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Microsoft Is Embracing Chromium, Bringing Edge To Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft today embraced Google's Chromium open source project for Edge development on the desktop. The company also announced Edge is coming to all supported versions of Windows and to macOS. Microsoft wants to make some big changes, which it says will happen "over the next year or so." The first preview builds of the Chromium-powered Edge will arrive in early 2019, according to Microsoft.

And yes, this means Chrome extension support.

139 comments

  1. As a Win7 user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I welcome our Chromium Edged overlord.

    1. Re:As a Win7 user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck that obsolete-before-it-arrives shit. Just use Vivaldi. All of the underlying Chromium goodness plus a ton of indispensable features built in.

    2. Re: As a Win7 user by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      As a Linux user, I can't fathom why MS would support a dead platform like Windows 7 but not RHEL or Ubuntu.

    3. Re: As a Win7 user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think of the bright side, Web designers won't get massive heart attacks bloating their webpages trying to appease the IE CSS engine, leaving more space to bloat with useless Javascript.

    4. Re: As a Win7 user by walllaby · · Score: 1

      If the original Edge didn't sway people from using Internet Explorer, this new Chromium-powered version isn't going to do any better. You have two camps of Windows web users:

      1. 1. Users who open up Edge or IE to download Chrome
      2. 2. Windows 7 or 8 users who don't know what a browser is but know that blue "e" on the desktop gets them to their email

      Microsoft switching rendering engines doesn't affect those in camp #2, so until there's a concerted effort to get everyone off of IE11, we're going to be stuck writing flexbox fallbacks for our CSS grids.

    5. Re: As a Win7 user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      * Because even that "dead platform" has 30-40 times more users than all the Linux flavours combined (30-40 because it depends where the data is coming from).
      And not counting servers, because headless Apache / MySQL servers in data centers would not install Edge anyway.
      * And because even if they would support Linux, trolls like you would say that is crap because it's Microsoft, and not use it

    6. Re: As a Win7 user by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      I have a Windows 10 laptop that I have used Edge on, I just spend most of my time in KDE and Android. So I'm less likely to use a technology that doesn't work on all my platforms.

      Support for Windows 7 ends in January, 2020 so developing for a platform that will have less than a year until EOL seems counterproductive.

      Developers are more likely to test their webapps in Edge if they can run it on their development machine. Surely there's a Windows 10 engineer at MS that sees the value in getting its GUI working in WSL, at least.

  2. A chromium based browser to download a chromium... by SurenEnfiajyan · · Score: 1

    ...based browser? So it will download Chrome even faster or/and it will periodically set itself as the default browser?

  3. Standards Compliant Finally by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    Is this a repeat or just an old story?

    Either way- my thoughts on this are the same as they were back when I first heard about this: excellent news for web developers. It's about time Microsoft had a standards-compliant browser so we don't have to have two sets of code; one for Microsoft, and one for everyone else.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      This is an official announcement, the previous story was a (well sourced presumably) rumor.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please. IE6 broke every standard it could (although IE5.5, for macs, was remarkably compliant.) They started adhering to more standards as it went through 7, 8 and 9 (the most standard uncompliant thing in 9 was websites could include tags that said "render this like you were IE6, 7 or 8") By 11 I'm not aware of any issues, and Edge was designed to the specification. I recall MS would proudly pointing to stupid edge cases it didn't comply, show how no one did, and explain why complying would cause major issues.

      Meanwhile, Chrome has been becoming more and more like IE6, inventing new optional add-ons, and doing its own EEE to the free webstandards. Meanwhile, Google has been downranking pages that don't use their EEE "features" to force websites to integrate them. It's at least as evil as MS wanting to own the browser on PCs, because at least then it just would render the page slightly off if you didn't buy into the monopolist's browser. Now, you (essentially) don't exist, cause you're on page 103 of the search results.

      --
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    3. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by RyanRife8866 · · Score: 1

      I don't recall the last time I did the "two sets of code" hack, pretty sure everyone just lowers to the least common denominator of compatibility now and/or relies on polyfills for everything.

    4. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Merk42 · · Score: 0

      Edge is quite standards compliant, even doing better in Safari in some cases.
      Yes there may be some things that Edge doesn't support, but one could cherry-pick features that any given browser doesn't support.

    5. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's about time Microsoft had a standards-compliant browser so we don't have to have two sets of code; one for Microsoft, and one for everyone else.

      Well, there are a couple issues I can see.

      1) Monocultures are generally a bad idea, and this is moving us further down the road towards a web monoculture. I'd rather Microsoft work harder to implement standards compliance in their existing rendering engine.

