Microsoft aren't a company we exactly cover often but it seems fitting to cover it here, especially given their history with Linux. Today they're properly releasing Edge for Linux.
Their browser, now based on the open source Chromium tech, was already available on Linux for a while but this was only in their preview channels but that changes today. On their official Edge blog, they announced that Edge will be launched today via the stable channel making it generally available for Linux. This means Edge will now be supported across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux.
It feels like a pretty big occasion, although not the first official Microsoft application to actually land on Linux, it might end up being the most used since it's a web browser and so much depends on you using one nowadays. Hey, you can even play a ton of AAA games in your browser now too.
Will many traditional Linux users switch? That's not really a needed question and plenty will of course say no but having it available is important. Even though most browsers feel largely the same, having the exact same application across platforms is good so people don't need to re-learn so much and keep their accounts together for bookmarks, passwords and whatever else.
To celebrate, Microsoft added a Tux character to their little surfing game available at the "edge://surf" address in Edge.
You can download from their website or whatever package manager you use.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: ShabbyXI'm glad they realized they lost this war, and now the poor people that trust microsoft have a working browser. If only they'd realize the same with NT and switch windows's kernel to LinuxThey didn't make edge chromium based because they thought chromium was better. They were "forced" to because google was changing how youtube displays videos, which broke hardware decoding. Microsoft developers were even suspecting that google was doing it intentionally to make other browsers perform worse than chromium.
And that is EXACTLY why nobody in their right minds should use ANY chromium-based browser nowadays...
Quoting: foggerQuoting: Sojiro84and has tab groups like Chrome, those are so good to have.
The "Simple Tab Groups" addon for Firefox is 100 times better. I don't know how I can live without this addon.
I prefer "Panorama Tab Groups" - it's a delight that this removed feature got such a great revival! ^^
Last edited by Termy on 3 November 2021 at 9:14 am UTC
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Arehandoro Nov 3, 2021
Quoting: BeamboomOh ffs. Do even windows users use that one? What does the browser stats say?
Most devs in the company I work for, use Edge now. On MacBooks.
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slaapliedje Nov 3, 2021
Quoting: Liam DaweSure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.Quoting: BeamboomOh ffs. Do even windows users use that one? What does the browser stats say?It's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.
Funny, wonder if they'll ever release a non-broken, non-preview of Teams. Though it truly is the worse piece of software I've used since Outlook...
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Projectile Vomit Nov 3, 2021
So I was willing to give it a run, just to see the difference, and "Cannot install from unsigned repo".
That was encouraging.
That was encouraging.
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Quoting: slaapliedjeOh God yes. A while ago I got a cheap little box to attach to our TV so my wife can watch the internet instead of watching TV, so we could ditch cable. It came with Windows installed, and so I thought hey, I'll just do proof of concept on Windows before taking the time to do the Linux install. Downloaded Firefox and Chrome, and off to the races, right? I'm a lazy guy in many ways, I might have just left it at "I'll switch the box to Linux when I get around to it"--except for all the annoying crap on Windows, which absolutely refused to just shut up and let my wife watch stuff. Constantly bugging us to use Edge instead was definitely one of the things that motivated me to quickly rip Windows out and put Linux in. The experience since has been much more relaxing.Quoting: Liam DaweSure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.Quoting: BeamboomOh ffs. Do even windows users use that one? What does the browser stats say?It's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 3 November 2021 at 4:17 pm UTC
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slaapliedje Nov 3, 2021
Quoting: rea987Only reason that I would allow it in my PC alongside with Firefox and Chromium would be to be able to watch Netflix 4K but it's still not happening on Linux. Hence, I'll pass.Heh, I recently bought a 77" OLED LG TV, when I logged into the Netflix app on it, it prompted me to upgrade to the 4k version of Netflix. When I finally got around to trying to test it, my bandwidth simply wasn't enough to sustain the quality. Not everyone has gigabit internet available to them...
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444
Edit: Out of curiosity I downloaded and installed Edge to see whether at least 1080p Netflix streaming is available aaaaaand it couldn't play a thing on Netflix. lol Though, it's probably Netflix's end as they are quite strict with browser support, they probably block Edge on Linux due to unknown user agent.
On the other hand, I am able to stream 1080p on Firefox thanks to Netflix 1080p add-on.
https://addons.mozilla.org/tr/firefox/addon/netflix-1080p-firefox/
https://www.netflix.com/watch/80018592
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slaapliedje Nov 3, 2021
Quoting: Projectile VomitSo I was willing to give it a run, just to see the difference, and "Cannot install from unsigned repo".Ha ha ha! Brilliant. I'm guessing this is one of those .deb/.rpms that create a repo file to get updates from (their Teams install does the same) and they forgot to include the signing portion.
That was encouraging.
Projectile Vomit... Trying Edge on Linux. Name checks out.
Last edited by slaapliedje on 4 November 2021 at 12:21 am UTC
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Given how crappy Microsoft Teams is on Linux (To the point it actually hurts communication with devs in our company), and how they keep trying to switch back to the usual tactics whenever they feel like they are losing control of a technology (See the recent attempt to tie C# features to their ), I'll probably avoid installing Edge unless it becomes necessary for some unfathomable reason.
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Quoting: slaapliedjeQuoting: Liam DaweIt's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.Sure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.
I've not been on Windows for decades now, but I have a friend who got a new PC just last week with latest Windows version on. He's not too computer literate (to put it mildly) but had a go at installing the apps he was used to use from before.
He called me the other day to tell me that he was warned against installing Firefox on his computer and felt he had to ask me if he could or should still install it.
Let me say that again. He were fucking warned, by an app installed with the operating system (Edge, I presume - I don't know) to NOT install Firefox. I haven't seen the message, but the way he perceived the warning was that Firefox was an unsafe browser to use.
My jaw dropped. The nerve of that company... The nerve!
Last edited by Beamboom on 3 November 2021 at 8:44 pm UTC
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Quoting: BeamboomQuoting: slaapliedjeQuoting: Liam DaweIt's actually more popular than Firefox overall, going by multiple stats websites.Sure, since MS has all but crammed it down the throats of it's users. With literal ads sprinkled into Windows to use it instead of whatever else you're using.
I've not been on Windows for decades now, but I have a friend who got a new PC just last week with latest Windows version on. He's not too computer literate (to put it mildly) but had a go at installing the apps he was used to use from before.
He called me the other day to tell me that he was warned against installing Firefox on his computer and felt he had to ask me if he could or should still install it.
Let me say that again. He were fucking warned, by an app installed with the operating system (Edge, I presume - I don't know) to NOT install Firefox. I haven't seen the message, but the way he perceived the warning was that Firefox was an unsafe browser to use.
My jaw dropped. The nerve of that company... The nerve!
As much as I hate the practice, your friend was probably only warned to not install an "unknown app" downloaded from the internet, which is a standard protection scheme on Windows. Warning him out and out about a competing product like Firefox is so illegal that in fact MS have already been legally condemned for this exact practice a few years back and forced via a Windows Update patch to offer their users the explicit choice to install third-party browsers.
That said, the incident is still very concerning (no less because this warning system very often ends up serving as a blatant if underhanded way to monopolize the market in MS's favor, and though the legislators know about it they choose to ignore it as long as it doesn't explicitly break the law) and it goes to show that we're in deep trouble as far as the browser wars are concerned. Just the other day I happened to check the browser market shares for the first time in years, and I was shocked to see that Firefox is down to ~3,5% on the desktop. Not 15%, not 10%, three and an effing half. Yup, we're in very deep sh-- trouble.
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