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.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I think it's just another step closer to Linux(kernel)-based Windows. They'll keep porting stuff so the future inevitable switch is easier.
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I will probably install it as an additional test option for web development. It will be interesting to see if it will have any special features compared to Chrome and Firefox.
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i'm very happy with all the possibilities and the privacy options i have with firefox (or torbrowser on web-sites that don't block it), so i don't see any reason to switch (i don't use netflix or something else that requires edge)... but it's actually something good for linux when more applications, even from microsoft, get ported to linux.. that should increase its relevance and could make it more attractive to other users who are not happy with ms windows as it lowers the bar for switching with more of the known environment becoming available, so not much gets lost.. hopefully other big software companies join in soon to port their stuff, that could give linux a real boost...
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Microsoft's data collection and telemetry would prevent me from using it as my main browser. I might would jail it and use it for work if there was something that worked in it but not elsewhere. I am happy to see it come to Linux though, more software is always better. I think the native package manager thing would be like apt or yum, but not snap, flatpak, or other universal package types. Who knows, maybe they'll target those too, but I always prefer stuff that uses native .deb packages.
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Kimyrielle Sep 22, 2020
MS has definitely become a bit less hostile since Ballmer is out, but it's still a big corporation and thus, evil. Do I personally want it? No. However, I can appreciate that it would appeal to corporations and schools, who as we all know usually install everything Microsoft without ever questioning it, just because everybody else does. As others have pointed out above, it will be a browser that Office will be guaranteed to run in, so that's one obstacle against Linux on the client out of the way.
It's therefore good news.
It's therefore good news.
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Quoting: AwesamLinuxI believe the main purpose of this browser is to ensure that the Office 365 suite has a browser they can test against, and guarantee the service works with. Large enterprise customers demand solutions that are cross-platform as they have often mixed environments. So the browser could perhaps be a good thing, maybe a sign of Microsoft moving towards providing platform agnostic services/software rather than forcing Windows down everyone's throatsoffice 365 works without any problems with firefox on linux... we have it at work and i didn't have any problems yet (ok, i still use thunderbird and libreoffice most of the time)...
but maybe they intend to add additional stuff which then only will work with their browser but they don't want to anger the linux business users; they can then just say: "use our browser, it's also available on linux, everything else is rubbish anyway"... that would be the pessimistic outlook...
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Kimyrielle Sep 22, 2020
Quoting: x_wingWake me up when they release office.
Unlikely. MS wants everybody to use Office 365 anyway, and is very likely to make local versions less and less desirable over time, until the elbowed everybody into their cloud. The last thing they're likely going to do is add new platforms to stand-alone office.
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Quoting: KimyrielleQuoting: x_wingWake me up when they release office.
Unlikely. MS wants everybody to use Office 365 anyway, and is very likely to make local versions less and less desirable over time, until the elbowed everybody into their cloud. The last thing they're likely going to do is add new platforms to stand-alone office.
Didn't they already announce there'd be no further standalone versions? Or somewhere in the near future. That's going to be a wonderful time for people when required to store everything in the cloud. Especially considering a newspaper article I recently read, where they reported on how quite a few Microsoft cloud accounts got suddenly disabled without any notice or explanation and people had a hard time to get them re-enabled to get back access to their personal stuff (of which they of course didn't make a backup somewhere else as cloud storage is super-safe). Seems that they are using some kind of bot / AI to make such decisions. And decisions those things make are still rather questionable, depending on the learning process.
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Well, Demons and what not are ice skating at home apparently!
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Quoting: KimyrielleMicrosoft does want people to use Office 365, but I'd also say it works great in the browser especially for everyday use. I've been using that on my Linux desktop for 90% of the stuff I do. For Excel work with data connections I do use the desktop version on Windows. I could see them adding a desktop Linux version of this if the money is there to make it worthwhile. There are already desktop apps for Teams, VSCode, and Azure Data Studio (a database query and scripting tool built on VSCode).Quoting: x_wingWake me up when they release office.
Unlikely. MS wants everybody to use Office 365 anyway, and is very likely to make local versions less and less desirable over time, until the elbowed everybody into their cloud. The last thing they're likely going to do is add new platforms to stand-alone office.
I'd be down to try a Linux kernel and posix based Windows desktop. The things that annoy me greatly about Windows are drive letters, ntfs, and user file permissions. It's mostly backend stuff I'd like changed. The front end isn't too bad. I usually end up configuring my Linux DE (Gnome or KDE) to have a bottom task bar with much like Win7/10. A Windows DE built on Systemd and EXT4 or BTRFS sounds interesting.
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Kimyrielle Sep 22, 2020
Quoting: randylMicrosoft does want people to use Office 365, but I'd also say it works great in the browser especially for everyday use.
That it runs in a browser isn't really my problem with Office 365. That it's rentware is. Thankfully it's not my problem, for I haven't used any version of Office after 2007 anyway. One of the perks of no longer working for a large organization is that I can choose my own software. Haha!
