Microsoft begins rolling out its Chromium-based Edge browser, available now for Windows and macOS
here's how to use them Devindra Hardawar / Engadget : Microsoft's Chromium Edge browser is here Mayank Parmar / BleepingComputer : Microsoft's New Edge Browser Released, What You Need to Know Mauro Huc / Pureinfotech : How to download Microsoft Edge Chromium for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Firstpost Tech : Microsoft starts rolling out stable version of Edge web browser based on Chromium Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News : The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is now available BGR India : Microsoft's new Chromium-based Edge browser is now available for download on Windows and Mac João Carrasqueira / Neowin : Edge Beta is now available for ARM64 devices Rishi Iyengar / CNN : Google wants to change the way cookies work Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends : Microsoft's new Edge browser is great, but it's missing one big feature Jim Salter / Ars Technica : Goodbye Microsoft Edge, welcome Microsoft (Chromium) Edge Chris Davies / SlashGear : New Microsoft Edge Chromium browser graduates for Windows and Mac Ryan Whitwam / ExtremeTech : Microsoft's Chromium-Based Edge Browser Is Available Today Brian Westover / Tom's Guide : Microsoft's Chromium Edge browser: Everything you need to know Adam Conway / XDA Developers : [Update 3: In Stable] Microsoft is working on a Chromium-based browser to replace Edge Alex Cranz / Gizmodo : The Last Vestige of Internet Explorer Dies Today Brian Fagioli / BetaNews : Microsoft sends mixed messages by releasing Chromium-based Edge browser for unsupported Windows 7 Mark Hachman / PCWorld : What to expect from Microsoft's ‘new Edge’ browser, rolling out to you soon Mayank Parmar / Windows Latest : How to download new Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 Danbo / MACお宝鑑 … : Microsoft、Chromiumベ ースのイン ; ターネ … Paul Lilly / PC Gamer : Microsoft's retooled Edge browser exits preview and has already won me over Craig Wilson / Input : Microsoft's Edge Chromium is here Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google : Microsoft re-launches Edge browser on Windows and macOS, now based on Google's Chromium Evan Selleck / iDownloadBlog.com : Microsoft launches its new Chromium Edge browser for macOS Todd Bishop / GeekWire : Why Microsoft embraced Chromium, and what the new Edge says about the state of web browsers Tom Warren / The Verge : How to download Microsoft's new Edge browser Paul Thurrott / Thurrott : Microsoft Launches the New Edge Tweets: Dieter Bohn / @backlon : Chromium Edge is here and it looks like it has a few nice features Chrome doesn't — mainly the option to trust Microsoft instead of Google, if you prefer. https://www.theverge.com/... Emil Protalinski / @epro : Yesterday, Microsoft ended support for Windows 7: https://venturebeat.com/... Today, Microsoft released Chromium Edge for Windows 7: https://venturebeat.com/... That's how big Windows 7 still is — about one in four computers run it.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the endpoint of a pivot Microsoft signaled in December 2018, when it announced it would rebuild Edge on Google's open source Chromium project rather than maintain its own rendering engine — a reversal that also committed the company to taking Edge beyond Windows 10 to Windows 7, Windows 8, and macOS. Through 2019 the company shipped previews showing the direction: an early build with support for Chrome extensions and a mixed Chrome/Edge UI, then developer and canary builds for Windows 10 with macOS promised.
Today's stable rollout makes that experiment the shipping product. The strategic logic is straightforward: EdgeHTML's small market share left web developers with little reason to test against it, so Microsoft is trading engine independence for guaranteed site compatibility.
First-order effects
- Windows and Mac users who install the new Edge get Chrome-extension compatibility out of the box, removing the single biggest practical objection to switching from Chrome.
- Microsoft retires its own EdgeHTML engine as the default browsing experience, meaning sites no longer need to test against a second non-Chromium rendering path on Windows.
Second-order effects
- Google's effective stewardship of the web platform widens: every Edge user now runs code from the Chromium project Google dominates, increasing Google's de facto say over which web features ship.
- Browser makers still running independent engines face a shrinking set of peers, raising the cost of staying off Chromium as developer testing consolidates further around one engine family.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the browser layer of the web consolidates structurally around Chromium, shifting competition from rendering engines to the surfaces built on top — sync, privacy defaults, and default-browser placement — where Microsoft and Google actually differ.
- Regulators and standards bodies gain a new focal point: when one open source project underlies most browsers, decisions made in Chromium governance carry weight once reserved for whole companies.
The trend: Browser competition is collapsing into a single shared Chromium engine, with differentiation moving up the stack to services, defaults, and platform integration.