      2) Google seems to be doing the same thing Microsoft did 10-15 years ago - trying to push people into adopt Chrome-optimized web sites and Google-specific coding. I hated it when Microsoft did it, and I hate it now.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    6. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      But should Standards Compliant be based off the same code set?
      There is often more then one way to code a product and still follow the same standards, some features will run faster then others, others may be sacrificed. A newer build would be based on current browsing habits vs older ones. Also this could mean greater security issues, as there will be mostly a unified browser engine across all the major browsers, so with the same code set behind it, a flaw will have more of a universal problem.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      But should Standards Compliant be based off the same code set?
      There is often more then one way to code a product and still follow the same standards, some features will run faster then others, others may be sacrificed. A newer build would be based on current browsing habits vs older ones. Also this could mean greater security issues, as there will be mostly a unified browser engine across all the major browsers, so with the same code set behind it, a flaw will have more of a universal problem.

      I'll give you that. It would be better if Microsoft managed Standards Compliance on their own and had a separate source and perhaps different vulnerabilities to make a hack one place not work everywhere.

      They tried to be standard with Edge, and it was an improvement, but there were still a few issues. (Edge is much closer to where MS needed to be though).

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    8. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      'd rather Microsoft work harder to implement standards compliance in their existing rendering engine.

      I'm aware of 0 non-standard rendering issues in IE11 or Edge. Also, as far as I know, Edge has fewer non-standard JS issues than Chrome.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    9. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God, I don't miss having to do that.

    10. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does edge give you a simple, no-downloading-of-plugins way to make the backspace key NOT go to the previous page?

      That was the stupidest feature idea anyone ever had. Everyone hates it. Safari nuked it. Firefox lets you get rid of it with about:config. But Chrome and IE still ruin your posts with it.

    11. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh for fuck's sake, this is what actually killed Edge - morons like you that could NOT be convinced of facts, and instead had to go on about how things WERE.

      Edge is more standards compliant than Chrome. It's YOUR PECEPTION that Microsoft were up against, not actual FACTS.

      Let me repeat that - this is a battle of perception, not a battle of actual facts. You are just parroting anti-Microsoft-FUD that is, simply, untrue.

      (It didn't help that the update cadence was a huge issue - the Edge team should have been let to release new versions as frequently as Chrome or Firefox do; not considered part of the base platform and hence locked into the 'can only update with major windows releases' nonsense. This isn't a complaince issue, but more of a speed of adding new features.)

      Don't trust Google either - remember Chrome implements a bunch of standards like SPDY (Google-only extension) and enforcing https on .dev (except what if I'm not on the public internet? It's my machine, not yours to control, Google). Or look at the AMP project.. don't worry, eventually you'll wake up and realise that Google is not any better than what you think Microsof is.

    12. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Troy+Roberts · · Score: 1

      Hmmmm ... It does not look like Edge is more compliant.

      https://html5test.com/results/...

    13. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by shess · · Score: 1

      2) Google seems to be doing the same thing Microsoft did 10-15 years ago - trying to push people into adopt Chrome-optimized web sites and Google-specific coding. I hated it when Microsoft did it, and I hate it now.

      The big problem here is that websites can only barely be bothered to test with a single browser, and rolling out standards strong enough to count on is hard hard hard work, so the ground truth is that websites routinely rely on browser-specific behaviour without even knowing it. At the user level, figuring out why a site doesn't work is basically impossible, so you just switch browsers until one works well enough then you stop. Together, these mean that it is extremely hard to have a browser with a rendering engine distinct from the dominant rendering engine.

      [ObDisclosure: I was part of the team from before Chrome was released until a couple years ago. I agree that this kind of monoculture is a concern. I just find myself at a loss about what response is effective. Maybe browser makers could work together to build a test/eval suite for site authors to use, but that is a serious amount of work which would fall mainly on the top couple browser makers, which is a hard resource-commitment argument to make.]

    14. Re: Standards Compliant Finally by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      This is your boss. I use IE 8 because html 5 is too scary and am too cheap to upgrade our crm. Your website looks funny on my computer.

      Can you fix by tomorrow morning? Thanks

    15. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by walllaby · · Score: 1

      That would be nice, but Microsoft switching browser code doesn't magically make IE11 and his older siblings go away. God, I wish it had. Edge was a great step toward standards compliance; any CSS I write for Firefox renders perfectly in Chrome, Safari, and Edge. Edge is even up there with supporting CSS grid. But we still have dinosaurs that use Windows 7 and 8 and don't know how to download and run a new browser. That "e" with the swoosh on their desktop stands for "eeenternet" so they can log into Yahoo Mail and send their family FWDs about Russian models being better immigrants than Mexican welfare babies.

      As a web designer, I'm ambivalent about this. Maybe Microsoft can contribute something worthwhile to the Chromium project.

