The New Microsoft Edge

The New Microsoft Edge

UPDATE: While the current Chromium-based Edge browser is leaps and bounds better than its predecessor, I am no longer using it as my daily driver. Unfortunately, Microsoft has made some decisions that I (and others) find extremely unfavorable to its users (this is just the most recent example).

I now use Safari on a 2021 MacBook Pro M1, and Chrome on Windows as my backup. A close friend of mine informed me that I have no loyalty and he's correct. I truly believe we should all be loyal to the platforms that support user interests. Microsoft Edge lost my trust and so I moved on.

After using Chrome for years, I have officially switched to using Microsoft Edge. Not the crappy Windows 8 version, the new Chromium-based version. I’ve been using it since the early beta and have watched how responsive the dev team has been to add new features and catch up quickly with Chrome. This isn’t only a Windows thing, as MacOS users have a version as well.

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There are a couple of reasons to consider a switch to the new Edge. For those using Microsoft accounts, the integration is really convenient. The downside only affects business Office 365 accounts as browser sync isn’t ready yet. But regular Microsoft accounts and personal Office 365 accounts sync well.

Something I really like is a new feature called “Collections” that I’m finding very useful. Using this feature has provided me with a nice separation of bookmarks vs. things I’m not quite ready to commit to just yet. While Collections are similar to bookmarks, it’s not so much a redundant feature depending on how you use them.

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Lastly, all Google Chrome Extensions work with the new Edge since it’s a Chromium-based browser. You can use the Google or Microsoft stores as sources.

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Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge for all the details.