Descripción:
Microsoft Edge is a web browser developed by the American company Microsoft to replace its old Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft Edge has been developed specifically for the current Windows computer operating system and is built around web standards.
Edge browser source
During the second decade of the twenty-first century the Internet Explorer browser was losing users and went from being the most used worldwide to falling below 10% of total web browser users, behind Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. To try to reverse this situation, Microsoft launched in 2015 a new model of web browser, the one baptized as Micrososoft Edge.
Evolution of the Edge browser:
- 2015: Official launch of Microsoft Edge as part of the Windows 10 operating system, replacing Internet Explorer.
- 2016: Aiming to improve the user experience, Microsoft introduced features such as support for extensions, an integrated PDF reader and annotation tools. These improvements were well received, although Edge’s market share was still lower than that of its competitors.
- 2018: Microsoft announced that Edge would move to the Chromium open source platform, a significant change that would allow the browser to be more compatible with a wide range of websites and extensions. This move was seen as an attempt to win back users and adapt to current browser needs.
- 2020: The new version of Microsoft Edge based on Chromium was officially launched. This redesign not only improved performance and speed, but also offered greater customization and better integration with productivity tools. In addition, advanced security features and privacy improvements were introduced.
However, regaining market share is an arduous task and today Microsoft’s new browser has already surpassed its predecessor Explorer which, with still has a 2% share, and stands at around 6% of Edge; figures that are still far 63% of Google Chrome .
Main Features of Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a multi-device browser, designed to work on computers, smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. It uses a rendering engine called“EdgeHTML“, which seeks to improve speed and performance compared to its predecessor. This engine benefits from optimized memory management in Windows 10, which also contributes to greater battery savings. Notable features include:
- Advanced PDF support: Edge offers integrated tools for viewing and annotating PDF documents, making it easy to read and interact with these files.
- Embedded Adobe Flash Player: Enables playback of multimedia content that requires Flash without the need to install additional plug-ins.
- Support for asm.js: Improves the execution of complex web applications and online games.
- EPUB Reader: Offers an optimized reading experience for EPUB format e-books.
- Stylus annotations: Thanks to Windows Ink technology, users can annotate directly on web pages, which is useful for note-taking and collaboration.