    16. Re:Standards Compliant Finally by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      That would be nice, but Microsoft switching browser code doesn't magically make IE11 and his older siblings go away. God, I wish it had. Edge was a great step toward standards compliance; any CSS I write for Firefox renders perfectly in Chrome, Safari, and Edge. Edge is even up there with supporting CSS grid. But we still have dinosaurs that use Windows 7 and 8 and don't know how to download and run a new browser. That "e" with the swoosh on their desktop stands for "eeenternet" so they can log into Yahoo Mail and send their family FWDs about Russian models being better immigrants than Mexican welfare babies.

      As a web designer, I'm ambivalent about this. Maybe Microsoft can contribute something worthwhile to the Chromium project.

      CSS works great on Edge. I still see differences in how Microsoft handles JavaScript compared to the other browsers.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  4. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    ...based browser? So it will download Chrome even faster or/and it will periodically set itself as the default browser?

    I think they're hoping "why would anyone download Chrome if they have the same thing in different colour paper with our product?"

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. MOTHERFUCKING DUPE ALERT WOOP WOOP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://m.slashdot.org/story/349206

    bitches.

  7. Adblocking by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The #1 feature I want on a web browser is adblocking.

    1. Re:Adblocking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adblock plus and badger and matrix work fine for me, not sure what your problem is.

    2. Re:Adblocking by qbast · · Score: 3, Informative

      You are an idiot. Install ublock origin on chrome, open devtools (network tab), load some page and see how many network requests do not get executed (they fail immediately with net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error).

    3. Re:Adblocking by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Two brands that love ads select the best way to push and track more ads on different OS.
      Adblocking their approved ads in their OS?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:Adblocking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when the basic engine is chrome? "The bulk of Google’s $110.8 billion revenue in 2017 came from its proprietary advertising service, Google AdWords. " (source: investopedia)

    5. Re:Adblocking by tepples · · Score: 1

      Adblocking is fine until you find that half the results of a typical Google sear...

      This is a free preview.
      To read the entire comment, log in or subscribe to comments by tepples

  8. Goodbye firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And good riddance.

  9. "Embracing"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, that is step 1.

    1. Re:"Embracing"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah Slashdot....

      Microsoft doesn't support {THING}. That's because they want you to use their proprietary version for vendor lock in!!!
      Microsoft does support {THING}. That's because they are on step Embrace of EEE!!!

  10. Oh, goody. by malditaenvidia · · Score: 1

    Yet another reskinned Chrome, can never have enough of those. It wasn't even 5 years ago when we had a healthy selection of browser engines, some of them even web standards compliant. Now Chromium/Chrome devoured the entire market, and Google has final say on how the web is rendered.

    1. Re: Oh, goody. by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      I think Apple might have something to say about that

    2. Re: Oh, goody. by reanjr · · Score: 1

      Gecko still has like 16% market share, so the dominance is not nearly so complete as IE/Trident back in the day.

    3. Re: Oh, goody. by ScienceofSpock · · Score: 2

      What do you think Safari is based on?

    4. Re: Oh, goody. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WebKit?

    5. Re:Oh, goody. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed, the monoculture is not good.

    6. Re: Oh, goody. by Merk42 · · Score: 1

      WebKit, which isn't the same as Blink.

      Yes I know Blink is a fork of WebKit, and WebKit is a fork of KHTML.

    7. Re: Oh, goody. by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      KDE Konqueror.

      KHTML (Konqueror) was first. Apple forked that to make Webkit. Google initially used Webkit and then forked Webkit to make Blink.

      Blink powers Chrome/Chromium, Opera, and the future versions of Edge. It's based upon Webkit.

      Webkit powers Safari. It's based on KHTML.

      KHTML powers Konqueror. It's something the KDE team hacked together from chewing gum, old razor blades, and discarded coffee grinds.

      Discarded coffee grinds powers Mr Coffee. They're based on coffee beans.

      You see where this is going.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    8. Re: Oh, goody. by doconnor · · Score: 2

      Mr. Fusion?

    9. Re: Oh, goody. by ScienceofSpock · · Score: 2

      WOW. Can't believe I brain-farted that bad. I must need more coffee

    10. Re: Oh, goody. by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Not Blink

    11. Re:Oh, goody. by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Yet another reskinned Chrome, can never have enough of those. It wasn't even 5 years ago when we had a healthy selection of browser engines, some of them even web standards compliant. Now Chromium/Chrome devoured the entire market, and Google has final say on how the web is rendered.

      Well, despite Firefox trying to continuously look like Chrome, it isn't Chrome powered.

      Yet.

    12. Re: Oh, goody. by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      I'm going to assume you have the came combination on your luggage as me.

    13. Re: Oh, goody. by sessamoid · · Score: 1

      KDE Konqueror.

