With Microsoft’s browser market share so minimal and its browsers so widely reviled, he likely felt he had nothing to lose by taking a dramatically new approach. Looked at another way, though, it was no gamble at all. But using open-source code first developed by Google for Microsoft’s new browser is probably his biggest gamble yet. (Click image to enlarge it.)Ĭurrent Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been willing to break with that Microsoft orthodoxy in the past. Microsoft’s new Edge browser, based on open-source Chromium, is Microsoft’s third attempt to build a better browser.

Doing that is anathema to the go-it-alone-and-dominate-the-market vision championed by past CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Instead of developing the browser with proprietary code, Microsoft decided to build the new Edge using open-source Chromium source code, which was originally developed by Google and also underpins Google Chrome and other browsers such as Opera and Brave. Microsoft’s new Edge browser is as dramatic a break as can be imagined from the company’s past.

According to Statcounter, as of December 2019, Chrome had 69% of the worldwide desktop browser market, compared to 4.6% for Edge and 3.6% for Internet Explorer. Edge’s failure to ignite only accelerated rival Chrome’s ascent. That version of Edge, available only for Windows 10, was sluggish, overstuffed with features that few people wanted and severely lacking in something people did want: browser extensions. The company’s second browser, Edge, released in July 2015, was an attempt by Microsoft to replace Internet Explorer and regain browser leadership. After that, Microsoft did little to improve the browser, and Internet Explorer became old, buggy and insecure, allowing nimbler browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome to gain in popularity. But Microsoft’s actions in making it difficult for users to use other browsers in Windows put it in the federal government’s crosshairs and led to a successful antitrust suit against the company. The first try, Internet Explorer, was initially released in 1995 and eventually became the world’s most popular browser, peaking at 95% market share in 2003. 15, is the company’s third attempt at building a better browser. Microsoft’s revamped Edge browser, released Jan.

Newest version of microsoft edge