[GekkePrutser]

I think it exposed exactly the reason why it's so bad to have a browser monopoly.

I hope it will also spur others like Microsoft to reconsider using Chrome's codebase and thus add to browser diversity. Because Google will keep making it harder to cut this stuff out.

I never understood why microsoft was suddenly so hell-bent on rebuilding edge. The engine they used had nothing to do with me not using it. I just didn't want to jump from one corporate toy to another. This still goes except they're marketing it so heavily to enterprises now that it's become the standard browser at work. I still use Firefox there when I can though :)

[hakfoo]

I want to say it's that they learned their lessons from history.

IE, and to a lesser-extent, pre-Chromium Edge became instruments of active developer hostility. I know people who still have to support an embedded IE7 component.

To truly fix Edge, they'd have to keep a constant and large development effort to match Chrome/Safari/Firefox point for point. For a product that even their strongest advocates will admit is basically a "pack in" product of relatively minor market share. It's like telling them "You've got to retool MS Paint to compete with Photoshop."

Of course they'll pick the easy road, slapping some paint and customizations on Blink. Although they could have at least bought into Gecko.

[petre]

> I never understood why microsoft was suddenly so hell-bent on rebuilding edge.

They want a piece of the analytics pie.

[GekkePrutser]

Yes but they could have had that with the old Edge.. I just don't understand how the browser engine was a barrier to adoption. It didn't perform badly at all every time I tested, it worked just fine.

I think it was just the marketing effort that got Edge Chromium more adopted, not the move to chromium itself. Every time we had a call with a MS consultant (about any unrelated topic) they had to bring it up again, it was crazy.

[petre]

It didn't have enough adoption despite the ads in Windows 10. Also it there was too much functionality to duplicate. So they decided to use Chromium instead, keep the Edge UI andthe ads. A good decision actually. Less bug to bug compatibility needed as most websites target Chrome anyway. I'm happy about it, there's one less browser engine to support that I dont care about. We target FF and Chromium. Safari is enough of a nuisance, only high impact bugs get fixed. It's the new IE.

[danbolt]

ChakraCore was a cool JavaScript engine as well. I miss it being actively developed!