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Is Microsoft's Chromium Edge Browser Better Than Firefox and Chrome? (androidauthority.com) 113

Posted by EditorDavid from the battling-browsers dept.
Android Authority argues that the new Microsoft Chromium Edge browser "is full of neat tricks" and "packs more features than Firefox": The final major feature is called Apps. Essentially, Apps allows you to download and install web pages and web apps for use without the Edge browser. Previously, you had to find these dedicated web apps via the Microsoft Store, but now Edge handles downloading and managing web apps all in the browser. For example, you can download the Twitter web app via Edge just by visiting the Twitter website and clicking "install this site as an app" from the settings menu. Once installed, you can run the webpage as an app directly from your desktop, taskbar, or start menu like any other piece of software. It's like saving links only better, as some web apps can run offline too. Alternatively, you can install the Android Authority webpage and run it as an app to catch up with the latest news without having to boot up Edge each time. It's pretty neat and something that I intend to use more often.

Overall, Edge offers everything you'll want in a web browser and more. Microsoft finally feels on the cutting edge of the internet.
The browser does have a smaller range of supported extensions, but you can also manually install Chrome extensions, according to the article. It adds that Microsoft Edge Chromium "typically uses just 70 to 75 percent of the RAM required by Chrome [and] is even more lightweight than Firefox."

And while acknowledging that Microsoft's Windows 10 "has its share" of telemetry issues, the article adds that "at no point during my couple of weeks with Edge have I noticed it thrashing my hard drive.

"Chrome has a habit of scanning various files on my computer, despite opting out of all the available data sharing options. This isn't great for system performance and raises obvious security questions."
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Is Microsoft's Chromium Edge Browser Better Than Firefox and Chrome? More

Is Microsoft's Chromium Edge Browser Better Than Firefox and Chrome?

Comments Filter:

  • Fuck Yer Fleatures (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Stop adding Moar Fleatures!

    It's just more shit I have to disable.

    • And anyway chrome also has apps.

    • Re: Fuck Yer Fleatures (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @10:24PM (#59522934) Homepage Journal

      From my perspective the most important features needed are privacy features. Adblocking and cookieblocking. Without that the trust is limited.

      Adblocking do more for features than any other tuning of the browser code ever can do.

      • Re: Fuck Yer Fleatures (Score:5, Insightful)

        by mugnyte ( 203225 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @11:54PM (#59523104) Journal
        Aye - and it should be pre-request filtering. Not some sort of half-assed "we download it but don't show it". I want the bandwidth for the content I prefer, not for endless scriptery to chain my browsing imprint across the globe.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          The cost of creating "the content [you] prefer" is currently subsidized by "endless scriptery to chain [your] browsing imprint across the globe." Ads targeted to the content, not to your prior browsing history, paid far less per page view last I checked. Would you instead prefer that each website bill you $5 per month or $30 per year (save 50%!) for access?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by mugnyte ( 203225 )

            Quick answer: YES! Paywall that shit - the sooner the better. Let the willing consumers wade through the advertising - it might be better ROI for the hosts to not serve that content to folks like me. Paywall hubs aren't new or difficult either - so don't strawman the "everybody will have a different paywall" argument.

            Frankly, the dark secret of the web is that people will create an online community regardless of remuneration. I can absolutely skip every single site that requires advertising to "stay i

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Ad blocking is important, which is why the Opera browser has it built in.

          But on this site that is so loving of ad blocking, Opera is hated for some ungodly reason.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jimbo ( 1370 )

          Your opinion of MS is a valid one. However your blurbs on moderation is bad form.

    • From TFS:

      Microsoft Edge Chromium typically uses just 70 to 75 percent of the RAM required by Chrome and is even more lightweight than Firefox.

  • the new Microsoft Chromium Edge browser "is full of neat tricks" and "packs more features than Firefox"

    Extend...

  • The final major feature is called Apps. ... For example, you can download the Twitter web app ...

    ... but I'm not sure that means what you think it means. :-)

    Overall, Edge offers everything you'll want in a web browser and more. Microsoft finally feels on the cutting edge of the internet.

    Okay, now you're just fucking with us -- right?

  • Microsoft is now at Google’s whims (Score:3)

    by xack ( 5304745 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:07PM (#59521974)
    It gave up engine independence and is now dependent on Google for its features. If Google wants to force an unpopular feature Microsoft will be forced to comply. See what has happened to Vivaldi [vivaldi.com] and KDE [bleepingcomputer.com] web browsers as warnings.

