Microsoft has released the new iteration of its Edge browser.
The new browser replaces Microsoft's own browser engine with Chromium, the same open-source code that underpins Google’s popular Chrome browser. Microsoft made the decision to swap to Chromium in December 2018 in order to align with web standards and make significant contributions to the open source project.
Users can now download Edge now for Windows 10 and macOS devices. The product replaces the previous version of Edge if running on an up-to-date Windows 10 device. Customisations like saved passwords and bookmarks will persist after the upgrade.
The new Edge will eventually be installed automatically as part of future Windows 10 updates, and will be automatically updated in the coming weeks for Windows Insider and Release Preview users. Microsoft said that updates to Edge will occur roughly every six weeks, a cadence that matches other major browsers.
Enterprise and Education users will walk a different upgrade path.
Customers running Enterprise Education, or Workstation Pro editions of Windows 10 won’t be upgraded automatically, nor will managed devices. If an organisation is running Home or Pro Editions of Windows 10, they can block the automatic update using Microsoft’s Blocker Toolkit available as a free download.
Microsoft has also made its enterprise documentation available online here.
Microsoft hasn’t found much success luring users away from Google Chrome, with Edge winning just 2.4 percent of the desktop browser market, compared to 64 percent for Chrome, according to Net Marketshare. The vendor declared in July 2019 that its new browser was finally ready for enterprises to adopt, adding features such as IE Mode that allows websites that are reliant on Microsoft’s old Internet Explorer browser to continue operating as normal within Edge.
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