Microsoft Edge is About to be Unleashed, and What It Means For Browsing Going Forward

Or… Will Microsoft Have the Edge in Name Only?

On July 29th, Microsoft will be releasing Edge, its new web browser. While their previous mainstay, Internet Explorer, has done its fair share of browsing, it is Microsoft’s hope that Edge will join Chrome, Firefox, and Safari as a ubiquitous option for today’s modern internet surfer.

This begs the question: does Edge offer anything ground breaking to set itself apart from the aforementioned web tools, or even IE for that matter? Well, there are some new features, which we’ll examine below, but nothing that exactly shakes the very core of what a browsing experience is.

Cortana is MS Edge’s new digital assistance ap, like a less intrusive version of the creepy paperclip character you saw once and hoped to God you’d never see again. Cortana isn’t positioned front ‘n’ center in Edge, but it exists as a right-click menu option to get additional information about a given thing. So if you highlight the words, “work out,” and then right-click and, “open with Cortana,” a little window will open that says, “That optional activity you’re totally going to do later. For real this time.”

Edge also has a Reading View option which allows you to remove a lot of the extraneous ads and surrounding ‘stuff’ found on a given web page. Those things still initially load however, so sites counting on advertisements for revenue won’t be snubbed entirely. But then once you choose Reading View, it will make for a ‘cleaner’ experience overall.

Lastly, Edge has a new feature called Web Notes, which allows a user to draw or write little ‘notes-to-self’ about a web page, on the page itself. You can then save as an image file whatever you decided to tag on a given page. This doesn’t seem to be too revolutionary a feature in my view, but I would be more than happy to eat my words if someone finds a really profound use for Web Notes.

Time will tell if Edge will become to web browsers what Chrome is to, well, web browsers. Since it will come pre-loaded with all Windows 10 ready computers, Edge will definitely be on a massive number of machines, whether it’s the browsing publics’ first choice or not. Most importantly, we at Curotec will be testing all web development efforts on Edge after its release to make sure, as always, that our designs will work smoothly on all browsing platforms. So it seems we have a new would-be player in the on-deck circle. And whether it results in a home run, or a swing-and-a-miss, we’ll be ready to adapt when the online landscape changes yet again.