Microsoft Is Ending Support For the Old Non-Chromium Edge

Support for Microsoft's original Edge browser is ending today. Legacy Edge, as it is now called, will no longer receive security updates, and anyone still using it should start the process of switching to something else. The Verge reports: Legacy Edge was originally codenamed "Spartan" and was included with Windows 10 as the operating system's default web browser before it was officially named Edge. The Edge mantle is being taken up by Microsoft's Chromium-based browser, which was in beta throughout 2019 and officially launched in January 2020. This means Edge (the old Edge, that is) survived just over a year alongside its replacement. Microsoft also says Legacy Edge will automatically be removed by the April Windows 10 update, with the new Edge being installed in its stead.

Is it just me

[rsilvergun]

or was that kind of quick? I guess it doesn't much matter, I don't know anyone who built anything serious on Edge.

Re:

[Cmdln Daco]

I don't know any 'web programmer' who builds anything serious.

Re: Is it just me

[Z00L00K]

Well, any serious web developer takes care to ensure that the W3C standards are followed and test accordingly.
But today web development is done with Lego Duplo blocks and not skillfully handcrafted. The result is that the skilled programmers are only requested by framework builders and the dirty sector of trackers, ad servers, spies and scammers.

Re: Is it just me

[RazorSharp]

While I agree with you in theory, the budget of most customers requires the use of a pre-built CMS. Even when they have a large budget, they will still want a CMS that makes things easy for the content creators.

Personally, I think the ideal way is to make a custom CMS using something like Django or Flask, but most mom and pop shops do not need that and cannot afford it, so most of the web is Wordpress.

Re:

[jellomizer]

The HTML is just a UI front end to the serious application.

Just like how older programmers needed to use ANSI, 3270, VTxxx for their mainframe apps. Using box characters, and inverted colors for input fields.
Then they moved to windowed forms to collect the information.
Then they switched to HTML (which is actually much more comfortable to the old mainframe UI Coding vs the OOP insanity of Window Forms)

So saying a web programmer isn't a serious programmer, it also saying a Mainframe programmer isn't a seriou

Re:

[gosso920]

It's ironic that Microsoft would write a piece of bloatware, and name it "Spartan."

Re:

[cfalcon]

During development it was NOT bloated, and the name was entirely appropriate (and not just for Halo reasons).

Obviously, Microsoft made it shittier and shittier until they finally launched it, then almost immediately gave it up to make it just chromium with a shitty icon.

Re:

[kurkosdr]

The shitty icon is useful for grandparents who "can't find the internet icon". If they must go online using the "internet icon", it better be a Chromium browser, not IE.

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[sg_oneill]

Spartan was far from bloated. It was actually, to everyones surprise, nimble, lightweight and surprisingly compliant. The only browser now that comes even close to that would be Apples Safari but tthats a mac only thing.

Re:Is it just me

[JessicaFEREM]

the old edge is still the most power efficient browser in recent memory, better than the new edge, and better than chrome (although the new edge is slightly better in terms of power usage) and Firefox (it's barely efficient, it's a power hog and it isn't even hardware accelerated on linux, even though it uses less ram, it uses a lot of power). I will also go on the record and say that the new edge isn't just a rebrand of chromium, it does add a lot of microsoft-specific creature comforts, as well as some backend improvements and redesigns. Some of the creature comforts are: The full-page screenshot tool is super nice, much better than some that I've seen, and it doesn't bog down as much with massive websites. The Read-aloud option lets you use Microsoft's built in TTS and even the "natural voices" If you're on windows, you have the option to "Reload in Internet Explorer Mode" which allows you to view websites that only work with IE, in edge. the "scrolling personality" is super nice, and feels responsive, less like the scrollbar is on rails and more like it's a sheet of paper bouncing around, works well with windows precision touchpads. tabs have an option to be on the side instead of at the top, useful for tab-hoarders Has one of the best PDF readers built in The many Edge-specific flags, if you're a power user, you should def look into the flags, they're always adding new flags and options. I just think that people are far more willing to label it as "yet another version of chromium" without looking into it much more, or giving it time to develop into something different.