QuoteI'd be down to try a Linux kernel and posix based Windows desktop. The things that annoy me greatly about Windows are drive letters, ntfs, and user file permissions. It's mostly backend stuff I'd like changed. The front end isn't too bad.
Agreed. The UI isn't Windows' biggest problem. While Win 10 looks like crap compared to 7, it's probably ok enough for most. Some of its internal designs are just flat-out cringe-worthy, though. In addition to what you named, I'd add the registry to the list, which arguably worse than any of what you listed. I guess the only reason why end users don't complain THAT much about Windows is because they never have to try administrating it. Haha!
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TobyGornow Sep 22, 2020
I removed Microsoft from my life 3 years ago not to install this browser on my beloved Manjaro. No sir, no thank you...
I'm getting used being an ostracized Linux user and not being invited to parties therefore I'm always suspicious when a company like MS take interest in our Os. What's their angle ? What's their true motives ?
I'm getting used being an ostracized Linux user and not being invited to parties therefore I'm always suspicious when a company like MS take interest in our Os. What's their angle ? What's their true motives ?
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Quoting: WJMazepasA 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
Brazilian?
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Edge nowadays is just another Chromium fork with Microsoft telemetry built-in, It might become a dependency for some Azure resource but that's it.
Don't expect this to help with any problems about some legacy IE required system or Netflix DRM dependency.
Don't expect this to help with any problems about some legacy IE required system or Netflix DRM dependency.
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Before I even read the comments . . .
I'm fine with this happening. One more thing making it easier for some Windows users to migrate. Why MS might want to do this gets murky no doubt, but whatever they're thinking I can't see how they could make this harm Linux.
But I'm not going to use it. Don't use it at work on Windows when I can avoid it, am fairly convinced that Microsoft are basically kind of crappy at making browsers, so why would I deliberately use their browser on Linux?
Although there might be an "Edge" case where I might . . . soooo, there's this browser-based thing I have to use for work. It seems to have been carefully designed to cause all of the problems being browser-based can cause, while avoiding any of the advantages being browser-based can give you. And specifically, you're not supposed to have an instance on more than one tab--so you can't, for instance, open the next piece of workflow in a new tab. Or rather, you can but apparently it can cause data corruption so you're not supposed to. Brilliant, just brilliant. But this is complex library software, and there are quite a few reasons I want to be looking one kind of thing up while working with another kind of thing, copy/paste between them and stuff. It turns out that if I have two different browsers open, it's OK to have one of this thing open in each. Normally, I use one Firefox and one Chromium for this purpose. But I use Mint, and they're not exactly doing Chrome with the latest release because of that whole thing with the Snaps from Ubuntu. Might be a problem when I move my desktop to the latest Mint. So, maybe I could use Edge for that. Or maybe there's some other browser I could grab.
I'm fine with this happening. One more thing making it easier for some Windows users to migrate. Why MS might want to do this gets murky no doubt, but whatever they're thinking I can't see how they could make this harm Linux.
But I'm not going to use it. Don't use it at work on Windows when I can avoid it, am fairly convinced that Microsoft are basically kind of crappy at making browsers, so why would I deliberately use their browser on Linux?
Although there might be an "Edge" case where I might . . . soooo, there's this browser-based thing I have to use for work. It seems to have been carefully designed to cause all of the problems being browser-based can cause, while avoiding any of the advantages being browser-based can give you. And specifically, you're not supposed to have an instance on more than one tab--so you can't, for instance, open the next piece of workflow in a new tab. Or rather, you can but apparently it can cause data corruption so you're not supposed to. Brilliant, just brilliant. But this is complex library software, and there are quite a few reasons I want to be looking one kind of thing up while working with another kind of thing, copy/paste between them and stuff. It turns out that if I have two different browsers open, it's OK to have one of this thing open in each. Normally, I use one Firefox and one Chromium for this purpose. But I use Mint, and they're not exactly doing Chrome with the latest release because of that whole thing with the Snaps from Ubuntu. Might be a problem when I move my desktop to the latest Mint. So, maybe I could use Edge for that. Or maybe there's some other browser I could grab.
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Quoting: pete910Well, Demons and what not are ice skating at home apparently!I think Satan has been having a lot of trouble with the looming problem of Hellish Cooling.
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More native software for Linux can be good but Microsoft has a history of imposing their policies on users, effectively trying to manage the PC for them (or even assuming they have the right to free access on user data), which I'm sure can be fine for normal users which don't care much or at all about privacy and security, but I'm not sure it fits the normal Linux user mentality. Anyway, there is no doubt Microsoft is expecting to gain something from this move, only time will tell if is the consumer will gain or lose from it.
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Quoting: wvstolzingQuoting: WJMazepasA 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.
I heard that this new edge has a feature to emulate IE, dont know if is already available but would help a lot.
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