Illustration by Stephen Shankland / CNET
Microsoft will remove its old Edge browser from Windows 10 PCs on April 13, an important step in its years-long effort to move its huge customer base to a modern browser.
Two decades ago, the software giant Internet Explorer crushed competitors like Netscape Navigator and dominated the market, but Microsoft let the software languish. New rivals such as Firefox and Chrome took the initiative, and Apple’s Safari started a revolution in mobile browsers. Microsoft was unable to keep up, even after trying to reduce IE on a modernized Edge, so it moved Edge to Google Chrome’s open source Chromium base. He renamed the previous Edge as Edge Legacy.
IE has been a relic for years, but now Edge Legacy is also going to scrap software. On Friday, Microsoft announced that a Windows security update will install the new Edge, if it has not already been installed, and remove Edge Legacy. The new Edge is already the default browser in the latest version of Windows 10.
Microsoft has drastically changed its stance on browsers over the years. Where they once saw them as a threat to Windows, a rival software base that runs on any device, they are now adopted browsers. On PCs, they are the most widely used software, and browser-based applications help Microsoft extend its services beyond Windows.
Microsoft released the first trial version of the new Edge for public testing in April 2019 and released the first stable version in January 2020. The software is similar to Google’s dominant Chrome, with its core software, but includes differences like one vertical guide arrangement and collections to store information collected on the web.
It also includes Edge features, such as enhanced search, designed to help the sizeable population of Microsoft business users.