6 ms·

What is an idea of Edge on Mac? Is there any incentive to provide a browser that is available on other OS-es than Windows? Vivaldi and Opera went similar way, t

What is an idea of Edge on Mac? Is there any incentive to provide a browser that is available on other OS-es than Windows? Vivaldi and Opera went similar way, trying to cut some piece of browser market cake using a Blink engine and similar ecosystem as Chrome. Except Edge-only (i.e. Skype, Office365, Stadia-like platform) business game I don't see why it should cut in a market, especially in non-Windows operating systems.

blowski 7y ago
I’d guess you answered your own question - Edge-only apps. There are a lot of Microsoft-only IT environments now having to deal with Macs.
- anoncake 7y ago
  > Edge-only apps Still the Microsoft we know and love.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Does hangouts finally work on Firefox?
    - anoncake 7y ago
      I don't know, and if it does not, it still does not behave justify Microsoft's behaviour.
detaro 7y ago
Common management platform with Windows Edge for enterprises maybe? Things like per-domain security policies, accepted certificates, plugins/addons, ...
- detaro 7y ago
  Another angle is sync and same experience cross-platform.
CM30 7y ago
Well, it helps web developers who want to test their sites in Edge but have a Macbook or something. That's not a huge audience, but it's a potentially valuable one, especially if Edge somehow finds an audience with Windows users.
- pixelbath 7y ago
  > test their sites in Edge but have a Macbook Not that I'm saying your assertion is wrong, but the end result of this move by Microsoft means that Chrome could be used as nearly a drop-in replacement. I figured Chrome-in-Edge-on-Windows was meant as a stopgap to fix a browser that was already included with the OS. With OSX, they could simply stop offering the browser and it would have the same net effect.
  - DHPersonal 7y ago
    Cross-platform bookmark and extension synchronization is a cool feature that this would allow me to do.
- pqb 7y ago
  > helps web developers who want to test their sites in Edge I am a bit biased after your comment. Microsoft Edge is going to have Blink as an underlying rendering engine, the same as in Chromium, Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi etc. etc. You have pointed out that it might "help web developers", then could you explain me how there might be some difference (even negligible) in rendering between those browsers since they all run on the same technology? It's not Trident nor EdgeHTML anymore, there won't be any star-slash-backslash, -ms prefixes, filter() nor other hacks [0] that we had to use for IE. It does not look like Microsoft is going to fork Blink anytime soon, because it will be quite the same thing as they would stay and continue development on EdgeHTML engine. I don't see any advantage of having Edge on macOS, FreeBSD, Linux, etc. for web developers. However, in case of end-users the cross-platform browser have more sense, especially when they got used to specific features and ecosystem. Lack of macOS browser might lead to churn or a problem with adoption to it. [0]: http://browserhacks.com/ http://browserhacks.com/
  - 7y ago
Kye 7y ago
They seem sincere about wanting you to be able to use their products anywhere. Edge has been on iOS for a while.
WorldMaker 7y ago
Microsoft has shown interest in supporting PWAs on macOS ahead of Safari. Better PWA support on macOS may mean fewer Electron applications, at least. Microsoft has also shown a lot of interesting in being a synchronizer of a user's bookmarks/tabs/etc across devices (and services). The Microsoft Graph and especially the Timeline is a big cross-platform push for Microsoft. The Browser is the biggest "event surface" for the Timeline (both in displaying past activities and centering present ones).

blowski 7y ago

I’d guess you answered your own question - Edge-only apps. There are a lot of Microsoft-only IT environments now having to deal with Macs.

anoncake 7y ago
> Edge-only apps Still the Microsoft we know and love.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Does hangouts finally work on Firefox?
  - anoncake 7y ago
    I don't know, and if it does not, it still does not behave justify Microsoft's behaviour.

detaro 7y ago

Common management platform with Windows Edge for enterprises maybe? Things like per-domain security policies, accepted certificates, plugins/addons, ...

detaro 7y ago
Another angle is sync and same experience cross-platform.

CM30 7y ago

Well, it helps web developers who want to test their sites in Edge but have a Macbook or something. That's not a huge audience, but it's a potentially valuable one, especially if Edge somehow finds an audience with Windows users.

pixelbath 7y ago
> test their sites in Edge but have a Macbook Not that I'm saying your assertion is wrong, but the end result of this move by Microsoft means that Chrome could be used as nearly a drop-in replacement. I figured Chrome-in-Edge-on-Windows was meant as a stopgap to fix a browser that was already included with the OS. With OSX, they could simply stop offering the browser and it would have the same net effect.
- DHPersonal 7y ago
  Cross-platform bookmark and extension synchronization is a cool feature that this would allow me to do.
pqb 7y ago
> helps web developers who want to test their sites in Edge I am a bit biased after your comment. Microsoft Edge is going to have Blink as an underlying rendering engine, the same as in Chromium, Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi etc. etc. You have pointed out that it might "help web developers", then could you explain me how there might be some difference (even negligible) in rendering between those browsers since they all run on the same technology? It's not Trident nor EdgeHTML anymore, there won't be any star-slash-backslash, -ms prefixes, filter() nor other hacks [0] that we had to use for IE. It does not look like Microsoft is going to fork Blink anytime soon, because it will be quite the same thing as they would stay and continue development on EdgeHTML engine. I don't see any advantage of having Edge on macOS, FreeBSD, Linux, etc. for web developers. However, in case of end-users the cross-platform browser have more sense, especially when they got used to specific features and ecosystem. Lack of macOS browser might lead to churn or a problem with adoption to it. [0]: http://browserhacks.com/ http://browserhacks.com/
- 7y ago

Kye 7y ago

They seem sincere about wanting you to be able to use their products anywhere. Edge has been on iOS for a while.

WorldMaker 7y ago

Microsoft has shown interest in supporting PWAs on macOS ahead of Safari. Better PWA support on macOS may mean fewer Electron applications, at least. Microsoft has also shown a lot of interesting in being a synchronizer of a user's bookmarks/tabs/etc across devices (and services). The Microsoft Graph and especially the Timeline is a big cross-platform push for Microsoft. The Browser is the biggest "event surface" for the Timeline (both in displaying past activities and centering present ones).