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posted by mrpg on Monday March 25 2019, @03:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the still-MS dept.

Submitted via IRC for chromas

A first look at Microsoft’s new Chromium-powered Edge browser

Microsoft is rebuilding its Edge browser on Chromium. The software maker has been testing versions of this browser internally at Microsoft, and now The Verge has secured an exclusive first look at the early work thanks to a source who wishes to remain anonymous. While the previously leaked screenshots made Edge look very similar to Chrome, Microsoft is adding its own touches and animations to make it look and feel like a Windows browser.

When you first install the Chromium version of Edge, Microsoft will prompt you to import favorites, passwords, and browsing history from Chrome or Edge (depending on your default). The setup screen also prompts you to pick a style for the default tab page before you start browsing.

Most of the user interface of the browser is a mix of Chrome and Edge, and Microsoft has clearly tried to add its own little touches here and there. There’s a read aloud accessibility option, and it simply reads the page out loud like it does in existing versions of Edge. Some features that you’d expect from Edge are missing, though. Microsoft hasn’t implemented its set aside tabs feature just yet, and write on the web with a stylus isn’t available. A dark mode is only available via a testing flag right now.


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  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:40AM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:40AM (#819901) Homepage

    Devil's advocate:

    But that's what Linux is (and FreeBSD to some extent a well). The Linux APIs are standard by virtue of being a monopoly. Most software written for Linux cannot interoperate with any other kernel (not counting compatibility libraries/compilers that abstract away the Linux specific syscalls and behavior).

    It turns out that having a (FOSS) monopoly is fine. Writing software against one API implementation turns out to be way easier than writing it against a standard and hoping all implementations faithfully implement that standard (which never happens: see web browsers, UNIX/POSIX, file formats like .doc, many RFC standards especially in the details, USB spec, religion, laws, table manners, the list seems infinite). Anyone who thinks any standard can actually be followed completely in practice is high on their own naivete.)

    Chromium, its rendering engine, and its JavaScript engine are all FOSS. You can build whatever browser you want by forking the code, keeping "standardization" but with the freedom to skin it how you want. Just like Linux, actually, which comes in exciting flavors such as Hannah Montana Linux.

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