Riding The Edge Wave

At Ignite this year there was a lot of buzz around Microsoft’s re-branded browser, and rightfully so. They gave us a Release Candidate, a new logo, and a target for the launch of the new browser (Jan 15, 2020). They have also updated the icons on all the build channels on Windows (other devices coming closer to release date).

As I have written before, Edge is a really exciting release and is based on the Google Chromium project (of which Chrome itself is based). Microsoft really emphasized trust with this release, and as such has stripped out any of the Google tracking “features” that one sees in Chrome. They have also added privacy features where one can select how private they want to browse the Internet. Several times at Ignite they mentioned Edge as being “the browser for business” with privacy, enhanced policy settings, and enterprise search based off Bing. Make no mistake though, this browser is not just for business. Microsoft means business with this one, and it will be updated at a rapid clip and include consumer features (Collections is a big one). With it being mobile as well there will be integrations across different device operating systems.

The new logo means to resemble the wave that is this new Edge. It will be available on every platform users are. The compatibility rate will be near 100% for websites as it is based on the open standards that are in Chromium. This is huge; between IE Mode for enterprises and the compatibility Edge could really become the only browser people need to install (tech enthusiasts aside). The team is getting closer, having updated the build to release candidate status on a march towards a mid January release. I encourage you to grab your surfboard and go download the Beta channel now and start playing with it. You can in fact have multiple channels installed at once if you so desire.

The wave is approaching and it looks great!