Will I move to stable release of Microsoft Edge Chromium automatically in January 2020

Copper Contributor

I recently read that Microsoft will be releasing a stable build of its work-in-progress Chromium-based Edge web browser sometime in January 2020. I have the regular Edge browser as well as the Beta channel build installed on my Windows 10 based PC and the same build on my Windows 8.1 based notebook. When Microsoft releases the stable build of this browser, will I need to uninstall these Beta channel builds and manually download & install the stable builds or will the Beta ones be replaced automatically with the stable builds ?

Also, Microsoft already has an Edge browser (stable build) as default web browser on Windows 10, will both the regular Edge and chromium-based Edge coexist separately, or the older one will get replaced by the chromium-based Edge ? I do find the Edge-C more stable and faster than the regular Edge browser, so won't mind if it's replaced by the Edge-C altogether.

 

14 Replies
Hi,
Yes you will but not necessarily in January 15 2020.
may be few days later as the change will be gradually rolled out using the Windows update.

Microsoft will be pushing out the new Edge via Windows Update to the majority of Windows 10 users
"To help our customers become more secure and up-to-date, Microsoft will distribute Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) through Automatic Updates for Windows 10 RS4 and newer."
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Microsoft-will-be-pushing-out-the-new-Edge-via-Wi...


Windows updates to support the next version of Microsoft Edge
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-sysupdate-windows-updates

@HotCakeX 

 

Hi,

 

So, as I understand Microsoft will push the new chromium-based Edge browser thru the Windows Update process, replacing my regular Edge browser, on my Windows 10 PC. Would it also replace the Edge Beta build on my Win'8.1 notebook likewise ?

 

Ramesh

No, only Edge classic, Edge beta will stay Edge beta.
all of these experimental channels (Beta/Dev/Canary) will stay in tact. Microsoft needs them for testing and making new features for Edge.
just like Google has Chrome (stable/beta/dev/canary) channels.

@HotCakeX 

 

So, will I have to download and install the stable builds for both Win'8.1 and Win'10 as and when these are released by MS for these platforms ? I wish the Windows Update took care of upgrading Beta channel s/w to Stable ones automatically :(

Only for Windows 8.1.
on Windows 10, Edge stable will automatically come to your computer, replacing Edge classic, if you are using Windows 10 RS4 (Redstone 4 version is from 2018) and later.

Windows update shouldn't touch beta/dev/canary channels, because it wouldn't make sense and cause problems.

there are lots of users, like me, who prefer to use Canary channel instead of stable channel, to have faster access to the new features etc.

Stable channel can come and replace Edge classic but I will still use Canary until stable has all the features I need.

@HotCakeX 

 

Ok. So MS will upgrade regular Edge with Edge-C on WIn'10 (being the most recent Win OS, I guess) while for older OSs like Win'8.1 one has to download and install stable builds manually. I didn't realize that there are folks who would want to retain the Beta/Dev/Canary builds parallelly even after the stable build is released. Guess, it's to try out new features (which may or may not find way into the stable build later).

Yes, because Windows 8.1 doesn't even have Microsoft Edge browser (classic) to begin with so it makes sense to let users install Edge stable manually, Their choice.

oh of course there are people who want to keep using experimental channels.
Google chrome stable was released more than 10 years ago but there are still so many people, maybe even millions, that use Beta/Dev/Canary channels.

All of the features that are seen in Dev channel will always make their way to the stable channel, at least that's how it is with Google chrome but I think Microsoft follows the same path.
the only period of time that features might be introduced and then dropped is in Canary and only when Canary is open to new features. once it is feature locked, no feature is added nor dropped, they are kept and only bug fixes applied, after some time it will be shipped to Dev channel for further optimization and then to the Beta channel for the ultimate optimization (6 weeks) until it is finally ready for stable channel.

@HotCakeX 

 

Agreed. But as a layperson, I would expect MS to simply replace IE on older Windows OSs like 8.1/7 with Edge-C stable build, as it's stopped developing IE-11 long ago, and many websites often don't render well in IE anymore (with websites urging users to use Chrome/FF). If I recollect correctly, when MS replaced IE-4 with IE-5 and then IE-6 many many years ago, it released the stable build for all versions of Windows at the time. No 'step-motherly' treatment to older Win'OS versions.

The only reason I have been using the Edge-C Beta build is because I dislike (to put it mildly) the default Edge browser on Win'10. So, once MS rolls out the stable build of Edge-C (replacing the default/classic build) I will uninstall the Edge-C Beta. Guess, that's what most folks will do, except techies who like experimenting with unstable builds.

The Internet Explorer is not going anywhere though, neither is Edge classic, as they will both be available but hidden in OS for compatibility purposes.
IE is needed for IE-mode in the new Edge browser.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/edge-ie-mode
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3394602/coming-to-windows-10-more-browsers-not-fewer.html

I have to say, the only problem Dev and Canary (and to some extend, Beta) is experiencing right now is Sync problem, specifically favorite syncing.
it's either disabled, or it fails to sync, duplicates favorites, brings back deleted favorites from past and so on.

it's not unstable though, canary channel has been my main browser since April (i think) when Edge insider was first launched, there have been some temporary problems that would make the browser unstable but usually get fixed in a day or two.

Canary has new features that I can't find on Beta (version 79 vs version 81)

@HotCakeX 

 

Oh yes. I didn't realize that Edge even now has an option to open a website / page in IE mode, so IE will have to coexist with Edge for compatibility purposes. Thanks for sharing the links, which do mention why IE and Edge will coexist. Even in Beta channel, I find the Edge-C much more intuitive and faster and more stable than the default/classic Edge browser, which hasn't really improved over the years, compared to Chrome or Firefox. Hope the final / stable release of Edge-C is just as user-friendly as FF & Chrome are.

You're welcome ^^
I can tell you with 99.99% certainty that the first stable version releasing in January 15 is not any different than the Beta (RC=release candidate) that you are already using.
it's only staying for longer period in Beta channel for finding small bugs and fix them as well as fixing the favorite sync problems that are mostly server-side.

@HotCakeX 

 

Ok. I used the Canary build initially, but found it unstable so switched to the Beta channel. The current Beta build is quite good and much better than the regular/classic Edge. If MS fixes minor bugs before the final release in January 2020, it would find more acceptance. Hopefully, Edge-C won't be a memory hog, like Chrome browser is (as both are Chromium-based) :)

How unstable exactly? I don't see any unstability on none of the systems me and my family work on.

@HotCakeX 

 

Well, I use my Outlook.com mail account as well as OneDrive linked to it to store my personal data, mainly in Excel files. Had observed while using the Canary build of Edge-C that it would render the Excel files inconsistently, and I had to reformat data in cells pasted from another worksheet file. Also, some websites didn't seem to work well in Canary build of Edge-C. Haven't noticed such issues in Beta channel, yet. Maybe because Beta builds are the most stable builds among all three, i.e. Beta/Dev/Canary, as issues are resolved progressively from Canary to Dev to Beta channel builds.

For me stability and usability of standard features is more important in a web browser than experimenting with new features, which is what Canary builds are for, I suppose.

Anyway, the current Beta build seems the last one before final/stable release in mid-Jan'2020. It's quite usable even now, but hope it supports more extensions (in MS Store) going forward.