Benchmarks are good but the overall experience is what matters the most. I'm really impressed by the startup time of Edge. I type some query in the Cortana search bar and press Enter, it launches Edge extremely fast. So far I really love the performance.
However to make it my main browser I'm still waiting for adblocking extensions. I browse with a few tabs opened, one of them start randomly playing an ad video, at least it shows the sound icon on the tab so I know which one to kill.
I also noticed a few UI problems:
When pressing the back button with "Ctrl" on, it does not open the last page in a new tab. Surprisingly, I use this feature very often on Chrome & Firefox. Sometimes when opening a new tab, the focus is not in the address/search bar, forcing me to click on it (or pressing Tab until I get it)
Two things prevented me from making it my main browser:
1) It did lock up randomly. Not sure why. Seemed to happen often on many different sites.
2) The one or two pixel buffer on the left of the back button! (I should just use keybinds... but you know)
What I'd like to see are benchmarks that involve visiting some sample of sites out of the Alexa top 100 and performing standard tasks (reading Gmail, finding a certain thing on Amazon.com, etc.) I know that's dependent on things like network conditions, so you'd have to run it a lot of times to get meaningful results, but it'd still provide a more meaningful result than a lot of synthetic benchmarks.
I agree that major improvements are needed. SunSpider, Octane, and Kraken are all pure JavaScript benchmarks, very microbenchmarky (look at bitwise-and in the SunSpider suite). Oort Online is a benchmark of WebGL performance—WebGL is definitely worth benchmarking, but how common is it in people's daily browsing? HTML5Test tests whether a bunch of "HTML5" features are sorta present, not whether they actually work or anything—it encourages broken implementations that support just enough to pass the test.
The state of browser benchmarking is pretty bad. Right now the common suites of benchmarks overwhelmingly focus on what is easy to measure, not what reflects real-world perception of browser performance.
They do talk about the chicken and egg situation, where top sites will optimize for engines, then engines optimize for sites... i.e. it highly depends on the sites - of course all browsers test on top sites and optimize for them. But then the cycle repeats.
I've also been fairly impressed with Edge on a low-spec machine. Realistically, once there is extension support and I can get an ad-blocker (ideally uBlock, and since it's rumored to be easy to port Chrome extensions I'm hopeful) I would have no issues using Edge as my daily browser.
having just traveled overseas, i was shocked that nobody, and i mean nobody!, had a iphone 6 or macbook.
all i saw (in a middle to upper class setting) was moto E phones and asus and toshiba laptops. The better off people had Dells laptops and samsung phones.
As great as Edge is in the benchmarks, the engine beneath seems to be solid, the browser is shipping in a half-completed state. The lack of support for extensions I think is going to do more harm than good. I don't get the rush to release Edge, wouldn't it have been better for Microsoft to just hold off a couple of more months until the browser was ready feature wise?
I haven't been using the Windows 10 development builds, so I have yet to use Edge. As a front-end developer, I am excited we are getting a browser that seemingly supports all of the essentials (and prefixless too).
My guess is, they figure that most non-tech people will continue using IE 11 if Edge was not shipped with Windows 10 rather than moving to Edge when Edge shipped.
Probably they figure oem's would load up edge with malware extensions, and this way they can't. No extensions is still a better experience than the typical set of extensions on a cheap laptop.
I'm excited to try out Edge, from what I've read it looks like a great browser but the key feature in Chrome that keeps me from switching is the shared history. I use Chrome on my Android phone and tablet, and on my desktop and laptop so all of my browsing history and currently open tabs can be accessed from any device. I rely on this day-to-day, particularly the "Recent Tabs" option from other devices.
Until another browser implements that (and supports Android phone / tablets), or I can find a third-party service that seamlessly offers the same options, I can't see myself switching from Chrome any time soon.
I agree that "recent tabs from other devices" is very handy. IE11 does have that, so I guess Edge will too (at least eventually). This doesn't help you since you probably don't want to trade your Android phone/tablet for Windows phones/tablets.
