Microsoft Releases Chromium-Based Edge Preview Builds
Published:
Microsoft released preview builds of its new Chromium-based Edge browser in April 2019. The decision meant abandoning EdgeHTML, the rendering engine Microsoft had created for the original Windows 10 version of Edge.
Chromium gave Microsoft the Blink rendering engine, V8 JavaScript engine, and compatibility with a huge ecosystem of Chrome extensions. It reduced the cost of maintaining a separate engine and eliminated many website bugs caused by developers testing only against Chrome.
The trade-off was browser-engine diversity. As Edge joined Chrome, Opera, and other browsers on Chromium, Blink gained even more influence over the web platform. Microsoft chose compatibility and development efficiency over maintaining an independent rendering engine.