It’s true, Microsoft is turning Edge into a Chromium browser

Earlier this week it was reported that Microsoft has plans to replace their Edge browser with a customise Chromium design, bringing their browser inline with many of its contemporaries while further integrating the company into the world of open source software. 

Microsoft has now confirmed that they are making “under the hood” changes to their Edge platform, making it “Chromium-compatible” to align themselves with existing web standards and other Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Opera and Silk. This change will improve Edge’s compatibility and make testing a lot easier for future web developers.   

With this change, Microsoft will be able to bring their Edge browser to other platforms like MacOS while also enabling them to update the browser on a more regular basis, dedicating more resources to improving the browser with the help of other members of the Chromium community. With these efforts Microsoft will also contribute to the Chromium ecosystem by creating platform enhancements, making all Chromium browsers better for Windows in the process, with Microsoft’s near-term goal being enhancements to ARM64 support.   

Moving to a Chrome back-end will effectively create a new browser from Microsoft, though for now, it appears as if Microsoft plans to keep their Edge branding for their next browser iteration.