    • Re:Microsoft is now at Google’s whims (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:27PM (#59522038)

      Heh. There was a time when I had in my userAgent string: "Follow web standards instead of relying on this, you idiots!".

      Then I realised that it could be used to identify me everywhere, so I changed it to something common.

    • I would have strongly preferred Microsoft maintain their own browser engine - it's certainly not good for the health of the web to reduce it's "genetic diversity", so to speak. I mean, basically now we've just got Gecko and Webkit/Blink. And it's not as if Microsoft couldn't afford to keep a small team of engineers around for the continuation of their own engine.

      But I would think that, should Microsoft decide it didn't like the direction Google was going with Blink, it wouldn't exactly be a herculean task t

      • Chormium (the Chrome engine) is under the BSD license. While I am all about diversity, I see little point in splitting engineering efforts on something so essential and complicated as a web-engine. If the Chromium team starts gong "off the rails," Microsoft and anyone else can simply fork it and continue in another
        • Technically the license only says they *may* fork it, whether or not they *can* remains to be seen.

          (And since they just gave up on maintaining their own web engine, I'm doubtful)
        • See you just put your finger on the problem but neglected to actually realize it.

          "complicated as a web-engine"

          Thats the problem right there. Once upon a time it wasn't complicated, and people here complained about flash and activex because they were used to make "web apps." Now flash and activex are back with a vengeance in the forms of webgl and wasm and are used to... you guessed it.... make "web apps" ....

          What the web needed was the unix philosophy... what it got was the kitchen sink philosophy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sosume ( 680416 )

      But it's really funny. Best scenario would be if people collectively ditched Chrome for this new Edge. That would make Microsoft unable to mess with the core but in charge of features, and Google disinterested as they won't get all the telemetry anymore. The Chrome browser will slowly but stably die and hopefully better browsing software will finally emerge.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Microsoft burned its web bridge with me fifteen years ago. I will never use a Microsoft branded browser. Fuck Microsoft all the way to hell.

      • Microsoft burned its web bridge with me fifteen years ago. I will never use a Microsoft branded browser. Fuck Microsoft all the way to hell.

        Yes, that pretty well sums up my attitude too. Based on over 30 years of bitter, bitter experience.

      • Don't knock it until you've tried it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      There is always https://www.waterfox.net/ [waterfox.net] the less arrogant https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/... [mozilla.org] and both still superior to Chrome, especially when run on Linux. PS why is M$ chrome smaller than Google Chrome, parts of it are built into the OS and always run, the privacy invasive and control parts. So they can access you hard disk drive to read all files, deleted and change files and ever force firmware upgrades, to sell that ability to corrupt USA three letter agencies. M$ is a shite company definitely not to

    • Yes, I know hating Microsoft has been all the rage for decades.. but I actually like Chromium Edge.

      Says Charlie Brown as he runs up to kick the football for the millionth time...

  • Features vs. Trust (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:18PM (#59522002) Journal

    Features can't make up for the trust Microsoft squandered over the years. That will take a good stretch of MS being good.

    • Almost everybody except a small minority of the wealthy are running Microsoft's OS. How do you define trust?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        How do you define trust?

        In practice, it may come down to being less slimy than the alternatives.

      • Almost everybody except a small minority of the wealthy are running Microsoft's OS.

        How wealthy do you need to be to afford FREE?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Almost everybody except a small minority of the wealthy are running Microsoft's OS.

          How wealthy do you need to be to afford FREE?

          Affording hardware certified for compatibility with free software can be nontrivial. System76 laptops cost more than an entry-level Dell or HP, for example, and aren't available in as many screen sizes.

    • Re:Features vs. Trust (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mschaffer ( 97223 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:59PM (#59522136)

      And no mention of Google? I trust them less than Microsoft. They both have their hands all over this, so I would just rather not use it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        I trust them both not one bit. But unlike MS, Google still has real tech skills and will continue to have them for a while yet.

      • Well, all the google stuff you don't trust is gone. Edge lets you block google's trackers and turn off Microsoft's telemetry.

        I've been using it and I love it. All the advantages of Chrome, but without the downside of Google's BS.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Features can't make up for the trust Microsoft squandered over the years. That will take a good stretch of MS being good.

