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.
Mountain Man Sep 24, 2020
Quoting: RaabenHonest question - why would I want to use this over Firefox or Chrome, especially on Linux? It seems an odd choice to port over.Especially since Edge is little more than Microsoft's own custom build of Google Chrome.
Cyba.Cowboy Sep 24, 2020
Quoting: pbI think it's just another step closer to Linux(kernel)-based Windows. They'll keep porting stuff so the future inevitable switch is easier.
I doubt this will happen... Microsoft have invested an awful lot of time and money in the NT kernel.
More likely (though not by much!) is that Microsoft will buy something like Ubuntu, and then do a "commercial" version like Red Hat did way back in the day, whilst spinning-off a "community" version into a separate distro.
Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 24 September 2020 at 3:11 am UTC
Although my concern is really to make Mozilla more powerful.
For the same reason I don't only get a game for the induced experience, but because of : its development model, if it makes us more clever, if it doesn't incite us to get powerful / polluting machines, if it doesn't have stupid addiction mechanisms...
But of course, the fact I personally don't buy AAA titles won't make a difference. But the fact Mozilla can sustain itself can make a difference.
Quoting: [email protected]Let's see where they go with Bethesda.That will be interesting.
Microsoft is only about Microsoft, always has been, always will be.
Last edited by Nanobang on 26 September 2020 at 2:29 pm UTC
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