If you insist on Android devices, Firefox also has the "recent tabs from other devices" feature. The feature is so useful it made me switch from Chrome to Firefox in fact: I used to use Chrome on my laptop and when I bought an Android tablet I used Chrome on it to share tabs between devices, but then Android Chrome introduced some change that made MathJax render incorrectly, so I switched to Android Firefox on the tablet; this in turn made me switch to Firefox on my laptop, to be able to share tabs again.
I wonder how much the Edge's performance will affect the average person's decision to use it or not. Browsers one up each other all the time and I'm sure Google's next major Chrome update will show improvements over the Edge.
Renaming your browser won't change peoples' memory of Internet Explorer, even if Microsoft built Edge from the ground up. The average person is still going to be thinking IE when they see it.
Without extensions, I personally am not leaving Chrome - even if it's a resource hog. But it is nice to see how Microsoft is changing their behavior. Competition between products is always a good thing.
IE is usually very competitive at each release... the problem is they tend to sit at 2+ years between releases, and even with IE10 and 11, it hasn't gotten much narrower.
The real test will be to see if IE can keep the pace set by chrome and firefox.
>Renaming your browser won't change peoples' memory of Internet Explorer, even if Microsoft built Edge from the ground up. The average person is still going to be thinking IE when they see it.
Maybe I'm underestimating how culturally aware the average person is, but I doubt most people will care to make this connection between IE and Edge.
I think the most interesting feature is the ask cortana feature, http://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-cortana-in-edge-browser, it performs reasonably well on most queries and is pretty fast. Especially useful when reading articles where you have no clue about some of the people mentioned or phrases and expressions being thrown around.. Highlight the phrase and hit the ask cortana option in the menu.
So funny, what's old is new again. I remember Encarta Factfinder back in the day did something similar. Of course, it didn't have any NLP, but the core of the idea is there.
These benchmark articles frustrate me because I rarely feel they tell me anything. What do the benchmarks actually measure? When one tested product benchmarks as better/worse than another, what specifically is happening to make it better or worse? I feel like a good technical reporter ought to be able to dig deeper, do some investigation and provide real insight.
Edge is not ready for prime time. I have a desktop app that does the OAuth dance redirecting to localhost. Edge didn't respond correctly, whereas Firefox, Chrome and even IE handle it OK. Even if I make IE the default browser, control is still handed over to Edge.
I started using Chrome because it is fast in startup, load. But its not the case anymore. Still I am using Chrome coz of awesome developer tools and Chrome extensions.
Are Linux users going to completely disregard Microsoft?
Over the last few years a lot of people have taken themselves out of the Microsoft 'eco-system' by getting an Apple PC or by installing a flavour of Linux on their once-Windows PC. There are also many users who 'use' Windows PC's (because there is one on their desk) but no longer care for how Windows works, if they can read their email, open documents and search the internets then why bother involving oneself in any 'computing'?
With this audience I cannot anyone getting zealously excited because Microsoft has a new browser. Nobody is going to switch to Windows from whatever they have migrated to - which can also be Android or ChromeOS. It will be like Windows Phone, sometimes some people might use it but that won't be what most people will do. Why go to the effort?
We are lucky that there have always been browsers that do operate on different operating systems, e.g. the original Netscape, Firefox and Chrome. I am so glad I can move between Windows PC, Chromebook, linux PC and Android phone to have the same browsing bookmarks/experience/history everywhere I am. I wouldn't get this with Windows/Edge.
Apparently, yes. What, did you think that they actually meant "Microsoft loves Linux"? No, they're supporting Linux in the server business because that's the only way they can seriously take hold of it. Embrace it, if you will.
Something about the icons used in Edge feel unfamiliar to me. The back, forward, and refresh arrows even feel alien. I think they have deviated away from recognizable icons for the rest of the toolbar too. Something just doesn't feel right
Where will Edge take us? Is Edge replacing IE, or is it parallel?
I feel like this is going to cause confusion. Why did they choose a modern evolution of the Internet Explorer logo (Blue "e" with an orbit)? Everyone is going to expect that this is the new Internet Explorer. ActiveX plugins don't work - are you using Internet Explorer? "Yes! The blue e!" Eek.
If IE is going to co-exist alongside Edge, I feel that we will just be forced to support another new browser.
