Forum Discussion
Edge on Linux
Perhaps you could be more specific as to why you want Edge on Linux. Is it just that you want something more polished than Chromium or is there a functional difference you are hoping for?
What I had at one time but lost when I switched to Chrome was the ability to share my bookmarks between all the browsers I use using the Google Toolbar (remember that). I would really like to be able to share my bookmarks and passwords between all the devices I use and do so with end-to-end security.
The ideal strategy for doing that would be to persuade all the browser providers to adopt the same protocol for managing bookmarks, passwords, etc. and provide the necessary cryptography to do this securely in end-to-end fashion in an open standards based protocol. This is in fact what I am currently working on, I am one of the original authors of HTTP and I have spent the past 25 years designing cryptographic security protocols.
Another strategy is to switch to a browser that supports the same protocol on every platform. Which is of course what most users do today and is the basis of the network effect that has everyone locked into Chrome.
As things stand, Microsoft has two options to break the lock in effect:
- Attempt the Google strategy of supporting all platforms.
- Support an open bookmarks/password/etc protocol in Edge C. and attempt to persuade other industry players to follow suit.
In my opinion, the second approach is more likely to be successful. As the new entrant, it is Microsoft that has the least to lose from moving away from the walled garden model and the most to gain.