Microsoft Edge now available for macOS

Elliot Kirk Apparently installing Edge DEV on macOS also installs Microsoft AutoUpdate and at some point launches an unexpected pop-up window about a Required Data Notice.

I installed Edge DEV on my macOS Mojave v10.14.5 on 7/3/2019. Edge DEV has indicated it has updated itself on a couple launches but this morning (7/19/2019) I found this pop-up window dialog from a process called Microsoft AutoUpdate displaying a Required Data Notice that has a Learn More link and an OK button.

Edge DEV was not running at this point.

Clicking the Learn More link takes you to: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/privacy/essential-services but there is nothing in this article about Edge DEV being part of the Microsoft Office universe...

According to Activity Monitor, this Microsoft AutoUpdate PID is pegging percent CPU in the high 90% range, using around 45.3 MB of real memory. Activity Monitor sampling suggests this is Microsoft AutoUpdate version (4.13 - 4.13.19071800).

The only Microsoft applications I have installed on my mac are Microsoft Remote Desktop, currently  v10.2.13 (1593) which I've been using for several years and now Edge DEV. I have never seen this Microsoft AutoUpdate until this morning and as I mentioned above there is no reference to EdgeDEV or Microsoft Remote Desktop in that Learn More link about essential services.

Since Edge DEV was my likely culprit, I fired up the macOS system report and went to the Software > Installations section which shows that, indeed, I installed Edge DEV on 7/3/2019 _and_ Microsoft AutoUpdate was also installed on 7/3/2019.

There is also a second entry for Microsoft AutoUpdate for this morning (7/19/2019) but you can see from the attached screenshot that the system report is not capturing the Microsoft AutoUpdate version string in the version column which is also true for Microsoft Edge DEV although the Software Name column is reflecting that I have Microsoft Edge Dev Update 77.0.197.1 installed. 

I have not been keeping an eye on the version string so I don't know what I started with and what has changed. The macOS system report suggests you aren't installing Edge DEV on macOS in such a way that the version installation is captured the way it should be. E.g. a new row with relevant installation date and version string in the version column.

Based on what I found with Activity Monitor process sampling, there is a version string available for Microsoft AutoUpdate so you guys should be able to have the macOS system installation auditing include the missing version string.

I suggest specifically pointing this issue out clearly during Microsoft Edge for macOS installation so folks are not surprised at seeing this suddenly appear one day. Fixing the macOS system report software installations information thread would be helpful too so there is less mystery surrounding this process.

Searching the web for macOS and Microsoft AutoUpdate yields a bunch of unpleasant results, one in particular claiming Microsoft AutoUpdate is a trojan and earnestly trying to convince you to download and install their recommended clean up program - sigh....

EDIT: After posting this I went ahead and clicked OK on the Microsoft AutoUpdate window and then launched Edge which opened a tab showing that I had been updated to Edge, build 77.0.211.3 which does not match what my system report says I have installed and so far at least, my system report has not updated to indicate any change to what it was already showing for Microsoft Edge:

HTH