Microsoft announced this week that the new Chromium-based version of its Edge web browser is scheduled to launch around January 15th, 2020. But the company also confirmed that the browser is cross-platform and that it’ll support a whole bunch of operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and… Linux.

The Linux version isn’t expected to be ready by January 15th, but it is listed as coming “in the future” in a slide posted to Twitter by Zac Bowden.

It’s not a big surprise that the new Edge is cross-platform. After all, early beta builds have been available for a range of operating systems, and the new version of Edge is based on Google’s cross-platform, open-source Chromium browser.

But it’s interesting to see Microsoft actively supporting not only Mac, iOS, and Android, but also Linux.

That said… I have to wonder how many Linux users actually want to run Microsoft’s browser. I suppose it’ll come in handy for developers who prefer to use Linux on their work machines while developing for platforms including Windows. But I suspect the browser will be a lot less popular with folks who don’t care about debugging their own web apps.

Still, it’s the latest evidence that Microsoft’s relationship to Linux has changed a lot in recent years.

via BetaNews and Neowin

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9 replies on “Microsoft Edge web browser is coming to Linux (whether you want it or not)”

  1. I am yet to know why should I use Chromium!!

    If I want to enjoy Google services-products-ecosystem-insecurity-tracking-adwares etc, then I must use Google Chrome (free-of-cost available for various OS, the distributed binaries work well and is fully mature).

    If I prefer privacy-security, then I must use (FLOSS) GNU Linux native web browsers e.g., Epiphany, Midori, Falkon, Tor browser etc.

    If I like a balanced experience, then there is the eternal Firefox. Actually I use this only because of it’s advanced screenshot utility & support for old javascript heavy webpages (they are rare now). Also there are some useful extensions/plugins available for it.

    There are also others with special use cases: links, w3m, dillo etc.

    The Chromium (although open source) is full of problems, that is why no security conscious GNU Linux/BSD distro supports/distributes it out-of-box.

    If you are already captured by the Microsoft ecosystem (may be due to MNC/Corporates you are working for) then there is a good reason to use Windows-Office-Edge etc.

    And there is another one ecosystem, the Apple Safari! 😉

    By the by, will the new Edge advertise as chromium or edge or internet explorer??
    If it identifies itself as “chromium”, then Google will proudly claim World-Dominance.

  2. The use of the phrase “coming to linux” and “whether you want it or not” implies that it’ll be the default browser for multiple distros, when as far as I can tell it’s just something you could install if you wanted to, but if that was the case, all these articles would say “available for linux” instead.

    Do you know something we don’t?

    2. Just getting ready for Microsoft’s own Linux distribution. Think I am joking? Just wait and see. It will be a while yet, but it is coming.

  3. I’ll stick to Firefox on Linux, thank you very much. Edge should have never existed, Microsoft could have saved a lot of wasted resource by just creating a “like IE” extension for Chrome for these obscures Apps and Websites where you need it.
    I’d use Opera if I could get it to run, but I can’t, so I don’t.

  4. Every update pushed out for Windows10 seems to break something. It seems Windows is becoming unmanageable. I wonder if a version of Windows based on the Linux kernel is in the future (years off).

  5. I’m glad. I’ll be installing it, and probably using it in preference to Google Chrome. But Ungoogled Chromium will probably remain my daily driver.

  6. Lynx, in the Blynx settings (vision-disability) rules!!
    Text browsers rulez!!
    And mutt for mail.

    Edge can go back to its garbage can

Comments are closed.