By utilizing the Chromium project, Edge will also be able to run on Windows 7, 8.1, and macOS.
"We intend to adopt the Chromium open source project in the development of Microsoft Edge on the desktop to create better web compatibility for our customers and less fragmentation of the web for all web developers," wrote Joe Belfiore, a corporate vice president in the Windows group.
Belfiore's statements was a remarkable mortification for Microsoft, which in the past, ruled the browser world after Internet Explorer had destroyed Netscape Navigator and achieved market share above 90%.
Edge will survive (not as a Microsoft-made product) but as a UI (user interface) wrapper around core tech developed mostly by the engineers of Google.
Microsoft made the decision as affection for open-source software that would lead to compatibility "with other Chromium-based browsers." A better web experience for users, and web developers was the excuse. And a good excuse indeed. Belfiore declined to talk about Edge's years of share declines that bled IE clean.