      I don't think my remaining life-expectancy is long enough for that. And anyways, what about the telemetry and forced updated in Win10?

      • Telemetry can be disabled, it has tracker blocking, and it updates through the browser like Chrome and Firefox.

  • After my last dist-upgrade Chromium has been biting the dust with a signal 11 SEGV_MAPERR.

  • Android Authority argues that the new Microsoft Chromium Edge browser "is full of neat tricks" and "packs more features than Firefox":

    Essentially, Apps allows you to download and install web pages and web apps for use without the Edge browser.

    Microsoft finally feels on the cutting edge of the internet.

    OK, so much for the bad news. What's the good news?

    It uses less memory than Chrome

  • We still have a lot of customers who use IE. Great way to secretly upgrade them.

  • And how to block this capability? (Score:3)

    by l0n3s0m3phr34k ( 2613107 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:39PM (#59522080)
    Once again, an entirely new "ecosystem" that requires research, fighting with end users, etc. My workplace requires us to be 800-171 compliant; all "software installs" have to go under a vetting review and approval. "Office Store" was a nightmare; by default we had users able to signup for stuff like "Boomerang for Outlook" and start transmitting data without ISSEC even knowing. It took us awhile to find out how to block this; and it was an "all or nothing" way as Microsoft never has told us about any "per user" or "per machine / group" way of allowing.

    I'm hoping that this is driven by the Microsoft Store settings; if not we may just block the "Chromium Edge Browser" entirely from being used.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      My workplace requires us to be 800-171 compliant; all "software installs" have to go under a vetting review and approval.

      How much does your workplace pay your employees to sit in their office chairs unproductive during the wait for such "a vetting review and approval"?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        Frequency with which 99% of office workers need new software that isn't already vetted: Once a year (and I've rounded up).

        It just doesn't happen. They use the web delivered corporate systems, they use email, unified comms and office suites, they may use legacy deployed applications.

        Different teams will use various applications from third party companies but those will be bought once, used for years, rolled out across the whole team. Upgrading and replacing them is a controlled process.

        Sure, you may be one o

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Sure, you may be one of the 1%, in a role where you're evaluating new software, in need of an insecure environment. Most office workers are not.

          Perhaps my perspective is indeed distorted by my last two W-2 positions having been software development related.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Cederic ( 9623 )

            Even these days I'd lock down a developer PC. I'd also give them the ability to bring up and tear down VMs, and give them full control over those, including installing whatever software they need.

            Nobody needs full admin access to their work computer. Except me, of course.

    • Unless you run some strict OS where there's no browser or internet access you won't be compliant since there's always a new way someone figures out how to run stuff on your computers - without even the user knowing.

  • That saving apps thing is ubiquitous (Score:3)

    by AReilly ( 9339 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @04:42PM (#59522088)

    Both Chrome and Firefox can do that, and both support the "offline app" thing for sites that support it: it depends on the coding of the site, not the browser (besides the necessary support, but that's standardized). And of course opening the saved "web app" opens the browser. That's how it works.

    So far you're not selling it to me.

  • Does it run on Linux and Android, which dominates the mobile market about as much as Windows, at least used to, dominate the desktop, from what I remember... Remains to be seen how long lasting the commitment is to retract their head from whence Steve Ballmer had once put it by catching up to the real world (i.e. open source), but I like the dynamic. Good on ya, Redmond. (Is that where they're still based)

    • Microsoft Edge for Android [google.com] is on Google Play Store, and it appears to be compatible at least back to Android 5.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Note how it doesn't support add ons. That's the biggest flaw with chrome based browsers. Even the ones that enable add ons for mobile suck because most don't have a decent UI for that platform.

        Firefox is better but again suffers from add ons not having a UI for mobile, and it has severe layout problems anyway.

  • Neat Tricks and Feature-Packed doesn't good make (Score:3)

    by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @05:01PM (#59522148)

    Neat tricks and lots of features doesn't necessarily make a thing good.

    It could be cheap window dressing.

    It could be bling to distract from how awful the experience of using it is.

    Sometimes the best choice is to keep it stupid simple.

    Ok most of the times. There's no need for overthinking the plumbing.

  • It is not a browser. It is a skin. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @05:01PM (#59522150)

    Everything but Firefox is a Chromium skin nowadays. Don't delude yourself.

