7 ms·

I have published some of my extensions for the new Edge browser on their store [1], the submission experience was straightforward and pleasant, and the extensio

I have published some of my extensions for the new Edge browser on their store [1], the submission experience was straightforward and pleasant, and the extensions were published in a couple of days after manual review. Updates were also reviewed and published in a timely manner. More importantly, during extension submissions and reviews I did not feel abused as a developer, something which I cannot say about the Chrome Web Store [2][3]. So I am happy that Microsoft has not only renewed their effort in this space, but they're also offering a decent alternative for developers who would rather not deal with Google. [1] https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/category/Edge-Extensions https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/category/Edge-Ext... [2] https://github.com/dessant/search-by-image/issues/63 https://github.com/dessant/search-by-image/issues/63 [3] https://github.com/dessant/youtube-autoplay/issues/3 https://github.com/dessant/youtube-autoplay/issues/3

tus88 7y ago
Wonder why... Microsoft: developers, developers, developers, developers! Google: advertisers, advertisers, advertisers, advertisers!
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ghayes 7y ago
  Google has for its entire history had strong ties to building a developer community. For instance Google Summer of Code [0] and here's a list of Google APIs with 179 current APIs [1]. [0] https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ [1] https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    Conveniently leaving out the hundreds of times that Google has randomly terminated APIs or entire products with minimal if any forewarning, or reduced API functionality or pricing without forewarning, and the complete and utter lack of support [edit] Google provides to developers who don't already have their own twitter following.
    - gardnerbickford 7y ago
      I like the idea of Google Developer Supper.
    - csallen 7y ago
      It's almost as if Google is a massive organization running hundreds of initiatives spanning decades, making it difficult to simplify things with a single description.
      - endothrowho333 7y ago
        And yet one constant that connects all past Google projects: premature, without-warning shuttering of operations* * not all operations, but enough for it to become a cliche
        IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
        Did you really feel the need to register, just to indulge in repeating this meme? I get it, Reader was nice. But a decade has passed, and it’s getting tired.
        GeorgeWBasic 7y ago
        Did you really feel the need to criticize the poster, instead of the post? It's not just a meme, it's reality, and a result of how Google is run. People create new services to get promotions and then abandon them. With no recognition from maintenance, they wither and die, and are terminated. It is not inconceivable that GCP could suffer this fate too, judging from leaked communications.
      - brewdad 7y ago
        And Microsoft is a feisty startup with a focused product line?
        csallen 7y ago
        No, Microsoft is the same. My comment doesn't imply that Microsoft is somehow simpler than Google. The point is that the two people above me are disagreeing because they're over-simplifying these complex entities.
- mrr54 7y ago
  And yet when I open Edge, I get a million ads for crappy tabloid news websites thrust in my face, while when I open Chrome I don't see any ads.
  - localhost 7y ago
    I just setup Edge a few minutes ago. There are two options "Inspirational" and "Focused" that show no crappy tabloid news websites and one that does - I didn't pick that one :) Also, happy to report that 1password has an extension for Edge as well - that's awesome. Only thing I'm missing is a dark mode extension. I don't trust the somewhat sketchy ones that I see so far on the store.
    - techntoke 7y ago
      If you enable dark mode in your Windows settings, you can just use the built in browser dark mode. This is also a setting in CSS to enable dark mode when this is enabled. Last, you can install extensions from the Chrome Store.
    - dessant 7y ago
      You can also install extensions from the Chrome Web Store in Edge, there's a switch to enable the feature on the extension management page.
    - AlexMax 7y ago
      > I just setup Edge a few minutes ago. There are two options "Inspirational" and "Focused" that show no crappy tabloid news websites and one that does - I didn't pick that one :) I chose focused. It's a nice option. Too bad it doesn't respect your search engine preferences, because any searches you do with it seem to always go to Bing, regardless of what address-bar search engine you have selected.
    - oaiey 7y ago
      The tabloid you can further deactivate under the gear of the new tab
  - dole 7y ago
blowski 7y ago
Because they need developers more than developers need them. If they become as dominant as Apple and Google in their respective spaces, expect your experience to degrade.
- jpadkins 7y ago
  or put another way: when they become a target for bad actors to abuse extensions, expect the review process to be more difficult.
  - dessant 7y ago
    I don't think becoming a target for malicious actors is the reason for Chrome Web Store reviews being awful, see the threads I've linked to above and explore the rest of the links. Chrome Web Store reviewers are simply not properly trained and qualified to do this job, and the review process dictated by Google does not leave much room for improvement. Reviewers make an awful lot of mistakes and they usually do not listen to reason, the only thing that works is to document everything and make it public. I've had some issues during Firefox extension reviews too, and Mozilla employees have usually changed their opinion after feedback. When they've made a mistake, sometimes they said they were sorry, which was a decent thing to do and it felt right. They talked and acted like human beings whom are capable of compassion and reasoning.
    - blowski 7y ago
      Exactly. Developers are going to submit apps to Google regardless of how bad the process is, so there’s no real incentive to improve the experience.
  - rozab 7y ago
    I don't know, I've seen plenty of abuse on the windows store. Being a default choice for tech illiterates makes it a juicy target
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Microsoft has always been developer-first, even when they didn't need them, and even during the Ballmer era. Google has never been about the developer experience, and is quite hostile to developers even when they need them. (See, e.g., Stadia.)
macspoofing 7y ago
>More importantly, during extension submissions and reviews I did not feel abused as a developer, something which I cannot say about the Chrome Web Store I suspect that would change if Edge gained significant market share. I think what happens is that as these platforms grow, they get targetted by spammers, malware, and scammers and consequently their processes harden and tolerances go down.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
  Since the extensions are identical to Chrome, they should piggyback on that store’s decisions. Or both should. That might ease some pressure and benefit everyone.
swebs 7y ago
Phrasing it as a dichotomy like that is pretty dishonest, especially how Firefox is twice as popular than Edge [1] and is free open source software that doesn't spy on you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Summary_tables https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Su...
- sho_hn 7y ago
  I think the situation invites that specific comparison because the new Edge is based on Chromium. I didn't read it as leaving out Firefox for any other reason.
- mmanfrin 7y ago
  OP didn't mention Safari or Brave either, don't be so hair-trigger looking for offense.
- dessant 7y ago
  Microsoft is replicating the entire browser ecosystem, so developers and users who prefer Chromium are no longer bound to Google. Firefox is my browser of choice, and their reviewer team is wonderful, see my other [1] comment, though all of this is tangential to Firefox. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22057859 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22057859
- techntoke 7y ago
  Firefox has the same analytics and browser feedback settings enabled as Chromium, and both have options to disable them.
- int_19h 7y ago
  The dichotomy comes up because the new Edge supports Chrome extensions. So it's literally the same code being submitted to both stores, which makes it more of an apples-to-apples comparison.
  - bla3 7y ago
    Firefox and Safari are source compatible with chrome extensions too. Everyone copied Chrome's extension api.
fbelzile 7y ago
Is this a different store from the "old" Edge? The "old" Edge store was utterly mismanaged [0]. I'm glad they've improved if this one is different, but they definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. [0] I required Native App Messaging and needed to include a 32 bit binary to read an SQLite database. The extension was rejected and was only told to wait while they worked on this feature (which was already in a tutorial I was following). Nobody ever contacted me back for over a year until the news broke that they were moving to Chromium.

