

Microsoft's New Edge Web Browser – How to Create Edge Extensions? - r3m6
http://imacros.net/microsoft-edge-web-browser-how-to-create-edge-extensions

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Encosia
I think bringing a sane extension model to Edge is a bigger deal than any of
the other improvements that Edge is making over IE11.

For a couple years now, I would have instantly switched to IE on my touch
enabled Windows machines _if_ there were equivalent versions of my Chrome
extensions available for IE. Overall performance, especially during touch
scrolling and zooming, and memory footprint has long been dramatically better
in IE than any other Windows browser (though Chrome seems to be trying to
close that gap a bit lately).

If converting a complex extension like RES was really "easy to convert" with
"only a few changes", that's going to be a very interesting development.

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bad_user
> _There are “no plans” to make the browser (or its core engine) open source
> but Edge proudly incorporates open-source code_

I'm tired of this trend. In my opinion saying you're using some piece of open-
source library for XPath does not exonerate you from releasing a browser that
isn't open-source in a market that has Firefox and Chromium. I'll bet they
aren't going to release Edge for Linux either.

Microsoft has been copying Apple lately but Apple is the wrong model for
Microsoft to copy.

~~~
gdulli
> I'm tired of this trend. In my opinion saying you're using some piece of
> open-source library for XPath does not exonerate you from releasing a
> browser that isn't open-source

They don't need to be exonerated. There's no reason to turn enthusiasm for
open-source into a feeling of entitlement that all software must be that way.
Some of the best software I use is closed-source. I have enough complaints
about Firefox and Chrome that if a better closed-source browser comes along
I'm going to use it.

~~~
bad_user
Given Microsoft's history with IExplorer, that personally I haven't forgotten,
I won't touch another of their browsers unless it is open-source and portable
to other platforms. Because there is such a thing called trust and trust
violations, which in the real world often affect relationships between two
parties. So they do need to be exonerated from my point of view. You're
entitled to your own opinion of course.

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INTPnerd
I don't understand why they even need their own web browser. Why not just ship
Windows with Chrome. They could preset the settings to have bing as your home
page. Or maybe that is illegal? What advantage to they gain by having their
own browser? If there would be legal difficulties they could try to strike a
deal with Firefox or Opera. On the same note I don't understand what Microsoft
is trying to do recently. I mean eventually Windows is supposed to be free and
everyone can get all the updates. .NET is becoming more open source. Visual
Studio is becoming cross platform and this works on the free version. I like
all these things, but I don't understand how they benefit Microsoft? The only
explanation I have heard is that they are trying to "stay relevant", but what
good is that relevance if they are giving Windows, .NET, and Visual Studio
away for free? Am I missing something?

~~~
kuschku
Because then everyone would be using Chrome – Chrome already has a far too
large market share right now.

If we want to have a free market of browsers, we also need multiple vendors
that compete, otherwise the market will stall (see IE6)

~~~
INTPnerd
I was more asking how Microsoft benefits by pumping their own money and time
into their own browser.

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highace
_Unlike Chrome, extensions require a browser restart after installation._

That is not good.

~~~
wojt_eu
Reminds me of Windows NT.

~~~
scrollaway
Or, uh, Firefox?

~~~
piyush_soni
Restart-less add-ons have been common for a few years now for Firefox.

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nabaraz
I played with Edge on my dev machine, here are my initial impressions:

> Its slow. I ran some benchmark tools and it is so far behind Chrome and
> Firefox. (I know its still in preview)

> I dont like the idea of installing extension through Microsoft Store.

> Developer Tools is still behind Chrome or Firebug. Missing JS & CSS editing,
> viewing cookie etc.

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WorldWideWayne
I feel like all of the changes Microsoft is making are not going to matter if
they keep trying to build a walled garden. There's just no way that I'm
investing any significant amount of time into technology that binds users to a
one single app store.

~~~
Delmania
I'm having a hard time parsing this comment in light of Apple and Google,
which essentially do the same thing. The article mentions the extensions are
similar to Chrome, so it's possible that someone will build a translation
layer that will take underlying code and build the application specific
bindings.

Thanks to Xamarin, you can build an application for any platform using C#, and
even more, .NET is running pretty much everywhere now. So, I'm confused as to
what technology you are referring to?

~~~
WorldWideWayne
So, because Apple and (to a much lesser extent) Google lock down their
platforms, I should be OK when Microsoft tries to do it too?

I don't use iOS for the same reason that I won't use any of Microsoft's newly
walled-in tech and I don't use certain Google products for the same reason.

> what technology you are referring to?

I'm referring to Metro/Modern/Windows Store/Universal apps and Edge.

\- On Windows if I want to distribute a Metro/Modern app, I have to go through
Microsoft's store. At least Android allows non-Google app stores and side-
loading with the flick of a switch.

\- Metro/Modern apps are not allowed talk to desktop apps. Even Chrome
extensions and apps aren't as locked down as Metro.

\- It looks like they're considering applying the same restrictions to Edge.
Edge apps might only be able to talk to Windows Store apps.

None of this is OK with me. I never wanted Microsoft to do anything like Apple
because I honestly don't like the way they do anything.

> .NET is running pretty much everywhere now...

 _Xamarin isn 't Microsoft and this is not relevant to my point but here is
what I think about Xamarin._

Not yet. Not really. Relatively nobody is using Xamarin tools because they are
too expensive compared to the free or low cost tools that are available for
building straight iOS and Android apps (or even cross platform ones with
Javascript).

~~~
Encosia
I don't use Xamarin myself, but I don't think it's very accurate to say nobody
is using their tools:
[http://xamarin.com/customers](http://xamarin.com/customers)

If you spend any time at all talking with .NET developers (of which there are
millions), many are very excited about Xamarin and being able to use their
existing knowledge to build native cross-platform apps.