Edge is replacing IE and is the default browser for Windows 10. IE is included in Windows 10, but it is buried in the Windows Accessories folder in the Start menu. The current version of IE is 11 and that will be the last. Microsoft will support IE until Jan 2016.
Microsoft are coming out swinging at Google with their latest browser and Operating System. Their Cortana search feature is impressive, and very well integrated.
Even Windows 10 isn't shying away with a search field located in the main task bar. These features are there to try and chip away at Google's search dominance.
It will be interesting to see if it works. If Microsoft makes a browser people want to use, Chrome will be in trouble. Chrome might end up like Google Maps on iOS.
While many seem to be welcoming a 'new Microsoft' with their open source efforts, it seems they still don't shy away from trying to kill off competitors by leveraging their Operating System monopoly.
I definitely will be one of who which will switch from chrome to edge(or any other viable competitor) very soon. The ridiculous path chrome team have chosen for their path is enough for me already.I have said this so many times, I don't want another OS on top of my OS.I just want a Browser , not an application-platform which uses my 3 GB of ram for apps and extension.Even when I delete all app and extension there is certain amount of overhead.
Chrome team can offer two distinct version , lightweight without extension and app support and super fast start time , and complete version.
Chrome turned to new JVM recently.just instead of java you developer should use Javascript.
I know this is google policy to push people to net (because it means more profit for google) but I don't want some company dictate what should I do.
and at least with edge I have super fast load time and lightweight browser.
[+] [-] vmarsy|10 years ago|reply
However to make it my main browser I'm still waiting for adblocking extensions. I browse with a few tabs opened, one of them start randomly playing an ad video, at least it shows the sound icon on the tab so I know which one to kill.
I also noticed a few UI problems: When pressing the back button with "Ctrl" on, it does not open the last page in a new tab. Surprisingly, I use this feature very often on Chrome & Firefox. Sometimes when opening a new tab, the focus is not in the address/search bar, forcing me to click on it (or pressing Tab until I get it)
[+] [-] viggity|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] higherpurpose|10 years ago|reply
Probably something to do with the fact that Edge/Cortana is already loaded at Windows start? So in a way it's a "trick" to starter "faster".
[+] [-] odonnellryan|10 years ago|reply
1) It did lock up randomly. Not sure why. Seemed to happen often on many different sites. 2) The one or two pixel buffer on the left of the back button! (I should just use keybinds... but you know)
[+] [-] notNow|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cwyers|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pcwalton|10 years ago|reply
The state of browser benchmarking is pretty bad. Right now the common suites of benchmarks overwhelmingly focus on what is easy to measure, not what reflects real-world perception of browser performance.
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] arsa|10 years ago|reply
They do talk about the chicken and egg situation, where top sites will optimize for engines, then engines optimize for sites... i.e. it highly depends on the sites - of course all browsers test on top sites and optimize for them. But then the cycle repeats.
[+] [-] kyriakos|10 years ago|reply
They should do benchmarks on lower end systems, such as atom based tablets.
[+] [-] joshuapants|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gcb0|10 years ago|reply
having just traveled overseas, i was shocked that nobody, and i mean nobody!, had a iphone 6 or macbook.
all i saw (in a middle to upper class setting) was moto E phones and asus and toshiba laptops. The better off people had Dells laptops and samsung phones.
[+] [-] skrowl|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] recursive|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DigitalSea|10 years ago|reply
I haven't been using the Windows 10 development builds, so I have yet to use Edge. As a front-end developer, I am excited we are getting a browser that seemingly supports all of the essentials (and prefixless too).
[+] [-] wluu|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Joeri|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] citalan|10 years ago|reply
Until another browser implements that (and supports Android phone / tablets), or I can find a third-party service that seamlessly offers the same options, I can't see myself switching from Chrome any time soon.
[+] [-] omaranto|10 years ago|reply
If you insist on Android devices, Firefox also has the "recent tabs from other devices" feature. The feature is so useful it made me switch from Chrome to Firefox in fact: I used to use Chrome on my laptop and when I bought an Android tablet I used Chrome on it to share tabs between devices, but then Android Chrome introduced some change that made MathJax render incorrectly, so I switched to Android Firefox on the tablet; this in turn made me switch to Firefox on my laptop, to be able to share tabs again.
