Microsoft Edge Is Coming Out For Linux Next Month

[MadeUpName]

Who asked for Edge on Linux? Like seriously. Windows users don't even want Edge never mind Linux users.

[ferry]

...

Lets face it. In the long run, open-source is the *only* solution for digital preservation.

Yes, but often open-sources is used as an excuse to have unstable ABI's.

It should not be necessary to rebuild a binary between distributions or even releases.

Let's admit that MS has at least got that right, standardize interfaces, hide underlying code so access to sources is not strictly needed. Or that they got it right, and now broke it again by allowing multiple versions of dll's simultaneously.

The real advantage of open source lies in:

• auditability
• ability to continue development after original author / owner / publisher looses interest
• reuse of code in other applications (if FOSS).
• as a proxy for documentation (like in drivers for certain hardware)

[StarterX4]

A fun question: Who's really going to use it (at least actively)?

[Klassic Six]

Can someone remind me what's in Edge that isn't already in Chromium?

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-edge-vs-google-chrome/

Edge has more privacy settings than Chrome, and it’s much easier to track them down. For example, Edge can block trackers from sites you’ve visited and those you haven’t. It can also reduce the odds of your personalized information being shared across sites. You can choose from one of three tracking prevention levels, which makes it easy to dial in your level of comfort. Edge also uses Microsoft Defender SmartScreen to protect against malicious websites and shady downloads.

If you can believe it!!

[StarterX4]

Can't wait till they contribute to Wine development, that would be helpful asf

[dreich]

Since this Microsoft Edge for Linux is going to be closed source, I'm guessing I'm not going to be allowed to run it on my Raspberry Pi 4 like I do with Firefox, Chromium, etc.

It is going to be closed source pretty much across the board on all platforms, not just linux. In addition to the Pi and other unsupported architectures, you won't be able to run it on linux systems that ship anything other than glibc and of course the BSDs. In short, you can really tell how much the software giant loves open source.

[birdie]

Can't wait till they contribute to Wine development, that would be helpful asf

I don't see it happening as long as Microsoft is alive and sells Windows. Wine being able to run Windows applications seamlessly is a nightmare for Microsoft. We are lucky they aren't trying to sue Codeweavers like Oracle is suing Google for using Java API definitions in Android.

[kiffmet]

Edge unfortunately has no scrollable tabstrip like the non-Chromium version or Firefox. I wonder why no Chromium based browser manages to do this. This has been in the feature requests of many browsers for years now. There must be some fundamental design flaw or something.

[cynical]

10 years ago this would have made an excellent April fools headline. The world gets stranger every year...

[cynical]

Let's admit that MS has at least got that right, standardize interfaces, hide underlying code so access to sources is not strictly needed. Or that they got it right, and now broke it again by allowing multiple versions of dll's simultaneously.

They never had it right, they just selected a different set of tradeoffs. In the Linux world, things can and do change rapidly, but in exchange, you can actually drop the cruft.

Microsoft is bogged down by all this baggage they must carry to maintain compatibility. They have the resources to keep doing that, but it is expensive and prevents them from making big changes for the better.

Having multiple versions of DLLs is not a mistake; that’s exactly how they accomplish their goal.

So what do you want? Performance, as well as maintainability for open-source coders who do not have the resources of a commercial enterprise? Or never having things break, but having to invest a lot of resources into keeping everything going, and suffering with the mistakes of the past?

This is just a typical trade off you make in software. Break compatibility to improve it (or rename your project), else stick with what you have and improve it where possible.