Microsoft’s new Edge browser, available only on Windows 10, appears to have a much slower adoption rate than the brand new OS. By some measures only a third of the Windows 10 users online have made use of Edge. Developers might be taking a wait and see position on when to push out apps compatible with that browser.
| Edge Use* | Windows 10 Online Use* | |
|---|---|---|
| July | 0.14% | 0.39% |
| Aug. 1-16 | 0.7% | 4.4% |
VISITORS TO IZENDA.COM±
| Edge Use* | Windows 10 Online Use* | |
|---|---|---|
| July | 0.04% | 0.16% |
*California-based Net Applications ±Google Analytics
Based on these statistics, in July the Edge browser was used by 36% of its potential users. In the first 16 days of August, the percentage dropped to 16% of the online activity of Windows 10 owners. July — and because Edge works only on Windows 10 — the browser was run by about 36% of its potential users (0.14% divided by 0.39%).
With the complaints by Mozilla’s chief that Microsoft was being unfair in the way Edge was made the default browser with difficult settings to change it, we might have assumed more Windows 10 users would be using the new browser.
A check on the Windows Ten Forum shows reasons why some Windows 10 users aren’t ready to adopt Edge use:
Exxo said: Although I do find Edge to be a bit more snappier than Chrome or Firefox (waterfox included), it just lacks too many basic features to be considered a main browser for anyone right now. Addons/extensions aren’t supported yet, so that’s a huge disadvantage when browsing the web. There are some that I rely on (like uBlock) and others that are just nice to have. I think once they start supporting things like that and cloud syncing, a lot of people will switch. Even when that DOES happen though, I’ll probably still stick with Chrome and Firefox for the most part.
And Frennemeister said: There is no reason to switch to Edge. Chrome and Waterfox are much better in my opinion and all the extensions I use aren’t available on Edge browser. Then my bookmarks won’t sync up with my iPad, smartphone etc.
So, unless they come up with some new functions that no other browser has, a switch seems like a waste of time.
But I wouldn’t write off Edge, as it’s very early days in this browser’s life. Many reviewers give it high marks for its speed, as Microsoft put the Trident engine on a diet and removed all of the bloat seen in IE11. Support for add ons and extensions is coming. WhatsApp is reported to be working toward adding support for Edge.
And you can find little nuggets of future use by developers, like this comment by Kevin Nagurski on a generally positive review on SitePoint of Edge:
In the past few years, Chrome has become so ubiquitous that it’s nice to see bundled browsers (Edge and Safari) picking up the pace a little. As a Mac user, I’m not going to be picking up Edge any time soon, but as a developer I’m looking forward to knowing that the default browser on Windows will be “evergreen” (I hate that term) and pretty dang good.
Developers can jump into coding for the Edge browser even if they don’t have a Windows device, like KevinNagurski and his Mac. PCWorld reports that they can download special Windows 10 virtual machine packages that work with applications such as Hyper-V, VirtualBox and Parallels. It’s built for testing Edge, so use it to make sure that Edge’s new rendering engine works well with websites and web apps.
Less than a month after a new browser officially launches that still is missing features and lacks support for extensions we shouldn’t expect developers to add Windows 10 support for their web-based applications. Once those features are added and users start adopting Edge, developers might find they have to follow, however.
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