tus88 7y ago

Wonder why... Microsoft: developers, developers, developers, developers! Google: advertisers, advertisers, advertisers, advertisers!

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ghayes 7y ago
Google has for its entire history had strong ties to building a developer community. For instance Google Summer of Code [0] and here's a list of Google APIs with 179 current APIs [1]. [0] https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ [1] https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Conveniently leaving out the hundreds of times that Google has randomly terminated APIs or entire products with minimal if any forewarning, or reduced API functionality or pricing without forewarning, and the complete and utter lack of support [edit] Google provides to developers who don't already have their own twitter following.
  - gardnerbickford 7y ago
    I like the idea of Google Developer Supper.
  - csallen 7y ago
    It's almost as if Google is a massive organization running hundreds of initiatives spanning decades, making it difficult to simplify things with a single description.
    - endothrowho333 7y ago
      And yet one constant that connects all past Google projects: premature, without-warning shuttering of operations* * not all operations, but enough for it to become a cliche
      - IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
        Did you really feel the need to register, just to indulge in repeating this meme? I get it, Reader was nice. But a decade has passed, and it’s getting tired.
        GeorgeWBasic 7y ago
        Did you really feel the need to criticize the poster, instead of the post? It's not just a meme, it's reality, and a result of how Google is run. People create new services to get promotions and then abandon them. With no recognition from maintenance, they wither and die, and are terminated. It is not inconceivable that GCP could suffer this fate too, judging from leaked communications.
    - brewdad 7y ago
      And Microsoft is a feisty startup with a focused product line?
      - csallen 7y ago
        No, Microsoft is the same. My comment doesn't imply that Microsoft is somehow simpler than Google. The point is that the two people above me are disagreeing because they're over-simplifying these complex entities.
mrr54 7y ago
And yet when I open Edge, I get a million ads for crappy tabloid news websites thrust in my face, while when I open Chrome I don't see any ads.
- localhost 7y ago
  I just setup Edge a few minutes ago. There are two options "Inspirational" and "Focused" that show no crappy tabloid news websites and one that does - I didn't pick that one :) Also, happy to report that 1password has an extension for Edge as well - that's awesome. Only thing I'm missing is a dark mode extension. I don't trust the somewhat sketchy ones that I see so far on the store.
  - techntoke 7y ago
    If you enable dark mode in your Windows settings, you can just use the built in browser dark mode. This is also a setting in CSS to enable dark mode when this is enabled. Last, you can install extensions from the Chrome Store.
  - dessant 7y ago
    You can also install extensions from the Chrome Web Store in Edge, there's a switch to enable the feature on the extension management page.
  - AlexMax 7y ago
    > I just setup Edge a few minutes ago. There are two options "Inspirational" and "Focused" that show no crappy tabloid news websites and one that does - I didn't pick that one :) I chose focused. It's a nice option. Too bad it doesn't respect your search engine preferences, because any searches you do with it seem to always go to Bing, regardless of what address-bar search engine you have selected.
  - oaiey 7y ago
    The tabloid you can further deactivate under the gear of the new tab
- dole 7y ago

