Microsoft Edge coming to Windows 7 and 8.1

[winxpi]

How will this affect Windows 7 usage by having a newer browser being supported in its twilight years. And what will become of the EdgeHTML version of Edge and Internet Explorer?

 

Question 1: I think it will have no effect on Windows 7. 

Second question is interesting because I think theres not much use of another Chromium based browser even if it comes from Microsoft, but not saying they shouldnt try.

However this means Microsoft will have to either integrate autoupdate of the new browser or now even offer security updates for the Edge chromium-based for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 since they might differ from Windows 10 Edge if its not really a browser that supports all 3 operating systems. 

As long as IE 11 gets supports untill official support ending this is ok. I experienced pre-installed IE 11 supporting some pages than pre-installed Edge didnt.

EdgeHTML will disappear I think.

The motivation for this shift if you want to know what I assume is probably that Google Chrome has the biggest user base in regards of browsers and Firefox was number two last time I checked. Probably its the "If you cant beat them join them" -idea behind it.

News I found however:

Quote

 

"Microsoft now wants to collaborate with Apple, Google, and everyone else who also commits changes to Chromium. “If you’re part of the open-source community developing browsers, we invite you to collaborate with us as we build the future of Microsoft Edge and contribute to the Chromium project,” says Belfiore. “We are excited about the opportunity to be an even-more-active part of this community and bring the best of Microsoft forward to continue to make the web better for everyone.”"

 

 

 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/6/18128648/microsoft-edge-chrome-chromium-browser-changes

Edited April 9, 2019 by winxpi

[vinifera]

ie and edge will die
and no this has nothing to do with usage share but google blocking internally edge
(search for youtube fiasco)
 

which is kinda sad (globally), i never cheered for MS crap browsers, but this puts one more browser/layout engine
out of the game, as Opera was squashed long before, now MS, how loong till Mozilla kills its own product
for the sake of Webkit/Blink ?

i give it 3-5 years and google will control freaking web, tho they already did since html 5 kicked in
and W3C bent over

sad future for sure....

[Jody Thornton]

On 4/9/2019 at 12:53 PM, winxpi said:

How will this affect Windows 7 usage by having a newer browser being supported in its twilight years.

Kinda why I created a Window 8 version of the thread, just so it's a tad more "future-proofed".  I've placed links to the latest potable builds of Edge Canary releases over there.  I think it's silly to release Edge for Windows 7, especially on the eve of it's funeral. 

 

 

[erpdude8]

On 4/27/2019 at 9:10 PM, Jody Thornton said:

Kinda why I created a Window 8 version of the thread, just so it's a tad more "future-proofed".  I've placed links to the latest potable builds of Edge Canary releases over there.  I think it's silly to release Edge for Windows 7, especially on the eve of it's funeral. 

 

 

 

although this just came in from Neowin recently:

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-chromium-based-edge-browser-now-available-for-windows-7-8-and-81

[vinifera]

Quote

I think it's silly to release Edge for Windows 7, especially on the eve of it's funeral.

this is NOT edge, this is chromium, and as long chromium builds support win7 or whichever...
as long will this "new edge" support it/them

but this IS silly:

Quote

The reason that it took so long is that Microsoft has to get the telemetry working

which comes to question, why would anyone sane use this garbage on win 7 and 8 at all ?

Edited June 20, 2019 by vinifera

[hydro2duo]

I have no idea why they don’t just bundle Chrome in new versions of Windows 10 with Microsoft branding and no other changes since the start. The fact they’re even trying to rebrand things like this is pure desperation and it’s not even like they can get anything out of it other than sharing the collected data with Chrome if anyone is insane enough to download this at all.

A lot of the bad things that’s happened now like legacy XP-era tech still being used in corporate environments is mostly MS’s own fault for their early 2000s monopolistic behaviour, as well as the way they jumped from XP to Vista in terms of overall resource usage. Had Longhorn not been so ambitious at the start (they’d barely done XP), maybe things would have been a lot different.

Vista and its successors gave no time for hardware upgrades in enterprise, everyone stuck to XP, and then when 7 came it was time to either continue using XP forever or change hardware, since it had been obsoleted by then already anyway...

[Xack]

We have a scenario where the Windows 7 Edge gets released very near (just over 5 months if they release it now) or after the Windows 7 end of support. Would it make sense for Microsoft support a browser on an OS that they don’t support? Will windows 7 edge be only available to paid support users? If Edge on 7 drops support soon after release would it have been a waste of Microsofts resources?

[erpdude8]

MS Edge recently has a beta channel available 

https://www.deskmodder.de/blog/2019/08/20/microsoft-edge-beta-steht-nun-offiziell-zum-download-bereit/

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3433539/microsoft-promotes-full-chromium-edge-to-beta-touts-enterprise-skillset.html

https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2019/08/20/announcing-the-microsoft-edge-insider-channels-bounty/

gonna download MS Edge 77 beta for Win7 ASAP 

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by erpdude8

[Mathwiz]

I did my usual update of Adobe Flash today, and since I now have the Edge beta I decided to update the PPAPI Flash version. It worked, but I discovered that Edge really doesn't like Flash very much.

First, it defaults to disabled. If you visit a Flash page (like, say, the Check Adobe Flash Player Version), nothing works. But there's a tiny icon in the address bar; if you click it, it tells you "Flash was blocked on this page" and gives you the option to "Manage." If you click Manage you can turn Flash on.

Then, you get a nag telling you "Flash will no longer be supported 15 months from now" or words to that effect, with a button to "turn off" Flash again. You can dismiss the nag, (Edit:) but it will come back every time you restart Edge!

Then, if you try again, it still doesn't work! But if you click on a Flash control, at least now it gives you the option to "Allow". (Edit:) And once again, you must redo this every time you restart Edge! Pages you've told Edge to "allow" Flash on are only remembered until you close it.

So does it finally work then? No, of course not! You have to explicitly click on each Flash control again (in this example, the one telling you which Flash version you have) in order to run that control. Google/M$ really don't want you running Flash!

What a ridiculous number of hoops to jump through! In Firefox, I generally leave Flash disabled, but I have an add-on that lets me enable it with one click if I run across a site that needs it.

I think Firefox and its forks (at least, the older ones that still run it) have it about right. I don't want it on by default (as is the case with IE), but if I do want it, I don't expect to have to answer a ton of "are you sure?", "are you really sure?", and "are you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY sure?" dialogs first!

Edited October 24, 2019 by Mathwiz

[Jody Thornton]

I decided to step away from using the Edge offerings on Windows 8.  I really like the Edge browser of Android though, so I will continue using it on that platform though.

 

[erpdude8]

Edge 78 went to stable channel a few weeks ago

[AnX]

I for one am not a fan of the Edge browser, nor the telemetry that comes with it. It's hard keeping a Windows 7 install telemetry-free as it is, so why would I invite it to my front door?