“You can now download and run the web browser Microsoft Edge on your Mac, albeit in a developer test version that hasn’t even been granted an official beta test. Yet it’s a remarkably, surprisingly solid app even in this pre-launch edition,” William Gallagher writes for AppleInsider. “Even that we already know that its missing a couple of key features, still you can get a feel for whether Microsoft Edge is worth replacing Safari as your main browser.”
“If you were thinking of moving from Safari and didn’t want to risk a pre-beta developer version of Microsoft Edge, you could download Chrome and you would get pretty much the same feel,” Gallagher writes. “Microsoft Edge currently takes up around a third less disk space than Google’s offer. But then if you’re tight on space, Safari is a head-scratching is-that-really-right ten times smaller than Edge.”
“Those of us who happen to prefer Safari to, for instance, Chrome, already know that we aren’t really that likely to make the move to Edge,” Gallagher writes. “It’s good that we have the option, though we have to be aware that it’s practically an accident of birth that means we get a Mac version of Edge only because there’s a Mac version of Google’s Chromium system.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft using Google code to pollute the Macintosh sounds like hell squared.
SEE ALSO:
Microsoft Edge browser for Mac leaks – May 7, 2019
I look forward to putting it through its paces. The daily mix of crap I get from Safari is old. I’m tired of users demanding that I install Chrome because Safari doesn’t work with this site or that site… usually banking and/or Government. And yes, it is the fault of the developers, but they simply are not concerned about meeting the needs of Safari.
The world is changing as well. Microsoft saw this, and this is why they developed Edge. Google’s Chrome add-on and plug-in world have grown huge. Safari is left out of this world.
It’s like when Steve say the desktop wars are over and Microsoft won. The browser wars are over and Chrome won.
Safari is often frustrated by sites with heavy ads, freezing and thing. In fact it will freeze both my entire Mac and/or iPad from time to time.
In any case, it is time for us to stop just attacking competitive products simply because they didn’t slide out of Apple’s poop chute. Safari betrays a company that has a browser and is interested in doing just what is necessary to keep it compatible to standards and that’s it. It is not a browser that looks at the Internet as a whole and keeps up with the technology.
It’s time for Apple to dump Webkit and go with Chrome.
Safari is the new IE. Anyone who can’t see that is well… blind I guess.
Considering that IE is pretty much on it’s way out you may have a point.
Wrong, Microsoft Edge will contain IE for corporate Web App fallback compatibility.
I try to keep all browsers on my Mac. I mainly use Safari, but I use the other browsers for testing and keeping different profiles for personal, work, and volunteer use.
I know nothing about this, but I thought WebKit was a favorable standard these days. As in, I thought it was considered a strong performer.
Nah. It’s used by no one, except for the around one billion iOs users. /s
The usage is high on iOS for webkit partly because all other browsers are forced to use it if they build for iOS.
Unless you can say that Chrome is not routinely sending data back to Google, many won’t use it for just the utter lack of privacy for doing so..
Safari or nothing at this time…..
Used to be the same, but recently installed Firefox. A section on a cruise booking website was visible on mobile Safari but was missing on desktop Safari. Seems ok on desktop Firebox. Maybe it’s my adbocker?
While I don’t think this will change the balance for web browsers on the Mac I do think it underlines why Safari needs to exist and be a great browser.
With Microsoft using Chromium it will mean the majority of the web browsers will be based on Google’s engine and that’s not great if the web is going to stay independent.
The two main things I would really like to see Apple do is offer a full desktop version of Safari on the iPad (including download manager) and add the ability to save and restore multiple browsing sessions.
Safari is the best if you want to control adware and other things online…
Safari also ends up being one of the least secure browsers at every annual bug finding competition.
Well turnabout is fair play. Webkit was THE standard for a while, it just fell behind and Chrome moved on from it and took the rest of the Internet with it. Blame Apple for not continuing to push webkit development and maintain the standard.
I really like MS Edge and can’t wait for the release version of the Chromium version with all the Web markup and clipping functionality that you get with OneNote. I find the workflow invaluable when putting mood boards together for clients which I can share directly with them. Safari just doesn’t compare.
There was a time Safari was head and shoulders the best Web browser but like everything at Apple the quality has dropped off a cliff.
Edge is not a recommended browser in my office. Stuck in IE for the major financial systems, Safari has a few things that work really well so I use Safari for that. I use Chrome for a few things and a few things, Chrome is incompatible with. Strange nobody mentioned Opera. Outside my office, I use Opera more than any other browser. Firefox works pretty well too. It bypasses a lot of security checks though.