[+] [-] bepotts|10 years ago|reply
Renaming your browser won't change peoples' memory of Internet Explorer, even if Microsoft built Edge from the ground up. The average person is still going to be thinking IE when they see it.
Without extensions, I personally am not leaving Chrome - even if it's a resource hog. But it is nice to see how Microsoft is changing their behavior. Competition between products is always a good thing.
[+] [-] tracker1|10 years ago|reply
The real test will be to see if IE can keep the pace set by chrome and firefox.
[+] [-] liviu-|10 years ago|reply
Maybe I'm underestimating how culturally aware the average person is, but I doubt most people will care to make this connection between IE and Edge.
[+] [-] ripberge|10 years ago|reply
What makes you so confident the next one will be faster if the current one is slower? Are you on the dev team?
[+] [-] partiallypro|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justwannasing|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajitkolathur|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bentcorner|10 years ago|reply
http://www.activewin.com/reviews/software/apps/ms/encarta/20...
[+] [-] bztzt|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GnarfGnarf|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itsbits|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] liviu-|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TD-Linux|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Theodores|10 years ago|reply
Over the last few years a lot of people have taken themselves out of the Microsoft 'eco-system' by getting an Apple PC or by installing a flavour of Linux on their once-Windows PC. There are also many users who 'use' Windows PC's (because there is one on their desk) but no longer care for how Windows works, if they can read their email, open documents and search the internets then why bother involving oneself in any 'computing'?
With this audience I cannot anyone getting zealously excited because Microsoft has a new browser. Nobody is going to switch to Windows from whatever they have migrated to - which can also be Android or ChromeOS. It will be like Windows Phone, sometimes some people might use it but that won't be what most people will do. Why go to the effort?
We are lucky that there have always been browsers that do operate on different operating systems, e.g. the original Netscape, Firefox and Chrome. I am so glad I can move between Windows PC, Chromebook, linux PC and Android phone to have the same browsing bookmarks/experience/history everywhere I am. I wouldn't get this with Windows/Edge.
[+] [-] Qwertious|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mistermann|10 years ago|reply
1. Actually work (strangely, current IE can't accomplish this on some of my machines)
2. Tree Style Tabs
3. Support for popular ad-blockers
4. Easy on memory (including ability to unload a tab and actually release that memory, something FF can't seem to figure out)
5. Don't constantly take a 45 second timeout with lots of tabs open (like Firefox)
[+] [-] aesthetics1|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ilaksh|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benaston|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanlol|10 years ago|reply
I personally use my browser to, well... browse the internet?
[+] [-] aesthetics1|10 years ago|reply
Where will Edge take us? Is Edge replacing IE, or is it parallel?
I feel like this is going to cause confusion. Why did they choose a modern evolution of the Internet Explorer logo (Blue "e" with an orbit)? Everyone is going to expect that this is the new Internet Explorer. ActiveX plugins don't work - are you using Internet Explorer? "Yes! The blue e!" Eek.
If IE is going to co-exist alongside Edge, I feel that we will just be forced to support another new browser.
Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/927/
[+] [-] Sgt_Apone|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dgcoffman|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wbkang|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pippy|10 years ago|reply
Even Windows 10 isn't shying away with a search field located in the main task bar. These features are there to try and chip away at Google's search dominance.
It will be interesting to see if it works. If Microsoft makes a browser people want to use, Chrome will be in trouble. Chrome might end up like Google Maps on iOS.
While many seem to be welcoming a 'new Microsoft' with their open source efforts, it seems they still don't shy away from trying to kill off competitors by leveraging their Operating System monopoly.
[+] [-] jevgeni|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xFFC|10 years ago|reply
Chrome team can offer two distinct version , lightweight without extension and app support and super fast start time , and complete version.
Chrome turned to new JVM recently.just instead of java you developer should use Javascript.
I know this is google policy to push people to net (because it means more profit for google) but I don't want some company dictate what should I do. and at least with edge I have super fast load time and lightweight browser.
[+] [-] HaseebR7|10 years ago|reply