Forum Discussion
Microsoft Edge Roadmap
As the changes in services confirm, Microsoft intends to make its Chromium derivative just like Windows 10 regularly call home. But what prompted Microsoft to abandon its very own EdgeHTML in the 1st place, and suddenly make friends and share common browser engine with Google - its fierce competitor? And how Microsoft and Google teams leave together under this common project roof?
There is an interesting story behind it - so interesting, it can make it to a prominent Hollywood movie given huge importance a web browser now plays in our life. So lets find out:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18527550/microsoft-chromium-edge-google-history-collaboration?
Replacing Google Services with Microsoft's own is one thing, more or less expected. Bing apparently is a no choice forced option on Edge Chromium New tab pages, Goggle Search - no more. But is that enough to draw massive interest to the new browser? Probably not... so Edge team is going to capitalize on known Edge Classic strong points, and further focus on a few key areas expecting them to deliver key differentiation in features and user experiences from Chromium:
Key Area of Focus for Microsoft Edge:
- Accessibility
- Editing
- Security
- ARM64
- Fonts
- Tooling
- Authentication
- Layout
- Touch
- Battery life
- Scrolling
- Web Standards
EFFICIENT AND DIVERSE MEDIA PLAYBACK FOCUS IS MISSING ON THE ROADMAP
What struck me in the above list is seemingly absent mentioning of advantages given by better browser integration with OS. For example, Edge is well known for its more efficient video playback, which is critical for YouTube lovers with older laptops and devices. I think emphasizing this advantage more, Edge will be able to attracts a very large share of consumers. But instead https://twitter.com/ericlaw/status/1120706947668426753 PNACL sandbox support in Edge, thus making impossible to install and run popular media extensions, and even Google Earth. Sounds crazy - what do you think guys?
Delivering video content efficiently, so high resolution and bitrate videos can be downloaded faster and played on weaker older hardware - requires a kind of dark art advanced skills and knowledge. Videos comprise now 70% of all crossing internet bits, and will approach 80% in 2 years as per Cisco research. Microsoft was striving for the last few years to deliver https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/07/13/get-better-quality-video-with-microsoft-edge/#Kdcsbg1KWl21MxKF.97 with Edge Classic compare to any other browser. In fact, Edge team got Technical https://twitter.com/jatindermann/status/1118247072690388992 for that outstanding effort. New reports surfaced of Edge Chromium geared for https://mspoweruser.com/chromium-based-microsoft-edge-will-be-able-to-stream-videos-in-4k/.
Now its time to extend this support to a new contender for defacto internet video standard https://research.mozilla.org/av1-media-codecs/ codec. I wonder if someone from Edge Media team can share some plans and challenges in bringing superb Edge Classic's video playback level to Edge Chromium? For example, would be interesting to see Edge Chromium supporting HD video torrents search and direct torrent stream playback, possibly through a professionally made by the Edge team open source extension.
After Edge Chromium announcement, there were numerous questions from Insider release testers, what familiar features will be implemented first, and what directions MS Edge team will concentrate on. In reply, MS Edge team management published an interesting article
https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2019/04/08/microsoft-edge-preview-channel-details/
Its an interesting read, clearly outlining a range of technologies, features, and directions the Edge Insider team is focused now.
Replacing Google Services with Microsoft's own is not the only change they plan for Edge Chromium. The team is actively looking for new ways to position the browser as an advanced productivity tool for both corporate and consumer warriors, technology novices and geeks .
The first line of new directions and features planned for initial Edge Chromium release was presented during Build 2019 event and outlined in the article:
https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2019/05/06/edge-chromium-build-2019-pwa-ie-mode-devtools/#fdF6LkLprOCwX171.97
It emphasizes a) productivity, b) privacy, c) developer, and d) enterprise support as today's strategic directions.
Let's look at what's in store for Edge enterprise users, who as expected demand compatibility with venerable Internet Explorer and other 30-year old Microsoft products still in use on their LANs. For enterprise the Edge team prepared a gifty IE ActiveX that will seamlessly auto fit right into the Edge open tab when facing a webpage designed for Internet Explorer. One would be surprised to learn, the websites designed for ALL previous IE generations are still supported.
To learn more about IE integration into Edge, watch this video. Its an interesting journey into early tech, most current Edge developers hardly heard of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2dm29djv3U