Sometime a year ago, Microsoft started working on a new browser and a quarter of a year ago it began to be available to the public. At the same time, it enjoyed great interest from journalists. What is Edge actually like? What makes it so different from other browsers? What can we expect from it and what can we forget? Why is it still not popular and what does Microsoft intend to do about it? What caused Edge to fail to meet the expectations of so many users? I tried to find answers to these questions.
Fast
Edge is based on the already fast IE 11 and it shows. It can do more and has less consumption of system resources. Memory consumption is a quarter of that of IE. It is slightly smaller as compared to Chrome. The graphics performance of WebGL or Canvas depends a lot on the graphics card. If it supports DirectX 11, there’s no problem. Otherwise, the browser cannot render a full-fledged scene by other means using brute force. This is where Chrome excels.
Safe
Flash can be turned off, SSL 3 is already disabled, and just like Chrome, it no longer even prompts whether to display partial content loaded over an unsecured connection when the page has been provided after a secure connection. Unlike other browsers, it does not support add-ons, so it is resistant to attack code hidden in them. On the other hand, it is due to usability. The password manager syncs across devices. Unlike Chrome, it does not need an input password because it only runs on Windows 10, where there is BitLocker and login is not possible without a password.
Mobile
Edge has undergone thousands of changes (I'm not exaggerating) to make mobile websites programmed for iPhone appear on Windows Mobile. While on the desktop you have the option to install a different browser and Edge cannot significantly harm Windows, on Windows Mobile there is no other option than Edge, because IE Mobile will no longer be in it.
Indomitable
Can I set Edge with group policies? Yes, it can, but there is not much to set up. You can't even ban Flash, which is quite a crucial thing in my opinion. The only way to do this is to set IE 11 as the default browser and disable ActiveX in it. Microsoft doesn't offer much in Edge for large companies yet, but they can still use IE 11 on Windows 10.
Undone
Edge was launched with Windows 10 in version 12. On the user side, it handled what Internet Explorer did, except for Tracking Protection and Drag & Drop support. You may still remember the much-criticized absence of add-ons, but how many of them do you have installed in IE and how many of them affect the browser more positively than negatively? I have yet to meet an ordinary user who would actively work with add-ons in IE. So the only thing that someone can really miss in Edge is Drag & drop.
Tracking Protection is a very useful feature that IE has had since its 8th version. However, only about 11% of users used it, so Edge is only for the remaining 89% who have already had the courage to upgrade to Windows 10. I really don't understand the consistency of features in Windows 10. Why did they add support for pasting from the clipboard with a keyboard shortcut to the command line and decide not to implement Tracking Protection in the new browser? I will have no illusions about the fact that only about 10% of users also use styles in Word. Is this a reason to remove styles from Word?
Pinning the most visited sites could replace favorites. K přečtení It would be nice if the Edge application was readable, but it is not, it is a runtime for web applications. I'm not interested in history, Bing’s feature would be more useful, which would allow you to limit your search to only the pages you visit. And Downloads is only useful when I need to find out what stopped downloading the moment I closed the browser window.
Illiterate
You can choose between Bing, which ignores Czech culture, or Google, which whispers in English. I really don't want that. When I write the expression in Czech, I want to whisper in Czech. That is perhaps self-evident. For some unknown reason, Seznam is missing among search providers. Messages in the Intro are not displayed to Czech users. Incognito mode is translated as InPrivate. He probably means the regime that he should use here in private apartments.
Editable
IE has an add-on that lets you send a page to OneNote and edit it there. Edge allows you to type notes on a page directly. I don't know how many people use it. I typically need to copy a piece of the page without the source information being glued to it, because OneNote fills it in automatically and then it is in it twice. Edge will give you a picture of the page. It is difficult to carry. Try taking a note on a desktop computer with a 19” monitor, which you can then view on a phone with a 5” display. I like the lyrics more. You know, it has the nice feature that its readability doesn't change, even though you reduce the area you're rendering it on. Unlike the picture, it can withstand breaking. In short, it is planted as needed.
Communicative
Edge has a share button just like its predecessor, IE 11 for the Modern UI. I definitely welcome this, because no other browser (which is supposedly for Windows) has this feature. And this is no small thing, but the basis of how Windows has been worked with since its 8th version. It’s like not supporting copying to and pasting from the Clipboard. If the manufacturers of other browsers think that I will solve some keyboard shortcuts on a touch screen with a virtual keyboard, they are wrong.
Imperfect
Edge is a technically excellent browser, but the unfinished user interface and the absence of some features compared to IE prevent it from being used for all the activities that IE can be used for. Microsoft couldn't change anything about the IE user interface, because it was always at the expense of add-ons, established security procedures, or user habits. However, Microsoft was not forced to monitor how users work with modern browsers today. This has had a lot of impact on Edge’s user interface.