Microsoft’s Latest Browser: Microsoft Edge, Of Course!

Microsoft Edge

For line-of-business applications that require ActiveX, VBScript, or Browser Helper Objects, many businesses have set their standards to older versions of Internet Explorer. Older versions of IE have continued to hold in there, regardless of Microsoft’s attempts to get users to upgrade, for compatibility reasons.

Chris Jackson, software architect at Microsoft, said that as of October of that year (2014), about 70% of enterprise web apps had to be run in IE5 on Quirks mode (which allows you to maintain backward compatibility with older websites).

For this reason, many companies have continued using IE. However, most employees prefer and are provided with a secondary browser (like Chrome or Firefox) that they can use for other work on an as needed basis.

Microsoft acknowledges this trend, and after years of ensuring backward compatibility in newer versions of IE, they have decided to address the issue and take a new approach with Windows 10 by introducing a new default browser – Edge (previously known as Project Spartan). Internet Explorer is still present in Edge, but it is relegated to a legacy browser that will only receive security updates, and not new features.

Edge is based on a heavily rewritten version of Microsoft’s Trident rendering engine. It has removed support for legacy technologies in favor of extensions with other Microsoft services, such as Cortana and OneDrive. With no binary plugins or add-ons except for Flash, they hope security will improve.

Here are some exciting features you can expect to see within Microsoft’s Edge:

  • Cortana the intelligent personal assistant to help you navigate and search the Internet, amongst various other things.
  • The ability to draw on web pages through ‘web notes’ that allow you to write and save notes whenever necessary.
  • Different themes depending on your mood as the browser comes with two themes – a light one and a dark one.
  • And much more that makes the new browser worth trying out and seeing if it’s right for your unique needs.

When businesses have been running dual browser policies for as long as they have now, hopefully with the coming of Edge, Microsoft has figured out a more modern, more secure and more compatible browser. Contact us by phone or send us an email for more information.