      KHTML (Konqueror) was first. Apple forked that to make Webkit. Google initially used Webkit and then forked Webkit to make Blink.

      Blink powers Chrome/Chromium, Opera, and the future versions of Edge. It's based upon Webkit.

      Webkit powers Safari. It's based on KHTML.

      KHTML powers Konqueror. It's something the KDE team hacked together from chewing gum, old razor blades, and discarded coffee grinds.

      Discarded coffee grinds powers Mr Coffee. They're based on coffee beans.

      You see where this is going.

      So all the browsers are java-based?

      --
      "No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
    14. Re:Oh, goody. by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

      The problem with IE/Trident was that it was closed source -- and worse, Windows-only. Blink is easily forked if Google does anything bad with it, as proved by KTML being forked into Webkit being forked into Blink.

      The great thing about Microsoft switching Edge to Chromium is that web developers no longer need to keep a copy of Windows around to check.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    15. Re: Oh, goody. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You see where this is going.

      Mr Radar?

    16. Re: Oh, goody. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [...] Discarded coffee grinds powers Mr Coffee.[...]

      I'm expecting a Ms. Coffee to appear on the market any day now. It happened with Pacman.

    17. Re: Oh, goody. by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Konqueror has more or less been superseded by Falkon - a browser based on Chromium?

  11. MS platform compatibility solved by Google by reanjr · · Score: 1

    I think it's hilarious that by switching to Google technology, MS's new software will run on more MS platforms.

    1. Re:MS platform compatibility solved by Google by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      What's more hilarious is that Windows users have been able to download and run Chromium on their desktop for a long time. Most of them just didn't know the benefits of doing that.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:MS platform compatibility solved by Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well a friend got some infection on their browser, which stayed confined to the browser, probably because of visiting.. lewd sites. So I put Chromium in there (as opposed to Chrome) and it was fine, probably a great browser after all. But!, it doesn't update and cannot in any way. To get it in the first place, you have to get a third party binary build.
      There may be third party package managers for Windows but you probably want to go very careful with this then.

    3. Re:MS platform compatibility solved by Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's even funnier is how Microsoft is out-Linuxing the Linux community that google is so key to. Better software with more REAL WORLD supported architectures, better compilers, better version control, better desktops, better servers, better tablets, better games, better everything. And it still all runs all the legacy shit posix tools you need without the crap that is SystemD, PulseAudio and GNOME.

  12. Telemetry engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will Edge's telemetry engine be based on Google Chrome's Telemetry engine as well?

  13. Slowing innovation?? by RyanRife8866 · · Score: 2

    Will this not just slow innovation? Now there will basically be one browser that is run by a single committee that filter & block new features as they see fit. Back in the days of IE vs Netscape at least MS was doing whatever they hell they wanted trying to be innovative and trying lots of new features (for better or worst). Seems like the whole tech industry is trying to force everyone to adhere to the "standard" and that will eventually kill competition and innovation.

    1. Re:Slowing innovation?? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      It's speeding "innovation", that is, the ability of Google to supplant W3C as the maintainers of HTML5+, allowing them to add lots more support for ads and tracking.

      It is going to kill competition, for the same reason that IE6 killed competition - there will be no spec to write to (or the Chromium implementation will differ from the spec), so you'll have to use the supplied engine or GTFO.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:Slowing innovation?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's speeding "innovation", that is, the ability of Google to supplant W3C as the maintainers of HTML5+, allowing them to add lots more support for ads and tracking.

      It is going to kill competition, for the same reason that IE6 killed competition - there will be no spec to write to (or the Chromium implementation will differ from the spec), so you'll have to use the supplied engine or GTFO.

      For those like me that got confused, supplant means "supersede and replace". It does not mean "support or reinforce." And, I do agree, Google now replaces W3C.

      (W3C without Google is academic and effectively irrelevant and impotent. Google without W3C is, well, Google.)

  14. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by reanjr · · Score: 1

    Privacy would be the obvious selling point.

  15. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  17. Edge on Windows 7 by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Yayyyyy ... Just what I haven't been waiting for. [ shoots self in head ]

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  18. What about Windows XP by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't leave out all those users with pirated copies of XP.

    1. Re:What about Windows XP by jezwel · · Score: 1

      I needed an XP device to setup some old ethernet over power devices this last week. Lucky I kept that tiny old Dell laptop with XP! Some complaints about the BIOS battery, but otherwise it worked perfectly.

  19. "big changes"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Repeat after me: STOP CHANGING THINGS AROUND! For fuck's sake.

    The biggest killer feature ever now would be "we won't change out product except for security patches for the next 20 years". I'd praise that company.

  20. How many Chromes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...do we need, really?

    Sheesh.

