We all know the history – Windows XP was a great operating system. And Windows 7 with Internet Explorer made more than $4.5bn in profit.. But then something happened and it started to feel a little like Microsoft stopped believing in itself..
A Streak of Failures
With Windows 8, Microsoft tried something new.. Something unexpected and uncalled for. Its modernization of the Windows operating system was quickly followed by the release of their new browser, Microsoft Edge. The browser, much like the new operating system, really hurt a lot of people. In fact, it made me think of Dick Dastardly and his dog, Muttley in the 1968 cartoon series, Wacky Races. Because no matter what Microsoft did to try and win at the browser race, they kept losing (and yes, even with the cheating).
One cannot help but feel a little bit sad for them though. It was kind of their last chance at getting people to use their Bing search engine and gain back some of the loss that they underwent when HTML5 was released. But they joined the race too late. And while they were playing catch-up, users were already falling in love with modern browsers like Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox. To date still, the original version of Edge still hasn’t caught up – which really is a bit surprising. We can actually see this in HTML5test.com’s latest results:
In fact, the latest version of Edge scored only a little bit better than Safari 11, which was first released in 2017.
Changing Their Approach
So it became obvious that Microsoft had to take a different approach. I can only imagine that it was at a upper management meeting on a hectic Monday morning that a project manager had to tell senior management at Microsoft that Edge was still a complete failure. I can then imagine one of the managers getting up and sarcastically saying “Well, if you can’t beat them, join them” And… that’s what they did. Because in 2019 Microsoft then made the announcement that its new Edge browser will be based on Chromium, Google’s open source version of their Chrome browser.
It was one of those a-ha! moments, where you kind of cannot believe that they didn’t have this brilliant idea earlier. See, this move allowed Microsoft to finally have a browser that is not only expandable and stable, but it also cost them less to develop and maintain. This also allowed Microsoft to add some cool features to the new Edge browser (and with the money they saved, a bit more features on Bing). At the same time, it ensures that the new Edge browser has the same level of compatibility, across the whole internet, that Chrome has. But will it be enough?
The Pros and Cons
Well the new browser really seems especially promising for commercial users. Companies once again have the ability to restrict and control 
their employee’s browsers in a lot of ways and it integrates the pro-active security measures that come with Microsoft’s SmartScreen. Edge also has an Internet Explorer mode, allowing users to open and use legacy web apps, without switching between browsers. Then, it also allows you to sign in with, and sync, your browsing with your Microsoft or Office365 account.
It even allows users to set up different browser profiles, which can separate the browser for work and personal use. Further to this, the Chromium-base also allows you to install Google Chrome Store plugins, on your Microsoft browser, which I’ve found to be very useful!
And finally, for those looking to eventually make the move, the new Edge has a great browser import feature, which allows you to easily import your bookmarks, history and other data from your old browser.
So far, the only drawback I could actually find is that the default New Tab page had a search bar on, that actually forced you to use Bing. You can still set the default address bar search to be Google or other services though, so I guess it’s not too bad!
This basically means that the new browser is, by inheritance, just as good as Google Chrome now. But maybe that’s going to be Microsoft’s next problem? I mean, why would I want to go through the effort to move to a new browser, if there won’t actually be any difference? Maybe just for the hype?
The Conclusion
I guess that only time will tell if the new browser is a success. If it is, I predict that it will be mostly because of corporations using it for the legacy site and policies support that it offers. Or people might just enjoy going back to a built-in browser again. But also.. What if it isn’t successful? Where would Microsoft possibly go next?…
