I used to switch to new web browsers as often as I’d change brands of shampoo. My old browser would start to bog down, and a new contender would come along with faster speeds and improved features. (Yes, there was indeed a time or three when Internet Explorer claimed my affection.) But I’ve gotten pretty set in my ways, and even though Firefox offers better speeds, Opera blocks those annoying cookie notifications, and Tor can preserve my privacy, I’ve made my home in Chrome.
Last week, Microsoft confirmed rumors that it would be switching the rendering engine for the Windows10 browser Edge to Chromium open source, becoming one of the world’s largest supporters of open source projects. Most commentators are optimistic that this is the right move for Microsoft and a positive sign for the future of application development.
I’m pretty set in my ways, but I expect I might be willing to give the new Edge a try. And it’s been awhile — maybe I should glance around the shampoo aisle a bit.
- Microsoft Edge goes Chromium (and macOS) (Tech Crunch) “Microsoft is acknowledging that Chrome and Chromium are the de facto standard today, both for users and for developers.”
- How Microsoft Is About to Make Google Chrome Even Better [How-To Geek] “Microsoft’s EdgeHTML was the last closed-source browser engine. Now, all the browser engines will be open-source. This means work on Edge will improve Chrome, and work on Chrome will improve Edge.”
- Microsoft Putting Edge on Chromium Will Fundamentally Change the Web [Motherboard] “Because Microsoft and Apple have historically had their own first-party browsers, Chromium was always destined to be worse: the project simply doesn’t have the platform resources that these giants had, and was always building a layer further away than the official browsers of each platform. This move changes everything about that equation.”
- Microsoft Retools Edge, But Internet Explorer Is Forever [Wired] “
“Two years after Internet Explorer stopped getting feature updates, it’s still more popular than Edge ever was.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- PAUL, IAN. “Best Web Browsers of 2017: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera Go Head-to-Head.” PCWorld, vol. 35, no. 9, Sept. 2017, p. 43.
- Anthes, Gary. “Open Source Software No Longer Optional.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 59, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 15–17.
- Brazzi, Nick. “Learning the Chrome Browser.” Lynda.com, July 9, 2015.
