Updates for the browser will now come from the Windows Store, if the rumors are true
It’s no secret that Microsoft’s Edge browser, the revamped browser that shipped with Windows 10 as a replacement for Internet Explorer, is struggling to gain any sort of traction. As IE fades rapidly, Google Chrome has been picking up share, while Edge remains stubbornly at 5 percent share.
As I illustrated last week, Edge doesn’t really have one. It’s painfully slow. I should not be able to watch a website load piece by piece in 2017 on a broadband connection.
Much of the problem stems from the fact that Edge updates are tied to operating system updates. So, Edge doesn’t get an overhaul until Windows does, and that has only really happened twice, with the Anniversary and Creators Updates. Compare that to Chrome, which seems to get a new build every week.
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So, Microsoft may have a fix in the works. Windows news site Neowin cites internal sources who say that beginning with Redstone 3, the next major update to Windows 10 due in September, updates to Edge will come separate from the operating system. Users will be able to get updates to the Edge browser via the Windows Store, allowing Microsoft to add new features without having to wait for an OS update.
The story didn’t go into detail, like how installs will be handled or if updates will be done in-app the way Firefox and Chrome do it. With both browsers, you can manually check for an update, and if one exists, it’s downloaded and you complete the install with a browser restart.
Microsoft has two upcoming events: the #MicrosoftEDU announcement in New York on May 2 and the Microsoft Build Developer Conference starting May 10 in Seattle. The former is an education-oriented conference where the rumored CloudBook, a low-end tablet or notebook designed to compete with Google Chromebooks, is expected to be introduced along with educational software. This is not the likely setting for the Edge announcement.
Build 2017, on the other hand, is a developer conference, and Microsoft is undoubtedly going to show off new features that are coming in Redstone 3. If there were a time and place to announce the changes to Edge development, that would be it.
