Microsoft is now accepting developers’ submissions of add-ons for its upcoming Chromium-based Edge browser, so as to extend the app’s capabilities. The move — along with the official launch of the revamped browser — could finally give it a chance to realistically compete with the likes of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
The company has been previewing a new version of its browser powered by the popular Chromium rendering engine for some time now, and it’ll roll out via an over-the-air update to Windows 10 users on January 15, 2020.
The lack of support for a wide range of extensions has been a major sticking point for Edge over the past couple of years, and it’s one of the reasons why desktop users have stuck with other browsers.
One major advantage of swapping out the old rendering engine for Chromium in Edge is the ability to install extensions built for Chrome with minimal fuss (you just need to click on Settings > Extensions, and then enable the option to Allow extensions from other stores).
Google’s browser has a massive library of extensions, and has a large base of developers contributing to it. Porting those over to Microsoft’s add-ons store shouldn’t take much effort, as extensions built for Chromium ” will work without any modifications in the new Microsoft Edge,” according to the company.
With Chromium under the hood, a legit add-ons store that devs might care to contribute to, and instant availability in Windows 10, Edge could see an uptick in adoption in the coming year.
