Forum Discussion
Edge on Linux
Hello,
I work on IT industry and I often use linux distros.
The main requirements for the browser is a support for various types of operating systems, like MacOS, Linux and Windows, because I need to sync my bookmarks, passwords and history between different platforms to continue my current tasks.
If Edge will not be available under linux, I will not change my current browser.
So, is there any chance to see Edge as native application on Linux?
I know, that at this moment there is no support for office and similar applications created by microsoft, but you could use shortcuts for web version (office online, one note online, etc).
You are doing a grat job and edge for android rocks, but no support for linux is dissapointing.
47 Replies
- +1 for Linux support as well (installation through Flatpak would be great). Also love the Win 10 & Android version of Edge. Mac version is very promising for a beta as well 🙂
- +1 For Edge for Linux and from Snap packages...
As everyone said, it will be really great. I am trying to move from chrome to edge. I work on linux at work, and on windows at home, and I want to share the passwords and bookmarks between the browsers. chrome let's me do it today, edge does not....
rgrosberg"As everyone said, it will be really great. I am trying to move from chrome to edge. I work on linux at work, and on windows at home, and I want to share the passwords and bookmarks between the browsers. chrome let's me do it today, edge does not ...."
Like you, I have one foot in Windows and one foot in Linux. I refuse to use Google Chrome, so Firefox is my primary browser, and will remain so until Edge Chromium is ported to Linux.
As a Microsoft Edge Team representative (see above) pointed out at the Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session last June, the port is "something we'd like to do down the road", but Microsoft is not "quite ready to commit to the work just yet".
All we can do is keep raising the issue. I'm glad you did, and I hope that others help keep the issue alive.
InYourHead Microsoft is still mum about its plans, but there was an interesting slide in yesterday's build conference that suggests that Microsoft is going to port Edge Chromium over the Linux.
Microsoft has announced plans to port Edge to all of the others, so maybe our Penguin is getting Edge as well.
tomscharbach A Microsoft Edge Team member clarified Microsoft's position (somewhat) at the Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session late last week: "We don't have any technical blockers to keep us from creating Linux binaries, and it's definitely something we'd like to do down the road. That being said, there is still work to make them "customer ready" (installer, updaters, user sync, bug fixes, etc.) and something we are proud to give to you, so we aren't quite ready to commit to the work just yet."
This is an amazing idea: really, it should be brought over. Edge C would be a perfect portal for Office Online and other applications.
I don't think it's "priority #1" for feature requests, but this would have major positive knock-on effects for the entire Edge C and Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft open-sourced calc.exe--surely, Edge C could be available on Linux.
I'm in the exact same boat, I work in IT and therefore Linux is a must. And if I can't sync my browsing between _all_ my sessions, it's essentially useless.
Edge Canary blows Firefox away, but I just can't have it, due to the lack of a Linux build.
Which I'd be fine without, for the time being, but the fact that it's not even listed as a planned feature is somewhat worrying.
Viktor Berke "Edge Canary blows Firefox away, but I just can't have it, due to the lack of a Linux build. Which I'd be fine without, for the time being, but the fact that it's not even listed as a planned feature is somewhat worrying."
I noted that MS doesn't have any plans to port Edge Chromium over to Linux, too, and that's why I've been harping on them about it.
I understand that Microsoft has little or no financial incentive to support Linux, in terms of increasing customer base among Linux-only users. I doubt that many Linux-only users, independent to a fault, are going to be any more enthusiastic about the Microsoft ecosystem that they are about the Google ecosystem, so will probably stick with Firefox.
But for those of us with a foot in both worlds, porting Edge Chromium to Linux would be an important development. I'm not a Linux developer, but it seems to me that porting Edge through a Snap or a Flatpak would be a way to gather in some low-hanging fruit (that is, us) without expending much in the way of resources.
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.
I thought MS was ditching Edge for a more chrome type browser. I could be mistaken however if MS does go with a chrome engine behind its browser then the support across platforms becomes much easier. The main issues as I see it is Private code vs Public. Will have to wait and see.
Robert_Golobek Edge Chromium (the browser under development to replace Edge Classic, the current built-in Edge) is based on a Chromium/Blink/V8 platform, the same platform on which Chrome, Vivaldi and a number of other browsers are based.
If that were all Microsoft was doing with Edge Chromium, it would be a simple task to prepare Edge Chromium for use on Linux as a Snap or Flatpak.
But Microsoft, as I am coming to understand it, is not simply building a Chromium/Blink/V8 browser, more or less vanilla, with a Edge-like UI.
Instead, Microsoft is porting over many/most/all of the features/functions that distinquished Edge Classic, tightly integrating Edge Chromium into the Windows and deploying enhanced/different video/streaming protocols, enhanced security, and so on.
I suspect that doing that will complicate Microsoft's path to porting Edge Chromium over to Linux, for obvious reasons. However, to my mind anyway, Microsoft should port Edge Chromium to Linux (preferably as a Snap or Flatpak so that the port can be installed on particular distros without additional modification), just as it developed and deployed an Android browser for Android tablets/smartphones.
I realize that Linux desktop is a marginal OS, deployed on only 2% or so of desktop/laptop computers, and that so long as the energy in Linux desktop is https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-linux-desktop-is-in-trouble/, that is unlikely to change. But many Windows 10 users also use Linux desktop (most for work-related reasons, others just for recreation) and deploying Edge Chromium as a Windows/Linux/Android cross-platform browser would increase Edge Chromium's market share, it seems to me, and better align Edge Chromium with Microsoft's move toward open source and Linux support.
Hey I still use Linux for most of my networking and back office coding. Not to shabby an OS that has been around since DOS and is still free and publicly supported.
I agree with InYourHead
Linux Support would be amazing, Microsoft is already enabling Cross Platform Developer and user experiences with tools such as VS Code and more. I use Linux for my development work but also Windows for light browsing, editing and reading on my tablet.
Currently, I am a Firefox user since it's supported on multiple platforms, but recently I did try the EdgeHTML based Edge and it's integration with the complete Windows experiences is a very different experience compared to all other browsers, moreover the PDF viewing experience is superior than the ones in any other browser.
I am sure with Chromium based Edge, Microsoft will bring some of the same goodness integrated to provide a seamless Web experience on Windows. But making it available on Linux is the only way I see using it for my daily work, as Sync capabilities are really important for me, and will allow me to switch from one OS to another knowing that all the important things are going to be there.
- edge on all platform and i hope to see microsoft edition of android os for phone :D (the nokia x, xl and x2 dual sim whith android customized by microsoft are working better and fine cool perfect :D )