Re: Is it just me

[BanHammer]

Then why did Microsoft leave the old edge?They have so much money to afford a browser team

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Google did what Microsoft tried but failed to do, Google hijacked web standards, and so the only way to ever have a compliant rendering engine is by using the one Google is supporting.

It sucks, but the same people who bitched about Microsoft's anti-trust trial and still can't let it go are the ones who shepherded through with great fanfare Google's ransacking of the broadly fair democratic process at the W3C and replaced it with Ian Hickson's Google funded dictatorship = WHATWG because they mistaken

Re:

[bloodhawk]

app and plugin support, google control of web standards, lack of user adoption to justify the cost.

Re:

[thsths]

Yes, I think it is a shame that we are down to one render engine plus whatever Apple does. Edge the render engine was surprisingly good, fast, easy on memory etc. In my view, it was just Edge the browser holding things back - it was not ready when it was released.

Re:

[jonbryce]

The "whatever Apple does", is basically the same thing.

Apple forked Konqueror / khtml to create Safari / webkit. Google forked Safari / webkit to create Chrome / Blink. Microsoft forked Chrome to create Chromium Edge.

The only genuinely different rendering engine in widespread active use is Firefox / gecko.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

Edge (the original) was exactly the opposite, it was probably the leanest and most efficient mainstream browser, it was a move away from all the bloat, but it didn't get enough adoption or support to become popular and certain functionality that was missing early on put people off (you only get one chance to make a good impression)

Re: Is it just me

[shadowjk]

Old edge was pretty nice. It also had 2-3 times better performance on speedtest.net than other browsers, if that's a metric.

Re:

[jellomizer]

Being that we still need IE compatibility, but not Edge compatibility really shows how Microsoft dropped the ball on its Edge deployment.

Edge dropped all the crappy compatibility that all the older apps used, but then replaced it with an more modern HTML Engine, but Chromium was years ahead of Microsoft so if you are going off IE and have to re code your HTML, you might as well be using Chrome as the baseline.

Pepsi generation.

[Ostracus]

Old Coke has been replaced by new Coke.

I have another proposal

[Kazymyr]

How about an option to remove the old Edge, and not install anything in its place? I think many would appreciate it.

Re:

[mutantSushi]

Exactly. Actually I used MS' own (little publicized) script / reg edit file to block download of "New Edge" and I wonder how the new update will be affected by that or not... I mean, AFAIK the existing updates alread forced dowloading new Edge, so the only people who haven't downloaded would be people who blocked it.

Personally, I would be thrilled if I could delete the old one while not installing the new one, as I never use either and am creeped out by their presence. I couldn't figure out way to delete ol

Re:

[ElizabethGreene]

I have not tested this in a recent build, but Edge was a removable feature. Settings > Apps > Apps and Features > Microsoft Edge > Remove.

Too bad

[phantomfive]

It would have been nice to have a real alternative browser. The more implementations there are, the firmer the specification has to be.

Re:

[BorisAmmerlaan]

You weren't there when HTML 3.2 was released, were you?

Re:

[takionya]

How do you manage to stop "Windows 10" from updating, it's automatic and cannot be disabled.

Re:

[Kazymyr]

Pull the network cable, and don't connect to wifi. There, no updates.

Open Source It

[higfchjgddljr5778]

It would be nice if they put the source code on github and not just discard it.

That's why I still use IE

[jfdavis668]

Don't get all these updates and changes messing up the operation.

This is a tragedy!

[hyades1]

Microsoft is ending support for the old Edge? This catastrophe could impact the entire user base. Dozens of people could be affected; hundreds, even!

it's over!

[arttic00]

finally.

IE is still bigger than Edge Legacy

[wertigon]

IE is still holding strong at 0.81% according to the latest Statcounter, Edge Legacy is at 0.31%. Chrome is at 63%, Safari at 19.14% and Firefox at 3.76%.

How the mighty have fallen... :)