    • Safari? It sucks, but still.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by erice ( 13380 )

        Safari? It sucks, but still.

        Nearly. Safari is based on Webkit. Chrome's engine, Blink, is a fork of Webkit.

        • Safari forked webkit 15+ years ago. I think it's safe to call it a separate product at this point.

          • Safari forked webkit 15+ years ago. I think it's safe to call it a separate product at this point.

            Eh, what?

            I mean yes that's techincally correct while also being wrong. Apple forked webkit from khtml 15 years ago. Chrome used webkit until they forked blink from it 6 years ago.

            • Separate codebase for 15+ years. Maybe you don't understand how much browsers have changed in 15 years, but the answer is "pretty much completely"..

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by tepples ( 727027 )

                The WebKit codebase has been separate for KHTML for 15 years. But that's not what was asked. The Blink codebase has been separate from WebKit for only six, and those six years of divergence are what matters for assessing whether Safari is a reskin of Chromium.

              • Separate codebase for 15+ years.

                OK, no. Please (a) read what I wrote, then (b) read wikipedia. Safari has been separate from KHTML for 15 years. Chrome has been separate from Safari for 6.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gTsiros ( 205624 )

      there's more to a web browser than its rendering engine, backend or whatever else you wanna call it.

    • And Safari.

  • (see subject line)

  • I made a Netflix app. Something Netflix themselves haven't released for some reason. I also have one for Tubi as well.

  • It is Chromium's Progressive Web App support, and Chrome's had it for several releases now. Edge just made it easier to trigger when on Windows. But whether "install pwa" or "save shortcut to page", Chrome does the same thing.

    Microsoft is trying to make it easier to get a PWA store going - the amount of crap you have to go through to get a PWA into Google Play is painfully stupid.

  • My definition of good is if the software is open source. Now which one is best?

  • Which is best? Easy- ask the Expert (Score:3)

    by swell ( 195815 ) <jabberwock@poetic.com> on Sunday December 15, 2019 @06:08PM (#59522278)

    When I need to know which is the best of the current browsers on all platforms, I simply ask the Expert who is intimately familiar with each browser on every desktop and mobile device currently available, and fully understands the underlying concerns of privacy, memory use, CPU usage, etc.

    I'm sure that Expert is here at Slashdot and will be happy to answer our questions.

  • Firefox and Chrome already do the "make a page look like an app" thing. I don't understand why this is being touted as a unique or new feature.

  • So far so good (Score:3)

    by Dorianny ( 1847922 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @07:01PM (#59522386) Journal
    I allays used pure Chromium instead of Chrome because of all the annoying "Google services" tie-ins. Edge so far is a better Chromium. We will have to wait and see if MS takes the Google approach and starts tightly integrating to it own platform services. In any case the best thing to come out of this whole thing is that MS is porting its "HEVC Decoder and PlayReady DRM" over to Chromium, which means we will no longer be stuck with Edge if you want in-browser 4K

  • It adds that Microsoft Edge Chromium "typically uses just 70 to 75 percent of the RAM required by Chrome [and] is even more lightweight than Firefox."

    I thought I noticed that the ground seemed a lot colder here lately than usual, but I just thought it was because of winter.

  • Why not Brave? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Slashgem ( 6200776 )

    If anyone has not checked it out yet, I highly recommend Brave Browser.
    It's got a native ad blocker developed in the rust language as well as many of Google's stuff taken out.
    (See https://github.com/brave/brave... [github.com]

    Why go with Edge when you can go for Brave (Chromium)?

  • ‘Microsoft Edge Chromium "typically uses just 70 to 75 percent of the RAM required by Chrome [and] is even more lightweight than Firefox."’

    Is this the same shuffle Microsoft does with msOffice and own browser. As in pre-load most of the functionality at boot. Therefore giving the erroneous impression that the apps are faster and lighter than the non-Microsoft equivalent.
  • Not to Edge and Chrome !!
  • Can it stop animations?

  • Microsoft has completely blown it with me. I'll never use another browser of theirs unless absolutely forced. Actions have consequences.

    Even if the product is decent at the moment, and doesn't screw with industry standards at the moment, there's always the possibility later that they will "differentiate" by making their own standards, or interpreting industry standards differently. They're Microsoft, they can't help themselves.

    So no, forget it.

    Why should Microsoft care if you use their browser anyway? T

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