During the ‘State of the Browser’ session at its Ignite 2019 conference in Orlando, Florida, Microsoft announced that its Chromium-based Edge browser will hit the stable channel on January 15 for Windows and macOS. It will also come to Linux later in the year, but there’s no specific ETA for that yet. The Edge Chromium is also getting an all-new logo that was revealed by the company earlier in the week.
In case you’re interested in trying out the new browser, you’ll be glad to know that Microsoft has just launched a Release Candidate (RC) on the beta channel, which means, barring some unforeseen events, the software is near enough to the final stable version that’s slated to launch in a few weeks’ time. According to Microsoft, the stable channel will be updated on a similar timeline to the beta branch, which means users should expect updates every six weeks.
The development comes just a couple of days after the company revealed a new icon through an elaborate Easter Egg hunt. As can be seen from the featured image, the company seems to be trying hard to ditch the chequered legacy of Internet Explorer, which is why it moved away from the EdgeHTML engine and embraced Chromium in the first place.
In case you don’t know it already, Microsoft is deprecating its older Edge browser, which was originally released for Windows 10 in 2015, before being rolled out on Android, iOS and macOS. However, with the horror stories about Internet Explorer still fresh in everyone’s minds, the browser never quite got the traction that Microsoft would have hoped for, in spite of offering several improvements over its much-reviled predecessor.
Featured Image Courtesy: Microsoft (via The Verge)
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