Not Linux gaming related, sure but still very interesting news. During their Ignite conference, Microsoft confirmed their new Chromium-based Edge browser will release for Linux.
The new Edge will release in full on January 15 next year, although it's not currently known when the Linux version will land. It's not just going to be using Chromium behind the scenes though, Microsoft are actively contributing to the open source code. This was talked about during their recent "State of the browser: Microsoft Edge" presentation.
Image Source: Microsoft.
During the presentation when the slide above was on-screen, Microsoft's Colleen Williams simply said "[…] and Linux is coming at a later time." towards the end of the slide. Hilariously, if you turn your volume up you can hear a single "woo!" from someone in the crowd. You can watch the event yourself here. Linux is mentioned at 08:34.
Microsoft also confirmed during the presentation that the new Edge will be compatible with Chrome extensions, with most being able to work without any change. It will also include a web-based cross-platform store, so it won't be tied to Windows.
I think it's good that Microsoft is moving towards open source software, rather than sticking to their own proprietary projects. Enabling users to have their favourite applications on Linux breaks down another barrier to entry, which is a really important point. I know, I know, Edge is not exactly one of those big favourite applications (yet). My wider point here is that change can be difficult for anyone, even a small change, so if you can keep a few things the same it makes it easier. We all know someone, or we've seen it mentioned somewhere about x application not being available on Linux.
Options are good. Microsoft being more open is great. Hopefully this keeps up, could you imagine if they fully opened up something like DirectX/Direct3D in future and made it cross-platform or they slowly dropped it in favour of an open standard like they're doing here with Edge? Certainly would be interesting.
What do you think? Will you try it? Unleash your mind in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Stupendous Man Nov 5, 2019
Nothing wrong with Chromium but, you know, it's a bad idea to let the code we use to access the internet homogenize like this.
I say that... but at least it's open source, perhaps similar arguments could be levied against the linux kernel, maybe Chromium is just a real damn good base to work off of, and maybe building a browser from scratch these days compatible with all the popular sites is unfeasible.
Talking about this subject makes me miss the wild west times of the internet, now every time I open my browser I feel like I'm entering the line at a McDonalds rather than having an adventure.
Mountain Man Nov 6, 2019
Quoting: BotonoskiLast thing I want is another Chromium-based browser.I, for one, do not miss the days of "This website was designed for Internet Explorer".
Nothing wrong with Chromium but, you know, it's a bad idea to let the code we use to access the internet homogenize like this.
I say that... but at least it's open source, perhaps similar arguments could be levied against the linux kernel, maybe Chromium is just a real damn good base to work off of, and maybe building a browser from scratch these days compatible with all the popular sites is unfeasible.
Talking about this subject makes me miss the wild west times of the internet, now every time I open my browser I feel like I'm entering the line at a McDonalds rather than having an adventure.
Quoting: LinasChrome is becoming the new Internet Explorer. Quite literally.
I think Safari wins that one, although I agree with your points otherwise.
Quoting: eldakingNow, if they ported Microsoft Office to Linux, that I would be interested in. Not that I want to use it (for my limited use, Libre Office is more than good enough), but it might be necessary for collaboration, and it would make transitioning to Linux a lot smoother.
If you can tolerate a web-based version, I understand Office365 works fine. No personal experience; I use Libre Office also.
Quoting: geekeningyo i thought windows 7 and server 2008 were going to be EOL january 14 2020 , but they are listed here under supported versions. curiously, edge is releasing on january 15 for all those platforms. its confusing.
Their intention is to compete with other browsers, and they can't do that if they don't run on the same platforms. Keeping it exclusive to Win10 hasn't worked out for them thus far.
Make no mistake: Microsoft is only "nice" while there is something they want. Once they got it they change their ways.
Let's hope we never get to the day where I am proven right... Again.
Quoting: poke86Next step : Windows becomes an Ubuntu flavour.
Welcome to The Twilight Zone.
This scares the shit out of me!
QuoteOptions are good.
That's why I'm a bit worried that the alternative render engines are slowly dying out and everything is becoming re-skinned Chromium. It already feels like there's an increasing number of web sites that don't really work well in Firefox any more because developers go into production as soon as it works on Chrome. We might be headed back to the times when "Works best in Netscape Navigator" (or whatever) logos were everywhere.
slaapliedje Nov 6, 2019
So yeah, screw Chrome! I still have never seen the draw for it. Always seemed a conflict of interest to me to have a browser controlled by someone who also owns a search engine.
Firefox and DuckDuckGo for me.
QuoteI think it's good that Microsoft is moving towards open source software, rather than sticking to their own proprietary projects.
Well, If (and really if) MS really want to show their love towards Linux, they should start by open sourced and/or port Internet Explorer to Linux.
Why? Simple, opening up their own proprietary IP (even obselete one) is the simple but effective way to prove that they're really committed towards FOSS.
You cannot just taking everything without giving up something.
Quoting: tonRQuoteI think it's good that Microsoft is moving towards open source software, rather than sticking to their own proprietary projects.
Well, If (and really if) MS really want to show their love towards Linux, they should start by open sourced and/or port Internet Explorer to Linux.
Why? Simple, opening up their own proprietary IP (even obselete one) is the simple but effective way to prove that they're really committed towards FOSS.
You cannot just taking everything without giving up something.
They probably don't want to do that as they may get laughed/ridiculed for the state of it :D
Nevertheless Nov 6, 2019
Last edited by Nevertheless on 6 November 2019 at 5:17 pm UTC
Edge's standard compliance was far from perfect, but it was much better than IE. So the replacement of Edge's engine with Blink was actually a loss of options. We went from having 3 major modern web engines to 2. And it doesn't seem like Edge itself will be open source (otherwise, they could just say they would open source Edge, rather than "Microsoft Edge + open source"), so whatever differentiates it from the many other Blink-powered browsers will still be proprietary.
Last edited by hagabaka on 7 November 2019 at 8:19 am UTC
slaapliedje Nov 7, 2019
Quoting: NeverthelessI think Microsoft loves Linux the same way fur coat wearers love fur animals.They do tend to wear it, rather than use it. Going with that analogy, if they killed the fur animal themselves, and then skinned it for it's coat, but also properly tried to use the rest of it for food, etc, then due to the GPL, they'd also have to share the food, and the coat.
I wonder if there will come a day when Linux, due to it's huge flexibility and being able to at times run Windows software better than Windows (like older stuff that is no longer compatible to Windows 10, even with it's compatibility layer), that MS will simply throw in a Linux Kernel with Xorg and Wine to get the backward compatibility better.
Hell, let's just replace all of Win10 with Linux, and use compatibility layer, then they can port over some native stuff too. But then where will the telemetry and ads go?? :P
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me