Today I’m thrilled to announce that a Beta release for the next version of Microsoft Edge is now available for all supported versions of Windows and macOS. Our goal with Microsoft Edge is to create better web compatibility with better performance for our customers while ensuring less fragmentation of the web for all web developers. Our community has been with us on this journey from the beginning and your feedback is making it possible to rapidly improve. To date, there have been more than one million downloads of our preview builds, across all supported versions of Windows and Mac, from which we have received more than 140,000 individual pieces of feedback. Thank you!
Now that the Beta channel for the next version of Microsoft Edge is available, I’d like to call on all of you to jump in today and be some of the first to download and try it!
Microsoft Edge Beta Channel: The next chapter
Beta is the third and final preview channel which will come online before launch. As we release Beta, we remain committed to delivering a high-quality product and nailing the fundamentals of a great browsing experience. Beta represents the most stable preview channel, as features are added to Beta only after they have cleared quality testing in first the Canary channel and then the Dev channel. Major version updates can be expected roughly every six weeks, alongside periodic minor updates for bug fixes and security.
While still in the preview stage, with this announcement the next version of Microsoft Edge is ready for everyday use. In the Beta today, you will see new ways to personalize your experience, along with support for 14 languages. With new tab page customization, you have the ability to choose what you want to see when you open a new web page by selecting either a Focused, Inspirational or Informational layout. You can also set a dark theme or visit the Microsoft Edge Insider Addons store or other Chromium-based web stores, such as the Chrome Web Store, to add your favorite extensions.
You can personalize your experience further by enabling tracking prevention, a feature designed to protect you from being tracked by websites that you don’t visit. Today, this feature is behind a flag but you can enable it in the Beta builds. When enabled, a customer will be able to choose from three levels of privacy – Basic, Balanced and Strict. Additional features that we showed at the Build 2019 Conference will come to the Beta channel in the coming months. Collections is already available for testing in the Canary channel today.
Microsoft Edge is getting even better for business
Beta also includes many of the commercial features we announced at our Build conference, such as:
- Microsoft Search built-in to Bing, which will reduce the time spent looking for things at work by intelligently connecting an organization’s people, documents, sites, locations and conversations.
- Internet Explorer mode, which streamlines today’s not-so-great experience of viewing the web through two different browsers by bringing Internet Explorer 11 compatibility directly into Microsoft Edge, creating one simple experience. This is an important feature for the more than 60% of worldwide organizations that use both IE as well as another browser.
- Windows Defender Application Guard helps to isolate enterprise-defined untrusted sites, protecting the company while employees browse the Internet.
Additional features, like the enterprise-focused new tab, will be coming soon to the Canary and Dev channels as well.
Security Bounty Program for Edge Beta
With this Beta release, we are also announcing that we have extended the Microsoft Edge browser security bounty program to cover the Beta and Dev channels. We welcome researchers to seek out and disclose any high-impact vulnerabilities they may find in these channels and offer rewards up to US$15,000 for eligible vulnerabilities. See the MSRC blog for more details.
Chromium contributions
We are also continuing our commitment to be an active contributor to the Chromium community. To date, we’ve contributed more than 1,000 commits to the Chromium project, and we look forward to continuing our active engagement with the community in the shared pursuit of making the web better for everyone.
Time to try! Download Microsoft Edge Beta today
If you are an enterprise customer, the next version of Microsoft Edge is ready to pilot with either Beta or Dev builds. We invite you to check out the enterprise tab of the Microsoft Edge Insider site, download a build and begin trialing it in your organization.
If you are a consumer who is comfortable testing a beta, visit the Microsoft Edge Insider site to learn more and download the builds. Your feedback is critical in helping us build the future of Microsoft Edge and we’re excited to hear what you think.
As with the Canary and Dev builds, if you’re not comfortable using early release software there is nothing for you to do today. Keep using the Microsoft Edge you know and love, and we’ll let you know when it’s time to make the move to the next version of the browser.
Thanks again to everyone who has continued engaging with us on this journey. Stay tuned for more as we get closer to launch!
The post Introducing Microsoft Edge Beta: Be one of the first to try it now appeared first on Windows Blog.
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Joe Belfiore, Khareem Sudlow