  21. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by RyanRife8866 · · Score: 1

    If you're paranoid that Google is taking your personal information and using it for profit you may now consider the, equal, alternative Edge. And perhaps Edge will be more optimized for the OS than what Google has been able to achieve, so it could be a better experience....all theoretical of course.

  22. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    I would assume that the browsers would be competing against features (the stuff outside the actual web page)
    Things like developer debugging tools, handling hot keys and bookmarks.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  23. embrace, extend, falter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure MS will find some way to screw this up.

  24. Won't need to download Chrome anymore! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Won't need to download Chrome anymore and let Google spy on me!

  25. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    It's not google. Therefore likely less spyware.

  26. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why should anyone listen to the anecdotes of a doppelganger account? Fuck off back to Reddit.

  27. hell no by gtall · · Score: 1

    C'mon MS, leave OSX out of it, go screw with the other platforms.

    1. Re:hell no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, we all counted it as a huge plus when MS removed internet exploder from the Macs.

  28. Luckyo the plastic eating moron endorses Edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course, this is from the same "Luckyo" faggot who eats plastic and advocates that, so take his "advice" with an oceanful of delicious trash and shove it down his faggot throat.

    https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12642660&cid=57354060

  29. So bye bye Mosaic by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

    While it wasn't the original web browser, Mosaic was probably the web browser that did the most to popularize the web, with Netscape - which was a ground up rewrite by some of the original Mosaic team - taking that and pushing it even further forward.

    In the early nineties, Spyglass licensed Mosaic, and implemented a much modified version called Spyglass Mosaic.

    In 1994, Microsoft licensed Spyglass Mosaic, and the first version of IE was essentially a reskinned Spyglass Mosaic.

    Since then, the code has been built upon multiple times. So IE11 still has some traces of Mosaic in it. Edge is a fork of IE11, so it's fair to assume that trace elements of Mosaic are in there too.

    This is basically the end of that chapter of history. Chromium is based upon KHTML. Firefox never had any links beyond shared developers with Mosaic, both Netscape 1-4, and Netscape 6, were complete ground up rewrites.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    1. Re:So bye bye Mosaic by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 0

      Edge is a fork of IE11

      Edge was a ground-up rewrite.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:So bye bye Mosaic by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      No, while they made it sound like it was, Edge started off with a fork of the IE11/Trident codebase which then underwent heavy refactoring, with a lot of removal of legacy code and rewrites to support modern standards. More information here.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re:So bye bye Mosaic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/

  30. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    Because Microsoft will support it. Ticking the "Vendor support agreement" box is a requirement for a PHB signoff

  31. Wait why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What happened to all the Edge advertisement of being the fastest?

    So when can we expect Google and Microsoft merger?

  32. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I never had a desire to use Edge, but do use Chrome from time to time as a secondary browser, and would love to have an option not from Google. I'll probably switch to using Edge for secondary browsing unless I encounter some major issue.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  33. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Rob+Y. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nice try. But, now that they've announced versions for Windows 7 and Mac, it's pretty obvious that, in addition to not wanting to spend development resources on a redundant browser engine, they're real goal is to get Edge telemetry onto non Windows 10 boxes. So if you want to get rid of spyware, you're gonna have to use vanilla Chromium.

    I guess if desktop Linux were a factor, they'd be 'porting' it there too - but (much as they 'love' Linux these days) they're still not fond of the idea of desktop Linux as a viable competitor to Windows.

    --
    Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
  34. Lynx by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Seriously... it's all you need.

  35. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of which can be disabled. And telemetry doesn't even begin to reach the level of detail Google collects on you. On top of that, the cross-referencing available to Google between what they collect on Ad Words, etc. makes it even more damaging.

  36. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by bhcompy · · Score: 1

    Bingo

  37. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by bhcompy · · Score: 1

    Because organizations want support for products and Google provides absolutely zero for Chrome(or much of anything, really). Google is a really shitty company to get software support from, unlike Microsoft, whose business model is at least partially centered around customer support.

    You also have to deal with software certification for governmental organizations and other certain industries. Chrome may not be on the list, but Microsoft's browsers almost universally are if Windows is the desktop OS of choice.

  38. This makes no sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would anyone want to use a chromium browser loaded with Microsoft malware when they can just download an unmolested chromium browser?

    What's the point? Personally I actually still use IE11 along with Firefox because IE11 is the only browser in which font rendering doesn't suck ass.

    To fix the problem I have to enable blurry type which makes Firefox look nice but turns desktop font rendering to shit.

    I can switch operating systems but Linux still sucks in the font processing department.

    I could downgrade to Windows 10 but have no interest in being constantly harassed and messed with by Microsoft malware and incompetence.

