Microsoft starts rolling out new Chromium-based Edge browser to Windows 10 users

The age of the traditional Edge browser has ended! Microsoft will start rolling out a newer version of its Edge web browser to all its Windows 10 users today.

Unlike the old Edge web browser, the new Edge browser is based on Google's Chromium engine, which also powers other web browsers such as Google Chrome and Opera.

Microsoft says that the Chromium-based Edge browser will be automatically updated on personal computers and desktops running the version 1803 of Edge web browser on Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. Users cannot block this update and eventually they will have to switch to the newer version of the Edge web browser.

While regular users will not be able to block this update, business users will get a chance to continue using the old Edge browser. "Devices running Windows 10 Home or Pro Edition that are joined to an Active Directory or Azure Active Directory domain, are MDM managed, or are WSUS or WUfB managed, will also be excluded from this automatic update," Microsoft wrote in a blog post.

Microsoft has also deployed a Blocker Toolkit that would allow organisations to block the automatic update of the new Microsoft Edge web browser on Windows 10 PCs.

The new Edge web browser brings support for Chrome extensions and user profiles to Edge's platform. It will also improve users' browsing experience.

Notably, Microsoft decided to make a switch to the Chromium engine last year after the company's CEO, Satya Nadella, was reportedly frustrated with how Chrome was increasingly becoming users' default web browser and how users had "mixed reactions" towards the company's Edge web browser. Following intense discussions, the company decided to ditch its own engine to switch to Chromium.