The underappreciated web browser that’s standard with Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system may be getting an overhaul, from the inside out.
Microsoft Edge is said to be in the process of being gutted, with its EdgeHTML rendering engine being replaced by the one in Chromium, Blink, which was initially made popular by the Google Chrome browser.
Windows Central cites anonymous sources who say that Microsoft Edge is getting a re-do as a result of its lackluster success since its introduction in 2015, despite being positioned as fast, lightweight and secure. The new default browser, which the site says is codenamed “Anaheim,” may or may not maintain the public “Edge” brand and may or may not have the same user interface, but it will no longer be built on EdgeHTML.
A new rendering engine from Chromium likely means users will have better consistency in how a website appears and performs across Google’s Chrome and whatever replaces Microsoft’s Edge. Windows Central notes that this change will probably have little effect on those who use Edge on smartphones and other types of mobile devices, since Edge there already uses rendering engines native to the Android and iOS platforms.
One additional clue? 9to5Google reported Microsoft engineers were recently seen contributing code to the development of Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM processors.
The evolution of Windows 10 overall seems to be moving forward on several fronts. Another new report says that Microsoft may be working on a new standalone, lighter version of Windows 10 with potentially even its own brand and a different user interface to compete with Google’s Chrome OS for Chromebooks.
