Microsoft Edge-based on Chromium will now be bundled with Windows operating system updates and instead be made available through Windows Updates for all PCs running Windows 10 1709 (Redstone 4 aka RS4). The latest development comes over a month after the company announced the general availability of the Chromium-based Edge browser. Microsoft has also released a Blocker Toolkit that will enable enterprises to disable automatic delivery. It will also allow installation of Microsoft Edge for organisations where Automatic Updates on PCs is enabled by default.
Microsoft officials have revealed that the new Chromium-based Edge browser will be generally available starting January 15, 2020. The company stated, “To help our customers become more secure and up-to-date, Microsoft will distribute Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) through Automatic Updates for Windows 10 RS4 and newer.”
Since Edge releases aren't bound to the Windows major releases, Microsoft mentions through separate documentation that changes will be provided to the operating system to ensure the new Edge version fits seamlessly into Windows. Moreover, the documentation says feature updates for Edge browser will be released roughly on a six-week cycle. Furthermore, security and compatibility updates will be seeded as per the requirements.
The documentation states, “Updates won't change the user experience until the Stable channel of the next version of Microsoft Edge is installed. Installing Microsoft Edge Beta, Dev, or Canary won't trigger any changes in Windows. These browser releases will be installed alongside existing browsers.”
Once the new version of Microsoft Edge is installed, all tiles, start menu pins and shortcuts for the current version will migrate to the next version. Shortcuts, as well as the taskbar pins available on the current version, will migrate to the next version.
Microsoft is also encouraging developers to start building new extensions before the general availability date, that is, January 15 2020. “We recommend you prioritise building new extensions for the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, and continue to support your existing EdgeHTML-based extensions to ensure a quality experience for active users,” Microsoft said in a blog post.