blowski 7y ago

Because they need developers more than developers need them. If they become as dominant as Apple and Google in their respective spaces, expect your experience to degrade.

jpadkins 7y ago
or put another way: when they become a target for bad actors to abuse extensions, expect the review process to be more difficult.
- dessant 7y ago
  I don't think becoming a target for malicious actors is the reason for Chrome Web Store reviews being awful, see the threads I've linked to above and explore the rest of the links. Chrome Web Store reviewers are simply not properly trained and qualified to do this job, and the review process dictated by Google does not leave much room for improvement. Reviewers make an awful lot of mistakes and they usually do not listen to reason, the only thing that works is to document everything and make it public. I've had some issues during Firefox extension reviews too, and Mozilla employees have usually changed their opinion after feedback. When they've made a mistake, sometimes they said they were sorry, which was a decent thing to do and it felt right. They talked and acted like human beings whom are capable of compassion and reasoning.
  - blowski 7y ago
    Exactly. Developers are going to submit apps to Google regardless of how bad the process is, so there’s no real incentive to improve the experience.
- rozab 7y ago
  I don't know, I've seen plenty of abuse on the windows store. Being a default choice for tech illiterates makes it a juicy target
gamblor956 7y ago
Microsoft has always been developer-first, even when they didn't need them, and even during the Ballmer era. Google has never been about the developer experience, and is quite hostile to developers even when they need them. (See, e.g., Stadia.)

macspoofing 7y ago

>More importantly, during extension submissions and reviews I did not feel abused as a developer, something which I cannot say about the Chrome Web Store I suspect that would change if Edge gained significant market share. I think what happens is that as these platforms grow, they get targetted by spammers, malware, and scammers and consequently their processes harden and tolerances go down.

IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
Since the extensions are identical to Chrome, they should piggyback on that store’s decisions. Or both should. That might ease some pressure and benefit everyone.

swebs 7y ago

Phrasing it as a dichotomy like that is pretty dishonest, especially how Firefox is twice as popular than Edge [1] and is free open source software that doesn't spy on you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Summary_tables https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Su...

sho_hn 7y ago
I think the situation invites that specific comparison because the new Edge is based on Chromium. I didn't read it as leaving out Firefox for any other reason.
mmanfrin 7y ago
OP didn't mention Safari or Brave either, don't be so hair-trigger looking for offense.
dessant 7y ago
Microsoft is replicating the entire browser ecosystem, so developers and users who prefer Chromium are no longer bound to Google. Firefox is my browser of choice, and their reviewer team is wonderful, see my other [1] comment, though all of this is tangential to Firefox. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22057859 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22057859
techntoke 7y ago
Firefox has the same analytics and browser feedback settings enabled as Chromium, and both have options to disable them.
int_19h 7y ago
The dichotomy comes up because the new Edge supports Chrome extensions. So it's literally the same code being submitted to both stores, which makes it more of an apples-to-apples comparison.
- bla3 7y ago
  Firefox and Safari are source compatible with chrome extensions too. Everyone copied Chrome's extension api.

fbelzile 7y ago

Is this a different store from the "old" Edge? The "old" Edge store was utterly mismanaged [0]. I'm glad they've improved if this one is different, but they definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. [0] I required Native App Messaging and needed to include a 32 bit binary to read an SQLite database. The extension was rejected and was only told to wait while they worked on this feature (which was already in a tutorial I was following). Nobody ever contacted me back for over a year until the news broke that they were moving to Chromium.