Update, will also come with “ad blocking features into the browser.”
As noted by ZDNet, future builds of Windows 10 preview could bring an early version of this ad blocker while retail users will only get it in the summer, when the new update arrives.
Will AdBlock Plus still be needed?
AdBlock Plus was one of the first to announce an extension for Microsoft Edge, so Redmond’s new project will clearly become a viable alternative to this third-party browser add-on.
While we don’t know exactly how the built-in Edge browser will work, it’s very clear that a solution that’s directly integrated into the application appeals to many more users, as they don’t have to download anything else to block ads.
Most likely, Microsoft won’t offer this capability enabled by default, but it’ll probably highlight it as a key feature of the browser in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so users will know that it’s there.
Now it’s only a matter of time until publishers and ad companies react to this announcement, as it’s very clear that a browser with built-in ad blocking features isn’t quite the best news for a big part of the online business environment. A number of newspapers have already started restricting access to their content for users who use ad blockers, so it’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft deals with this ad-blocking capability.