Starting January 15th, 2020 Microsoft will begin rolling out a new version of their Edge browser. This is a substantial change from the current browser in that it is Chromium based and de-coupled from Windows updates. Chromium is an open-source browser that is used as a base for many other browsers. The most of obvious of these is Google’s Chrome browser but also others you may have heard of like the Opera browser installed on many Apple products. Google deserves the credit for Chromium as it released is code for Chrome to the open source community back in 2008.
Microsoft is handling the deployment in a staggered release
and will handle updating your shortcuts, menu pins etc. to the new version of
Edge. Microsoft is aiming for better web compatibility with the new Edge browser
and should reduce the number of sites that work in Chrome but not properly in
Edge. The important point here, is Microsoft is rolling this out whether users
are ready for it or want it. It is
coming regardless.
Microsoft is decoupling the browser from the operating system, meaning it can update the browser more frequently and on demand. Much like the Chrome browser updates itself behind the scenes, the new Edge browser will do the same with feature releases coming every six weeks. Security patches will come as needed. The icon will look different and is shown below so you will know where to look for your new Edge browser:
Also note that Windows 7 will be end of life this month on January 14th. If you are still running Windows 7, there will be no more support or security patching available from Microsoft. We recommend upgrading to Windows 10.
If you have any questions about this or want to get an early release of the browser, please feel free to reach out to us at (888) 600-4560 by phone, or info@coldencompany.com via email.