New Edge browser from Microsoft is rolling out today to windows 10 users

Today on January 15 Microsoft will start  pushing the new Edge browser based on Chromium to Windows 10 users. It will be released to both home and pro windows 10 users. With this we will see a more dominant position for Chromium for web browsers, but we will also get a less cluttered and frustrating browser landscape.

While reports of the new Chromium based Edge browser have been positive it remain to see what the actual response will be once it become available to the general public. I have a feeling it will be a positive response, especially with the possibility to use Chrome extensions now that the two browser share the same base.

From a developer and test perspective this should be a great thing as it is most likely one less browser to worry about. It should be easier to develop with out the curse of IE that has plagued us since early 2000. It should also lead to faster support for new development features with less code bases to wait for full support.

Since Edge now is downloadable also for macOS I will download it later and give it a go. If you want to download it and test it you can do so for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. If you are on Windows 10 then you can just wait for the windows update to push it to your system, Just be aware that there are some key features still missing, like the browser history and extension sync between devices and the new feature Microsoft call Collections.

It seems only Business customers can block this update. Microsoft posted about this ina blog post and have released a "blocker toolkit" that is intended for organizations who would like to block the automatic delivery of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge.

Overall I think this is a great thing and I keep getting impressed by the way Microsoft has reinvented themselves in a positive way since the "Steve Ballmer Era".

I will get back to this once I have had the chance to test the new Chromium based Edge browser from Microsoft.