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Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

news.softpedia.com

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Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#11

Post by err4nt »

lolc wrote: post #3

> But all of these show that Microsoft Edge is now a fully-featured alternative to Google Chrome Given that it uses Chrome's engine, Edge isn't an alternative to Chrome. It's just an alternative version of Chrome. Sure, from a user perspective, it's an alternative. From a dev perspective, it adds to the dominance of Chrome.

From a dev perspective it also loosens Google's grip on Chromium, the #1 rendering engine :D Having Microsoft collaborate and diversify that project is a major win for all of us.

I am hoping/wishing that Mozilla will drop gecko development and repackage WebKit - it would be great for them to join forces and pool resources with the #2 engine!

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#13

Post by err4nt »

vijaybritto wrote: post #7

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossible?

These technologies are very deep, and the pool of developers with the skill, time, desire, and understanding to hack on these things is a very shallow pool to pull from. It seems like a lot of companies working on browsers are under-staffed so we seem to be experiencing more cross-company teamwork and collaboration than ever before - which is _great_ for standards and pushing us forward at a faster pace than before!

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#14

Post by timw4mail »

err4nt wrote: post #11
lolc wrote: post #3

> But all of these show that Microsoft Edge is now a fully-featured alternative to Google Chrome Given that it uses Chrome's engine, Edge isn't an alternative to Chrome. It's just an alternative version of Chrome. Sure, from a user perspective, it's an alternative. From a dev perspective, it adds to the dominance of Chrome.

From a dev perspective it also loosens Google's grip on Chromium, the #1 rendering engine :D Having Microsoft collaborate and diversify that project is a major win for all of us. I am hoping/wishing that Mozilla will drop gecko development and repackage WebKit - it would be great for them to join forces and pool resources with the #2 engine!

No, absolutely not.

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#16

Post by alunchbox »

err4nt wrote: post #11
lolc wrote: post #3

> But all of these show that Microsoft Edge is now a fully-featured alternative to Google Chrome Given that it uses Chrome's engine, Edge isn't an alternative to Chrome. It's just an alternative version of Chrome. Sure, from a user perspective, it's an alternative. From a dev perspective, it adds to the dominance of Chrome.

From a dev perspective it also loosens Google's grip on Chromium, the #1 rendering engine :D Having Microsoft collaborate and diversify that project is a major win for all of us. I am hoping/wishing that Mozilla will drop gecko development and repackage WebKit - it would be great for them to join forces and pool resources with the #2 engine!

It's not just a drop in replacement and since Firefox quantum the rending engine has felt butter smooth. Overall Firefox personally 'feels' faster than Chrome, just a personal view but I do love Chrome's developer tools. Not sure if there's a way to improve Firefox's developers tools to bring it in line with a similar experience.

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#17

Post by foepys »

vijaybritto wrote: post #7

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossible?

I think the product management was bad. The browser was always full of quirks on how to use it and configuring felt bad. It lacked features and the feature that were there were always bad. They also never were innovating except for some DRM stuff.

IT savvy people just installed all their friend and family Chrome because they were also using it and it works.

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#18

Post by forthefuture »

prophesi wrote: post #4

This doesn't seem to be the case? I visited NetMarketShare myself, and showed the market share stats for all browsers, excluding bots/spiders. It then shows Chrome > Safari > Firefox > IE11 > Edge. Pardon the large, ugly URL, but this is the filter I used: https://netmarketshare.com/?options=%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22... Edit: I see now that softpedia is talking about desktop browsers only. Even then, Edge is in fourth…

It's an aggregate of the months you're selecting (2019/04 - 2020/03). If you select just March you can see what they're seeing:

https://netmarketshare.com/?options=%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22...

Re: Microsoft Edge is now the second most-used desktop browser

#20

Post by rightbyte »

err4nt wrote: post #13
vijaybritto wrote: post #7

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossible?

These technologies are very deep, and the pool of developers with the skill, time, desire, and understanding to hack on these things is a very shallow pool to pull from. It seems like a lot of companies working on browsers are under-staffed so we seem to be experiencing more cross-company teamwork and collaboration than ever before - which is _great_ for standards and pushing us forward at a faster pace than before!

I don't want more internet standards or faster pace.
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