    I could get a higher DPI (4k) display but it would cost me at least 1k for something usable...e.g. a calibrated display with acceptable gamut. White led lowest bidder bullshit is completely out of the question. How so many can stand to sit in front of that crap all day is beyond me.

  39. Just what we need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another Chromium-based browser. Because we don't have enough of them already. Obviously.

    1. Re:Just what we need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Office 365 team probably got tired of having to test/develop against a browser that no one uses (Edge) and flexed their revenue muscle.

  40. SO: Microsoft is pushing Edge over the ... by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... Edge?

    --
    If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  41. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    google is still tracking u buddy. whether u use Google services or not

  42. What's this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    msmash ran out of breathless "hacker" pieces so now we get another helping of fawning over redmond?

    These editors just suck like only nitwit fanboi snowflake millennials can suck.

  43. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    google is still tracking u buddy. whether u use Google services or not

    Google is not tracking me. I have all of their domains and ASN blacklisted. Their universal presence on other websites is a NOOP. I'm happy with startpage.

  44. IE11 still used by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

    There are 2 use cases where I still need to use IE11:
    1) Windows IoT and Windows Server. For reasons I don't understand, Microsoft does not ship Edge onto those OS editions.
    2) Office integration. If you put a Microsoft Office document onto a Sharepoint or OneDrive site, using IE11 gives you the integration. On other browsers, it just downloads the .docx file and edits it locally. I'm sure Slashdot will poo-poo this but it is super useful. If they push Chromium, they ought to make an extension so that these office features work seamlessly.

    1. Re:IE11 still used by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1> Windows IoT and Windows Server. For reasons I don't understand, Microsoft does not ship Edge onto those OS editions.

      Internal microsoft politics that what stymied the edge team. The windows doesn't want to deal with .Net and the WPF runtime / metro apps / new experience and edge is part of that, so it couldn't be included.

      Unfortunately, that same heads up their asses approach killed Edge from having monthly updates (like every other browser) to annual updates (like... nothing) and is what made WPF needlessly painful to actually use (because they loved all the C++ COM crap, so WPF is this not really .net with all the messing around with bindings to a runtime with all the extra complexity for exactly zero value except making the Windows division feel smug; unlike in the Macintosh space where howevever Coca really works just doesn't matter because the abstraction doesn't leak.)

    2. Re:IE11 still used by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3) I found out that IE11 has the flash plugin. You can use it to play flash games!

      I would like if there was a 'shim' browser, very simple, open source used only to run (old) flash games on web pages.
      IE11 can be used for that instead (except that on Winblows I don't have enough freee RAM to launch it)

    3. Re:IE11 still used by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

      My kids use IE11 for that as well. Just make sure you "End Task" on iexplore.exe and on the Flash player EXEs because they don't exit cleanly. And make sure that you don't visit any place sketchy because Flash has so many security holes.

  45. For the sake of browser diversity by xack · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft needs to release the old edge source and keep it going as a back up in case Chromium goes evil. Plus we need to get Firefox to be a good browser again wih XUL support for extentsion diversity.

    1. Re:For the sake of browser diversity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What's the point in that? If chromium goes evil simply fork the code and carry on - hardly difficult and you could even do it yourself if you had the time (which ms probably has lots of)

    2. Re:For the sake of browser diversity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > ... in case Chromium goes evil.

      "There is another theory which states that this has already happened." -- Douglas Adams

      captcha : hapless

  46. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Luckyo · · Score: 2

    Are you aware that Win10 telemetry was pushed on win7 via updates something like a year ago? It makes no sense to fuck themselves over as anyone who doesn't care about telemetry already has it installed.

  47. SPDY is HTTP/2 by tepples · · Score: 2

    remember Chrome implements a bunch of standards like SPDY (Google-only extension)

    I thought SPDY had been standardized as HTTP/2. Do you refer to old draft versions of the protocol that should have been phased out by now?

    and enforcing https on .dev

    The owner of any top-level domain can set HSTS preload guidelines for that domain.

    except what if I'm not on the public internet?

    Use an explicitly reserved TLD, not a TLD that someone else owns. For multicast DNS, use .local; for static allocation on a private DNS server, use .internal.

    1. Re:SPDY is HTTP/2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Do you refer to old draft versions of the protocol that should have been phased out by now?
      Who created and implemented those drafts? Do you think that if HTTP/2 wasn't close to SPDY, that Google wouldn't have effectively enforced it? It was at a time when Google didn't have the control it, well, now has. So back then, what other browsers did actually sort of mattered.

      Now? Whatever.

      > except what if I'm not on the public internet?
      You completely misunderstood what I meant by "not on the public internet". That means, no TCP/IP access to the public internet. That means my OWN root DNS servers. I make up my own TLDs. ICANN, and you, absoultely do not own anything I have if I set up my own IP network. DId you not realise it was possible to do that?

