Microsoft Edge is available for Linux

Hi All,
I come across to know that Microsoft Edge can be now installed on the linux machine.
Sort of news for me. Did anyone already tried out ?
Thank You.
Best Regards,
Chandra Agrawal

I have been using it as my daily since the release.

PRO

  • Font Rendering is beautiful
  • Reminds me of when Chrome first came out. Meaning it is leaner
  • The “collections” is a really nice feature that I use way more than I ever thought I would
  • The built-in “focused reader” mode is nice. I like how you can enable a “line by line” reader to focus.
  • Chrome extensions will work with it. But you need to “enable” it. It prompted me when I was on the Chrome web store
  • Feels fast to me.
  • works OOTB with all the sites I need it to. Netflix, etc.

CONS

  • Sync is not yet enabled for Linux. It is coming though
  • Changing from Bing requires 2 changes and is not overly obvious on the second

OTHER

I put a few things here that some people (not directed at you @cpagrawal) may not like about it, but do not bother me.

  • Made by Microsoft. Sorry. Over that argument. Suppose you want to be negative or not use it, cool. You do you, and I will do me. I am pragmatic by nature and believe anyone can use any tool they want. I am not going to shame you about it.
  • Telemetry. You can disable it. I opted to leave it on during the beta phase to 1) Help the product improvement, and 2) Show my Linux vote.

My eval was based on my experience with the software itself. Like all things in life, re-evaluation (when having an open mind) is always good. If something changes that you do not like, you can to adjust based on your own requirements. :+1:

I hope that helps.

1 Like

Thank You for these insights, I would also love to give it a try. I think companies like Microsoft don’t make their products without research and would love to try it.

I’ve tried Edge as well on Manjaro (available in AUR) and Ubuntu (deb file).

Pros:

  • The (system) title bar integrates well with Unite extension in Gnome (Chrome/ium doesn’t). Haven’t tried with Pixel Saver yet, but I guess it would
  • There is a favorite button in the toolbar for fast access to favorites without an additional bar eating vertical space (Chrome idiotic way, while Firefox also has a bookmark button)
  • You can remove the favorite bar in newly opened tabs (can’t in Chrome).
  • Fast loading (faster than Firefox, same as Chrome)
  • Works with Prime Video without doing anything DRM/CDM related

Cons

  • Little configuration as for all Chromium-based browsers (quick e.g. no CSS to get tabs below the URL bar)
  • no global setting to block videos from auto playing (same as Chrome)
  • Pages are reloading automatically while you’re on a different tab, so if you were in the process of typing a comment and switch to another tab to check some facts, you might lose your progress on the initial tab (and there’s no recovery as in Firefox)
  • Eats a crapload of RAM when having more than 5 tabs open

Basically, Firefox keeps the lead over all other browsers thanks to its massive amount of possible customizations (CSS and about:config) and features. You can tailor it to whatever suits you best, and even though pages are loading a bit slower my workflow is still faster thanks to that tailoring. And I don’t feel restrained in what I can do.

But Edge is much better in general than Chrome or Chromium are.

I now use Edge as my backup browser to Firefox for a couple of use cases.

[ out of topic ]

Isn’t this solved by using GTK+ themes ( instead of classic ) in Chrom{e|ium} settings / appearance ?

Just a little was to smooth the rough edges…

  • ram consumption - Look at the “Great Suspender” extension. It helps if you have a ton of tabs.
  • global video block - I know there are extensions that can add that feature. I use something similar for audio called “smart mute” (mutes all tabs but the focused one).

And more context from me.

  • I only use 5 tabs max as I have few use cases in Edge. I have between 100 and 200 tabs open in Firefox at all time without issues.
  • Audio is already muted by default. But I want to be able to block video globally. Chrome can’t eihter but Firefox manages it in about:config (better but it should just be a checkbox in settings given how annoying that is)

I need to use it in office laptop everyday and I like edge on windows 10 but Today I installed it on Ubuntu budgie and uninstalled it. For me still mozilla is working good. the one thing I really like about mozilla is custom interface. I normally use it in full screen ( immersive ) mode.

oh, I just meant there was likely an extension that may help you with that. I used audio as an example (for myself). :+1:

Have you tried something like https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/autoplaystopper/ejddcgojdblidajhngkogefpkknnebdh?hl=en

But yeah, gotta use what works for you.

Will look it up, thanks!

Even though I’m picky on these cons, I still prefer it to Chrome/ium without a doubt.
It’s a decent browser. And for me to mention that for a MS product says it all.

A .deb package can be downloaded @ the Microsoft Edge insiders page. It’s not available on the standard download page yet. Read the user agreement prior to installation.

I can’t lie, I am loving it. It just needs the sync enabled for Linux. But they keep adding great features. And it feels fast compared to other browsers.

okay, I also tried Opera for few days. seems like great interface but it is very slow to start and sometimes even it does not launch. Annoyed a bit with that.