When it comes down to Microsoft Edge, the web browser has turned out to be something we all want to use but has so far refuse to due to missing features, bugs that seem to never go away, and extensions.
Recently, the company released a new updated to folks in the fast ring of the Insider Preview Build, and this brought to the table a version of Edge with supports for extensions. At the time of writing, only three extensions are available for consumption, and these are Reddit Enhancement Suite, Mouse Gestures, and Microsoft Translate. These are not what most people want to use, but they are good enough for the sake of testing.
Microsoft Edge support of Chrome extensions
The most important and exciting thing about Edge extensions, however, is the fact that the system supports Google Chrome extensions. This should make it very easy for Chrome extension developers to port their work and make it play nice with Microsoft Edge. Furthermore, any extension created on Edge first should be able to work on Chrome.
This, in truth, is probably the best thing about extensions for Edge. It simply means, we as fans do not have to wait a very long time to have several high quality extensions available for usage. Not to mention, this is a win-win for Chrome and Edge users.
With Microsoft going this route, Firefox could find itself in a tough position. While the popular browser has a strong extension system, it is not supported in other web browsers. Chrome seems to be more versatile because the likes of Vivaldi and the new Opera web browser can all take advantage of extensions made for the Google browser.
If developers are given the choice to create a single extension that can play well with several web browsers, then the need to support Firefox becomes less. This could even force Mozilla to abandon its own extension platform for that of Google’s or follow a similar path Microsoft has taken.
When it comes down to the extensions we’d love to use, well, LastPass is probably the most needed. Furthermore, wouldn’t it be great if Microsoft added the same pop-up blocker mechanism in Edge that is found in Internet Explorer? Let’s be honest here, IE has the most effective pop-up blocker of all web browsers.
