Chromium is an open-source browser implementation that is used as a base by many browser developers.
Microsoft on Monday officially released the first Developer and Canary test builds of its open source Chromium-based Edge browser for Windows 10.
Canary builds are preview builds that will be updated daily, while Developer builds are preview builds that will be updated weekly, Microsoft said in a blog post.
The test builds are focused on the fundamentals and have not yet included a wide range of feature. But users can see differences from the current Microsoft Edge in terms of subtle design finishes, support for a broader selection of extensions and the ability to manage sign-in profile.
Microsoft plans to release beta-quality builds and all supported versions of Windows and Mac later.
The new Edge builds are now available for download from the Microsoft Edge Insider site.
Chromium open source project
In December 2018, Microsoft announced its intention to adopt the Chromium open source project in the development of Microsoft Edge on the desktop.
“Our goal is to work with the larger Chromium open source community to create better web compatibility for our customers and less fragmentation of the web for all web developers,” it had said at that time.
As described by ZDNet, Chromium is an open-source browser implementation used as a base by many browser developers including Vivaldi, Opera, Yandex and Brave to build their platform.
In 2008, Google launched its Chrome browser and released the bulk of Chrome’s code as open source, birthing Chromium in the process.
Microsoft’s open source contributions
Microsoft has also begun to make contributions to the Chromium open source project in areas like accessibility, touch, ARM64 and others.
“We’re working directly with the teams at Google and the broader Chromium community on this work and appreciate the collaborative and open discussions. We look forward to continued engagement with the community to progress Chromium in these areas and others,” Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President, Windows, wrote in the blog.
