6 ms·

If only Microsoft lets older Windows to install Edge. Yet they are stuck with IE. The only way to use Edge is to upgrade to Windows 10.

Klathmon 9y ago
IIRC it's because the APIs that Edge uses are only in 10.
- notl4wy3r 9y ago
  That's all well and good, but somehow every other browser manages to run on Windows versions before 10. It's kinda bad that Edge cannot.
  - Klathmon 9y ago
    But it's a goal of those browsers to run cross-platform, it's explicitly not a goal of Edge. Just like how it's not a valid criticism to say that it's bad that Boeing can't make cars. They aren't trying to...
    - magicalist 9y ago
      > If only Microsoft lets older Windows to install Edge. > But it's...explicitly not a goal of Edge. No criticism sticks if we just define it as a non-goal :P I think the criticism was for that decision itself.
      - Klathmon 9y ago
        And if you get to define what someone else's goal is you can stick any criticism.
  - nogbit 9y ago
    It's kinda bad that Edge cannot run on multiple platforms, until that happens it will keep getting the same (or less) use.
    - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
      Edge also runs on iOS and Android now. (Albeit using each OS's respective rendering engine.)
  - dragontamer 9y ago
    Edge is a glorification of the latest and greatest Windows 10 features: such as handwriting support and pen-note taking. These features don't exist in Windows 7. The Windows 10 Win32 API (yes, its still getting updated) has much cleaner and better support for handwriting features on websites. The other browsers are cross platform because they're mouse and keyboard based. Modern Windows 10 design is evolving more and more towards the active digitizer stylus however. I dare you to find a browser as well suited to Pen / Stylus as Microsoft Edge is. Heck, I'm 100% certain that Microsoft Edge is the only "good" Stylus-based browser.
WorldMaker 9y ago
Windows 7 is already out mainstream support and has only 3 years more of security patches. Unless you are telling me you are one of the very few people still on Windows 8.1, now is as good of a time as any to plan for a migration to Windows 10.
- rk06 9y ago
  At my workplace, most users are on Windows 7, and few on Win 10, and fewer (if any) are on windows 8.1 Migration to windows 10 is not going to happen until it is absolutely necessary.
  - WorldMaker 9y ago
    Would you expect Linux users at your workplace to still be running Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)? Or to be a bit more generous, Windows 7 SP1 is closer to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). Neither of which have been supported for at least half a decade. Even Windows 8.1's equivalent Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) fell out of support two years ago. Though arguably that's intentionally unfair because Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) is the closest LTS and still has support for less than two more years (through April 2019). Though that's quaint in comparison to Microsoft's generous extended security support of Windows 8.1 until Jan 2023. The reluctance to migrate users by corporations creates its own worst enemy. The longer you wait the tougher it is to migrate, the more versions you skip in the middle. That's both a detriment to user learning (they miss transitionary learning steps and evolutionary UX migrations), and a one of those "doctor, it hurts when I migrate because I do it so seldomly, so I migrate less often and it hurts more" problems. The less often you distro upgrade the more problems you have so you loathe to distro upgrade creating more problems. Maybe distro upgrade a bit more often? I realize that is a radical assertion in modern corporate IT, but it seems like a common sense one.
    - catach 9y ago
      As another data point, RHEL 5, released two years before Windows 7, apparently has paid support available through 2020. I agree with you though that migrations increase in pain the longer they're put off.

Klathmon 9y ago

IIRC it's because the APIs that Edge uses are only in 10.

notl4wy3r 9y ago
That's all well and good, but somehow every other browser manages to run on Windows versions before 10. It's kinda bad that Edge cannot.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  But it's a goal of those browsers to run cross-platform, it's explicitly not a goal of Edge. Just like how it's not a valid criticism to say that it's bad that Boeing can't make cars. They aren't trying to...
  - magicalist 9y ago
    > If only Microsoft lets older Windows to install Edge. > But it's...explicitly not a goal of Edge. No criticism sticks if we just define it as a non-goal :P I think the criticism was for that decision itself.
    - Klathmon 9y ago
      And if you get to define what someone else's goal is you can stick any criticism.
- nogbit 9y ago
  It's kinda bad that Edge cannot run on multiple platforms, until that happens it will keep getting the same (or less) use.
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    Edge also runs on iOS and Android now. (Albeit using each OS's respective rendering engine.)
- dragontamer 9y ago
  Edge is a glorification of the latest and greatest Windows 10 features: such as handwriting support and pen-note taking. These features don't exist in Windows 7. The Windows 10 Win32 API (yes, its still getting updated) has much cleaner and better support for handwriting features on websites. The other browsers are cross platform because they're mouse and keyboard based. Modern Windows 10 design is evolving more and more towards the active digitizer stylus however. I dare you to find a browser as well suited to Pen / Stylus as Microsoft Edge is. Heck, I'm 100% certain that Microsoft Edge is the only "good" Stylus-based browser.

WorldMaker 9y ago

Windows 7 is already out mainstream support and has only 3 years more of security patches. Unless you are telling me you are one of the very few people still on Windows 8.1, now is as good of a time as any to plan for a migration to Windows 10.

rk06 9y ago
At my workplace, most users are on Windows 7, and few on Win 10, and fewer (if any) are on windows 8.1 Migration to windows 10 is not going to happen until it is absolutely necessary.
- WorldMaker 9y ago
  Would you expect Linux users at your workplace to still be running Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)? Or to be a bit more generous, Windows 7 SP1 is closer to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). Neither of which have been supported for at least half a decade. Even Windows 8.1's equivalent Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) fell out of support two years ago. Though arguably that's intentionally unfair because Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) is the closest LTS and still has support for less than two more years (through April 2019). Though that's quaint in comparison to Microsoft's generous extended security support of Windows 8.1 until Jan 2023. The reluctance to migrate users by corporations creates its own worst enemy. The longer you wait the tougher it is to migrate, the more versions you skip in the middle. That's both a detriment to user learning (they miss transitionary learning steps and evolutionary UX migrations), and a one of those "doctor, it hurts when I migrate because I do it so seldomly, so I migrate less often and it hurts more" problems. The less often you distro upgrade the more problems you have so you loathe to distro upgrade creating more problems. Maybe distro upgrade a bit more often? I realize that is a radical assertion in modern corporate IT, but it seems like a common sense one.
  - catach 9y ago
    As another data point, RHEL 5, released two years before Windows 7, apparently has paid support available through 2020. I agree with you though that migrations increase in pain the longer they're put off.