Reactions To the News That Microsoft's Edge Browser Is Coming to Linux

'"Microsoft is bringing Edge to Linux, for all the Microsoft fans
running Linux," jokes the headline at the Inquirer. ("We can just
imagine the amount of bunting and party poppers that the Linux
community has just ordered. After all, why wouldn't you want a browser
from the company that you joined Linux to get away from?") And the
headline at Liliputting quips that the Edge browser "is coming to
Linux (whether you want it or not)," calling the move "the latest
evidence that Microsoft's relationship to Linux has changed a lot in
recent years.

But TechRadar had an even more sardonic headline. "Hell freezes over
as Microsoft Edge comes to Linux."

One other thing to consider is that the introduction of Edge to Linux
is something of a thorny subject in that the folks who choose a Linux
distro often do so to break away from the chains of Microsoft and
Windows (or indeed Apple). So certainly some of the more fervent open
source types out there may not welcome a Microsoft browser with open
arms, and doubtless it will be regarded with suspicion in some
quarters. No matter how much Microsoft has been banging the open
source drum in many different ways in recent times.

That said, there will doubtless be Linux users who are curious, and
may want to pick up a mainstream alternative to Firefox on Linux
which, when compared to Chrome -- with its famous memory hogging
antics -- makes a far preferable choice in some respects. Edge will
also do streaming better (by default Chrome limits you to 720p when
you're trying to watch a spot of Netflix). All the testing feedback
about Edge has been pretty positive in the main thus far, too, so
maybe that will persuade even doubters to at least consider it.

One thing's for sure: it will certainly be interesting to see the
reaction Microsoft's browser gets when it is deployed to Linux.

Edge may face a rocky reception. "I am not feeling a tingling all over
at the thought of Edge coming to Linux," posted one commenter on Beta
News. "It's not really necessary to bring Linux down to the level of
Windows 10."'

-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/11/11/0249222

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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