      As I understand it, the .dev constraint is enforced in chrome's source code, not in any DNS record - otherwise, someone running their own DNS resolver that redirected .dev (which they can, becuase they're not on the public internet) wouldn't have that problem. That's my point, Google are seting the standards.

      Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do on my private network? Especially since it has no effect whatsoever on you or anyone else? Because it's a private network?

      Sure, this is an obscure case that very few people are likely to ever do -- but my point is it's Google asserting control. Who do you think will define HTML5? It isn't going to be W3C. Or Google saying all http is 'not secure' (hint: https: doesn't mean they're secure, it means they're not-completely-incompetent.)

      But anyway, my point is Google makes all these decisions and answers to... well... no-one.

  48. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you joking? Isn't it the MS, who has constantly and silently overwritten the user selection on software upgrades. If the company does not want to let people even uninstall the force pushed Candy crush, why would they let them get keep their data private?

  49. Edge on macOS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    macOS is gay enough as it is.

  50. Business as usual by Master+Moose · · Score: 1

    Embrace Extend Extinguish

    --
    . . .gone when the morning comes
  51. Are you stuck in 2014? by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Chrome hasn't done that for a long time.

    There are still plugins available to have backspace go to the previous page, for those who want that.

  52. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because Microsoft will support it. Ticking the "Vendor support agreement" box is a requirement for a PHB signoff

    And Google's fanatical hatred of the GPL/copyleft is going to destroy them. Microsoft can now achieve one of two things - a) force Google away from the open source Chromium, forcing Google to compete on a level playing field or b) benefiting from Google's investment in Chrome whilst they don't return much themselves. A really clever Microsoft might make their own version of Chromium copyleft at just the point that Google gives up on open source development.

  53. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A tip for Microsoft, why not just install chrome browser as is and focus improving other software that is also under threat by open source

  54. Microsoft gave up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can we please get Windows 7 back now?

  55. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not google. Therefore likely less spyware.

    Except starting with Windows 10, you would have to be a complete moron to believe that.

    As soon as Microsoft said that Windows 10 would have OS level telemetry, and from the very moment they decided to start putting in ads ... belief there is no spyware makes you a fucking idiot.

    Google are fast becoming assholes. But Microsoft have always been assholes, and of the two, I don't think I choose to trust Microsoft over Google.

    Microsoft will give you incompetently written spyware which is also a security hole.

    I can't imagine why the hell I'd want a MS-tinkered Chromium, there's simply no value proposition here for the consumer, and MS should just stick the to OS and leave the applications to people who don't suck at doing it.

    This is literally them throwing in the towel and acknowledging they lack the skills to write a browser, something we've all known for 20+ years.

  56. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    //So if you want to get rid of spyware, you're gonna have to use vanilla Chromium.//
    or use the Brave browser

  57. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    You put the cart before the horse. This is a story about edge coming to win7 and win8. Both of which can simply not install telemetry, as on both operating systems, user has full control over updates.

    It therefore makes little sense for MS to put additional spyware to the similar tune as google into their version of Chromium. Those who don't care about spyware on win7 and win8 already installed it via windows update. There's no benefit in having second layer of spyware for these users.

    There's only benefit if you could get users who chose not to install spyware via update to install edge with spyware. But chances of this happening are near zero, because it takes a whole lot more effort not to accidentally install spyware via windows update than to simply not install that new edge.

    So it would make sense to not include spyware in that new edge. It's a low benefit, high risk proposition. It obviously doesn't mean that they won't do it. There are plenty of dumb people making these decisions based solely on some internal company benchmarks without considering the overall situation. But it's very likely that someone in the leadership chain will have the foresight.

  58. Firefox also warns "Connection Is Not Secure" by tepples · · Score: 1

    Who created and implemented those drafts [of HTTP/2]?

    Google. But who should have created and implemented them, if not Google?

    As I understand it, the .dev constraint is enforced in chrome's source code, not in any DNS record

    The same is true of other ICANNverse domain names whose owners have set the HSTS preload bit. If you were to create a site called google.com in your air-gapped private parallel internet, the major browsers would force HTTPS on that as well.

    Who do you think will define HTML5? It isn't going to be W3C. Or Google saying all http is 'not secure'

    "Secure Contexts", a policy to block JavaScript from doing sensitive things on cleartext HTTP sites, is in fact a W3C Candidate Recommendation. Besides, Firefox has similar behavior. Visit some random cleartext site, and to the left of the URL bar, you see a lock with a red slash through it. Click it to show the warning: "Connection Is Not Secure / Logins entered on this page could be compromised."

