That's right, no need to wipe your glasses as that's a real headline here. Microsoft are bringing their Microsoft Edge browser to Linux in October.
Not a huge surprise, as this was already confirmed previously but having a launch month is the next step. Writing on the Windows Experience Blog, Liat Ben-Zur, Corporate Vice President confirmed the Linux launch plan:
Our mission to bring Microsoft Edge to the platforms our customers use daily takes its next step: starting in October, Microsoft Edge on Linux will be available to download on the Dev preview channel. When it’s available, Linux users can go to the Microsoft Edge Insiders site to download the preview channel, or they can download it from the native Linux package manager. And just like other platforms, we always appreciate feedback—it’s the best way to serve our customers.
What's not entirely clear is what they mean by the native Linux package manager, since there's a few. Most likely though, since they (like a lot of others) target Ubuntu directly, they might mean the Snap Store.
All of this is as Microsoft appear to continue treating Linux less like a hostile target, and more like something to take advantage of themselves. Linux has ended up being a big part of Microsoft, from integrating it into Windows with Windows Subsystem for Linux and Linux is a popular and supported choice by Microsoft on their cloud Azure platform too. Heck, they even admitted they were 'on the wrong side of history when open source exploded'.
It's going to be a bit of a hot topic, and I'm sort of dreading asking this because the comments will be quite colourful but here we go anyway: will you use it and what do you think of Microsoft getting certain applications on Linux?
Personally, I am all for it. A key part of the computing experience is having access to the applications you like and want to use, even if it's a browser with a few key differences - it all adds up. The more Linux gets, the better.
Note: this is actually not the first modern Microsoft application to arrive on Linux, as Microsoft Teams became available on Linux late last year. There's also Visual Studio Code and Skype too which have been on Linux for some time now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
thoughtfulhippo 22 Sep 2020
Anyway, happy Firefox user here.
[email protected] 22 Sep 2020
Vasya Sovari 22 Sep 2020
Honest question - why would I want to use this over Firefox or Chrome, especially on Linux? It seems an odd choice to port over.
to watch netflix at better resolutions?
that's the only potential reason I can think of
Honest question - why would I want to use this over Firefox or Chrome, especially on Linux? It seems an odd choice to port over.
Edge is pretty polished these days and does have a few differences from chrome that might attract users. Such as miracast/dnla content sharing rather than Chromecast. I’d consider using it over chrome.
The reality is the reasons to pick one browser over another really depends on the user. For me, Firefox lets me password protect access to saved logins. It’s a must for my use case, but probably means nothing to 99% of users.
brokeassben 22 Sep 2020
If this is a play to extend + extinguish, it's not having that impact with my job. If anything, it's making it much easier for me to do my job while running Linux which previously wasn't possible. Once I'm able to domain join an Ubuntu machine and install Defender on it, I'll be set to use it full time for work.
Arehandoro 22 Sep 2020
Most likely though, since they (like a lot of others) target Ubuntu directly, they might mean the Snap Store.
If the release it's anything similar to PowerShell, it will mostly be available for apt, zypper, yum, etc via repos too.
Not interested in Edge though.
Avehicle7887 22 Sep 2020
will you use it and what do you think of Microsoft getting certain applications on Linux?
While I welcome native software, even from Microsoft. I'll only use them when it's really necessary. Edge is not such a case, I'm very happy and settled with Firefox since v5.
The only MS related software I use is Skype to communicate with my dad, he's accustomed to Windows and uses Skype as his main voip.
They'll have to do better than a browser to impress me, they've left a stain which will be hard to remove. Open sourcing some of their tech to help Linux gaming, now that would be useful.
DebianUser 22 Sep 2020
Want to see what will happen with Zenimax.
If ESVI is ported on Linux, maybe i will think that Windows <3 Linux is not BS. XD
Honest question - why would I want to use this over Firefox or Chrome, especially on Linux? It seems an odd choice to port over.
to watch netflix at better resolutions?
that's the only potential reason I can think of
Will that actually work on Linux with this?
Honest question - why would I want to use this over Firefox or Chrome, especially on Linux? It seems an odd choice to port over.
I would think whatever shared profile Edge provides if you're in the MS ecosystem I should think. Or maybe someone just prefers it as "their" browser, who I assume exist (probably).
Guys I've just realised:
Netflix in 4k on browsers is only available for Edge... does this mean we can finally watch Netflix in 4K on Linux?
I doubt it. Afaik this is also related to a DRM requirement, I could be wrong but I was under the impression that 4K content from Netflix requires a higher level of DRM then widevine and the linux kernel support (the kernel is brought up in this context due to Trusted Path). It's nice that they allow the lower quality version of the content at least, unlike providers like Peacock that just have the higher DRM requirement across the board (and thus do not work in linux).
walther von stolzing 22 Sep 2020
A lot of government websites from my country requires Internet Explorer so if this makes possible to access then with my Linux machine, i will be really happy
Is this 'Edge' thing at all compatible with IE, though? My impression was that it's a clean slate; and that IE is going to be phased out completely.
Anyway, I think one reason why MS wants their browser on as many platform as possible is that it comes with all kinds of bull$hit 'MS account' features -- just like Google's Chrome, you log in, then the browser starts tracking your every move. So there.
I won't be using it. I'm very happy with qutebrowser. I don't think I could go without vim-like controls for long.
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