Microsoft launched the Edge web browser in 2015 to replace the default browser on Windows 10. Built from the ground up, Edge did bring significant improvements in browsing experience as compared to its predecessor Internet Explorer. However, it never could compete against the likes of Google Chrome. And there were various reasons for that. Firstly, it launched with a plethora of issues that resulted in users rejecting it early on. Also, the underlying browser engine (EdgeHTML) couldn’t keep up with the pace of Chromium (in Google Chrome).
Microsoft has finally given up on Edge, and is now building another browser to replace it. And this time, it’s going Chrome’s way. The company is reportedly building the new browser powered by the open source Chromium Project.
Microsoft building a Chromium-powered web browser
The Edge browser has been around for three years now, but it still has managed to grab only 4.2 percent of the market share. Google Chrome, on the other hand, boasts nearly 66 percent of the market. The Edge browser, despite being built from the ground up, has clearly not worked for Microsoft and the company is rightly delving into a new journey.
The new Microsoft browser is codenamed ‘Anaheim.’ It will replace Edge as the default browser in Windows 10 when it comes out. Whether it will retain the Edge name and the user interface is not clear at the moment. Microsoft was recently spotted committing code to the Chromium project to help get Google Chrome running on ARM. So one can expect some of this work translating into Anaheim as well.
Microsoft is expected to announce its plans for Anaheim by the end of this week. The finished version, however, may not come out anytime soon, at least not in the next couple of months. And while this move by Microsoft is quite understandable, whether it manages to drag people away from Chrome, Firefox, etc. remains to be seen.
