After months of beta testing to making it stable, Microsoft Edge will be officially launched on January 15—and the first thing you will notice is the change in logo and an additional change in version.
What is Chromium?
The browser that we all got to know won't be totally gone for good. It would be under the same name and icon, but the engine that powers edge is being changed from EdgeHTML to Chromium's Blink. The tech giant sees Edge as a browser that can be used throughout different platforms and even versions of Windows, iOS, Android, as well as macOS.
Changing the engine to Chromium's Blink will allow less work for web developers due to the absence of specific targeting EdgeHTML code for website compatibility. For consumers, it just makes the browser work better than the previous ones. However, the software is still packed with both negative and positive features.
Positives over Negatives
The primary endeavor of Microsoft Edge is its availability across platforms such as Windows 7 through 10, Android, macOS, and iOS. This means that by using Microsoft Edge, all of your passwords, history, privacy settings, and more, regardless of the device used, become synced and work seamlessly.
In addition to that, there are also other features such as privacy settings—making it hard for ads to track you on websites, and a feature that allows native installation on the device. Meanwhile, the Collections feature collates a list of images, links, and webpages that can be used later on in case of a research or an undergoing project. There is also an integration between Microsoft Search and Microsoft Edge where "an address bar along the top of the browser can also tap into their own internal network and index company files and folders."
Although the old Edge may have offered functions such as set tabs aside, Fluent Design, and inking onto webpages that are still missing, it is without a doubt that these can be fixed using updates, thereby concluding that advantages still outweigh the disadvantages.
Ditching the "e"
From the Internet Explorer's and the old Microsoft Edge, iconic blue 'e' logo, a new logo for the new Microsoft Edge emerges four years after the old one.
The new logo was designed and revealed by conducting an Easter Egg hunt for fans over the second half of last week. The egg hunt involved finding meanings behind pictograms, numerical codes, and other hints and clues to a series of puzzles. There was also an Obj model code hidden in an image that allowed puzzle solvers to render it as a 3D object.
According to a tweet by William Devereux, senior project manager and head of the Microsoft Edge Team, "To unlock edge://surf, create a Collection named "Microsoft Edge" and add four items that spell "S.U.R.F." This currently only works in the Canary channel". The end of the puzzle involves a surfing game because the new logo looks like a wave.
After being mistaken and confused with the Internet Explorer's and Microsoft Edge's logo due to their similarities, the refreshing change in the icon's color and shape should likely help people differentiate them from now on.
