Microsoft officials said that the chromium based Microsoft Edge, which is going to be generally available from 15th January 2020, will not be bundled with Windows operating system updates. Rather, it will be available via Windows Updates for all PCs running Windows 10 1709 (RS4) and later.
The latest development comes over a month after the company announced the general availability of the Chromium-based Edge browser.
- Chromium based Microsoft Edge will be available on January 15, 2020.
- Microsoft Edge will be available via Windows Updates.
- You can install new Microsoft Edge on any PCs running Windows 10 v1709 or higher.
- Organizations can control the automatic installation of new Microsoft Edge using a new tool, called Blocker Toolkit.
While detailing the release plan of the chromium powered Microsoft Edge, Microsoft mentioned that the company will start making the browser generally available on January 15, 2020, via the Windows Updates. Since the Edge browser releases are not related to Windows major releases, the changes will be provided to the operating system to ensure that the browser fits seamlessly.
The company also mentioned that the installation of new Edge browser will result all start menu pins, tiles, and shortcuts for the current version of Microsoft Edge to migrate to the next version of Microsoft Edge. All taskbar pins and shortcuts for the current version of Microsoft Edge will migrate to the next version of Microsoft Edge. Also, all attempts to launch the current version of Microsoft Edge will redirect to the next version of Microsoft Edge.
Apart from this announcement, Microsoft also released a tool called Blocker Toolkit, which will enable organizations to control the installation of the new Edge via Windows Update. If you continue providing Windows updates, but would like to block sending the chromium-Edge releases to your users, this tool will help you. Furthermore, you need to know that the tool won't block the manual installation of the Chromium-based Edge browser.
What else? Microsoft also encourages developers to start building new extensions before the general availability date. If you are a developer, building extensions for browsers, it's a good time to showcase your development.