  59. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real reason they are expanding it to these other OSes is simply that Chromium isn't a UWP app. Whether this says something about the larger state of UWP apps is what I'm more interested in. Are they getting ready to abandon it? I sure hope so.

  60. You already have & use it... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK. by 110010001000 (697113) on Friday October 27, 2017 @09:35PM (#55448365)

    * See subject: & unlike EASILY DETECTED by webmasters via NATIVE browser methods, hosts can't have it done to 'em that way (hosts run BEFORE brower addons & @ the IP stack kernelmode FASTER level) multiplatform.

    Plus Addons = ClarityRay defeatable & crippled http://www.businessinsider.com/google-microsoft-amazon-taboola-pay-adblock-plus-to-stop-blocking-their-ads-2015-2/

    APK

    P.S.=> No 1 other 'solution' (riddled w/ security issues) does more for less, natively for more speed/security/reliability/anonymity:

    APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p (remove spaces between chars & download)

    APK Hosts File Engine 10++ SR-1 32/64-bit for Windows https://hosts-file.net/?s=Down... (download link @ bottom) ... apk

  61. Market opening by mrprogrammerman · · Score: 1

    There's certainly an opening here. Chrome is too much of a memory hog and the latest firefox doesn't support as many extensions. If they can produce a non-memory hog version of chrome that supports all it's extensions that will make it a compelling alternative.

  62. "over the next year or so" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and windows 7 don't mix. there's barely one year left in windows 7's lifespan... does this suggest that windows 7 support will extend beyond january 14, 2020, just like xp was extended? (i'm talking normal users not pay-to-update enterprise users).

  63. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by walllaby · · Score: 1

    Enough of this FUD. Telemetry is a modern method for reporting back to developers what the fuck went wrong when your app crashed, not to ping Uncle Sam when you post about overthrowing the government on the Fourth International forums. The future is data analytics, and your operating system is hardly the main candidate for tracking your behavior. Want to remain untraceable? Go read a newspaper.

  64. Annoying? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if they’ll keep the same annoying behavior that they ported from IE: overwriting the contents of the address bar with your home page’s URL while you’re in the middle of typing a different url.

  65. It's a good thing. by PGaries · · Score: 1

    At first glance, I'd say this is a bad thing because it reduces competition, but since Microsoft Edge is a Windows 10-only browser, it's probably a good thing; developers eventually won't need to code for a Windows-specific browser unless Microsoft forks the rendering engine.

  66. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by hazardPPP · · Score: 1

    You have an option not from Google, it's called Chromium, the open-source project that the new Edge will be based on.

  67. start using Firefox (at least part time) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're not using Firefox at least some of the time, it is prudent to do so. Otherwise we're going to get another IE-like monoculture, but with Chrome this time--and Google' privacy destroying stuff as well.

    If you haven't looked at it recently, try it out. It's changed quite a bit over the last little while (especially with the new Quantum rendering engine). Browsing with uMatrix for scripts and ads is also quite pleasant.

    Good beginner guide on uMatrix:

    * https://www.bestvpn.com/guides/lifehacks-setup-umatrix-beginners/

  68. Good point by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Probably will evaluate Chromium also, I honestly had not heard there was a standalone Google-free variant.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  69. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromiu by yuvcifjt · · Score: 1

    I despise Google and try to avoid them as much as possible, but unfortunately there's a few domains of theirs that there's no getting away from...
    namely, GoogleApi, Google Captcha, their cdn, as well as arguably the products: Maps and YouTube.

    Without some of those domains, a large portion of websites would be broken, including many of those that require authentication using Captcha.

    How do you possibly get around that?!

  70. Great News this is! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its going to make it really great to download other browsers!

  71. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    It's both. The purposes are not mutually exclusive.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  72. Re:A chromium based browser to download a chromium by mattventura · · Score: 1

    Because Chrome, while having a great engine, isn’t actually very good at anything else. For example, it’s history support is downright terrible - history searching via the url bar is awful at actually finding things compared to Firefox, you can’t configure the duration to keep history, and even the history page itself is worse. And that’s just one area. If someone were to implement Chrome’s engine in a browser that didn’t suck, it would easily be the best browser.

    I’m not saying MS will pull any of that off, since their browsers have been universal laughing stocks for almost a couple decades, but it would be great if they did.

  73. Re: A chromium based browser to download a chromi by reanjr · · Score: 1

    Are YOU joking? MS sells software. They are giving you ads. And they don't even do that if unless you use the cheap ad-subsidized home version. That's not really related to privacy and demonstrates nothing about how MS operates.

    Privacy is a problem with a few types of companies: advertisers who profit from your personal data, smash and grab service providers who develop minimal products which they support with ads, failing companies trying to trump up revenue by selling lists, and companies with incompetent security. Microsoft is none of these and has a decades long track record of keeping information private.