At Microsoft Ignite last week, a slide announced that Microsoft’s project to rebase its perennially unloved Edge browser on Google’s open source project Chromium is well underway. Release candidates for the new Chromium-based Edge build are available on consumer and server versions of Windows (including Windows 7 and Server 2008, which have already left mainstream support), as well as MacOS, Android, and iOS.
Sharper-eyed attendees also noticed a promise for future Linux support.
Support for deprecated Windows OSes like Windows 7 and Server 2008 was already a surprise. But Linux? Sure, why not.
Support for deprecated Windows OSes like Windows 7 and Server 2008 was already a surprise. But Linux? Sure, why not. Credit: Zac Bowden
Curious folks can download canary or beta versions of the new Edge for most operating systems from Microsoft Edge Insider—although there’s nothing there yet for Linux. Browsing the Edge Insider site from Chrome on Linux replaces the download button with “Not supported for Linux.” Using Firefox instead presents you with a download button for the Windows 10 version, presumably due to that browser’s newly enhanced privacy controls.
We downloaded the Edge beta on a Windows Server 2012 R2 VM and took it for a quick spin. So far, it looks very much like Chrome itself—enough so that you might not notice which browser you’re using unless you look very specifically.