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from the finally-getting-bonus-Edge-points-in-Linux dept.
Microsoft Chrom... Edge hits beta as new browser prepped for biz testing
Microsoft has rolled out the first beta version of its Chromium-based Edge web browser.
The pace of development has been quick: Microsoft signalled its intent to rebuild Edge using the Google-sponsored Chromium browser engine in December 2018. In April 2019 preview versions were released, including a Dev channel updated weekly, and a Canary channel updated daily. By May, a download for Mac was added and in June a preview for Windows 7 and 8.
Now the Edge Beta channel has gone live, described by Microsoft Windows Experiences corporate veep Joe Belfiore as "the third and final preview channel which will come online before launch". The Beta release will be updated around every six weeks until general availability.
When will Edge Chromium be generally available? Microsoft insists that it is not date-driven but indicated the team would be pleased with a stable release early in 2020.
[Ed: You can download the preview versions of Chromiedge for Windows 7–10 and OSX here. There's no Linux version at the moment, but it runs in Wine 4.14 staging. The tab bar is chopped off at the top and it doesn't seem to like SoylentNews. —chromas]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @06:45AM (4 children)
Eventually this will be the default version of Edge in Windows – meaning you won't be able to uninstall it. Microsoft has effectively handed Google their very own telemetry feed...
(Score: 4, Informative) by eravnrekaree on Monday August 26 2019, @11:25AM (1 child)
Chromium is an open source project, so anyone can customize it and be aware of its code base, and it can be built from the source code. Google Chrome is just Google's own binary distribution, but anyone can modify or compile Chromium. Its not like Microsoft is taking a binary blob from google and adding their own skin. They have full access and control over the Chromium source code when they use it for their own browser. This is a very good thing. I dont know how anyone could say that its better for Microsoft to fund their own closed source browser than it is for them to use an open source browser engine.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 26 2019, @06:02PM
Maybe for similar reasons to why it was good that Google made Chromium. Pretty much the entire browser world has benefitted from the existence of Chrome. Firefox has taken some ideas from Chrome, if not actually any code. Safari has likely done the same. Good ideas are good ideas, and when they are shared, a bunch of stuff can be improved.
Of course, all of that is based on the presumption that Microsoft would share any of their good ideas. Closed source is closed source, and boatloads of good ideas would only benefit Microsoft.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Monday August 26 2019, @12:05PM
Why would anybody who gives a wet slap about telemetry be using Windows (without extensive precautions) in the first place?
Plus, as noted by others, Chromium is open source, so Microsoft have had plenty of choice to s/slurp.google.com/snoop.microsoft.com/...
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Monday August 26 2019, @04:46PM
Please try to understand the difference between a browser and a renderer before posting nonsense like this.