I have an unusual confession to make. If the title didn’t give it away, I’ll just say it now:
I actually use Microsoft Edge regularly on Linux.
You may wonder why I even bother using it, especially after everything I said about switching from Windows to Linux. It seems like madness to even bother using the proprietary browser on a free, open-source system like Linux, right?
I do have one major reason for it: work.
I’m a big proponent of compartmentalizing. I know it’s more possible than ever on modern browsers, but there’s something I find more comfortable about delegating the kind of tasks I perform to different browsers rather than juggling multiple profiles in the same one.
As a result of this, I had a setup for the longest time: personal stuff in Firefox, then work-related stuff in Chrome. Simple.
When I Used Chrome
I only used Chrome for so long because my workplace supplied us with Google accounts to get things done. We get full access to Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meets, and other apps to get work done. We’re a very Google-focused workplace. From the time I started the job, Chrome just seemed like the easiest option to sync my credentials for work.
However, I never really liked Chrome, even despite only doing work-related tasks with it. It’s even more annoying to run on my Fedora Workstation laptop than it is on my Arch system at home; the Fedora install of Chrome doesn’t want to manage my work-related passwords (also compartmentalized away from my personal passwords in a dedicated password manager). My Arch install has no issues with passwords and autofill, so I’m not sure what’s going on there.
There’s also the fact that my workplace arbitrarily decided a year ago to start managing what extensions we were and weren’t allowed to install. I sometimes watch YouTube self-improvement videos while I’m at work with downtime, and I started to desperately wish I had something like SponsorBlock installed. (The trend of in-video sponsors has always grated on me considering I shill out money for YouTube Premium just to avoid ads without hurting creators.) Sometimes I would also search for something minor only to wish I could use Dark Reader when looking at bright webpages.
When I Thought About Edge
It was only about three weeks ago that our workplace tech reached out to us about how we could take advantage of free access to Microsoft Office. They sent us an email with instructions on how to get started. After carefully verifying the email was legitimate (phishing is no fun), I followed the steps and gained access to online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Even if they’re not perfect due to their proprietary nature, they still have much more to offer than Google’s relatively paltry suite of applications.
In the process of getting access to Office, I had to set my existing work email up as a Microsoft account. Then it hit me:
Since I was getting fed up with Google Chrome, why not use Microsoft Edge for work?
Microsoft even went out of their way to make it Linux-compatible. The very idea that Microsoft would make their flagship browser compatible with Linux seemed unfathomable twenty, fifteen, even just ten years ago, yet it was a reality now. Why not sync with the work-related Microsoft account I had just created instead of having to stick with Chrome?
So I decided to make the initial switch.
The Initial Switch
My switch wasn’t as smooth as I expected it to be, or at least at first.
I found a few guides that led me to add a Fedora repo and install either the stable, beta, or dev builds. The only issue I had was how Edge would always crash once I set up my work-related Microsoft account. It would try to sync and then just close without a trace in the process, no warning or anything. This happened on all three versions of Edge from the repo.
Of course, I’m a Linux user, and I wouldn’t be much of a Linux user if I couldn’t at least try and troubleshoot this problem, right?
I started digging around and discovered this was some sort of common issue, although it largely depended on what kind of Microsoft account you had. I found out I could actually get it to sync once I entered my new Microsoft account info onto this page and followed the instructions involving Microsoft Azure. This (somehow) set everything up so that syncing would actually start working.
However, my browser would still crash. My ultimate workaround was running the Flatpak installation of Microsoft Edge. Once I used that, sync worked and it was smooth sailing from there.
Importing My Info
I couldn’t actually import anything from Google Chrome, strangely enough. Seriously. On the Flatpak install, it detected no browsers. It made sense considering it was Flatpak-based. As for the RPM-based editions of Edge, the only option for import was from Firefox, but why would I want to import my personal bookmarks and settings? I just wanted my work-related data.
I had to do this the “hard” way, although it wasn’t really that bad. I just curated the bookmarks and passwords I cared about and entered them in manually into Edge. I saved the bookmarks I wanted one-by-one (I didn’t have that many) and then let the browser remember my passwords. It gave me a good excuse to tidy up anything I wasn’t really using anymore, so it was an opportunity for a digital decluttering.
What’s It Like Now?
Not bad, really. My issues with using Chrome for work are now resolved by using Edge.
I can easily login to websites using the password autofill just fine. Unlike Google Chrome’s autofill, Edge’s password manager is consistent from one system to another.
In addition, I can finally install more extensions thanks to the Edge Add-ons page. I got the aforementioned extensions back and then some.
On top of all that, I can also use the online versions of Office apps pretty easily for work. They work perfectly fine on a Linux install since they are web-based. No more having to bother with spartan, barebones apps from Google’s selection. Sending documents to colleagues easily and quickly is significantly nicer, and making presentations within PowerPoint is much better than making them on Slides.
I also get access to OneNote through this whole setup, which, even though I use Obsidian and a bullet journal, is still a lot nicer to use than the likes of Google Keep. However, I could see someone making the case that Keep is somehow nicer because it stays out of your way, though granted, I haven’t used OneNote since 2013.
So It’s Not Terrible?
As I said, it’s really not. It’s a solid browser and I think, for the vast majority of casual users who want a capable browser, this more than does the job.
I think most people aren’t willing to give the browser a chance while simultaneously favoring Google Chrome because Internet Explorer had such a maligned reputation in the past 15 years.
As I’ve said before, Windows XP is my favorite version of Windows of all time. However, if there was anything I didn’t like about the OS, it was the browser that shipped with it at the time: Internet Explorer 6. It was so bad that Firefox started to gain serious traction as a viable alternative.
To give you an idea how bad IE 6 was, ask yourself this: How many tabs you typically keep open on your browser? No, really. It doesn’t matter if it’s Chrome, Firefox, or any other browser you can think of. Just think of the average ballpark number of tabs you usually have open at once. Just be honest with yourself. I’m not judging you, really.
Got your number? Great. You know how many tabs you could have open on Internet Explorer 6?
None.
Why? IE 6 was so far behind on features and quality of life improvements that it didn’t have tabbed browsing, a basic feature we take for granted today, while Firefox and other contemporary alternatives of the time had the feature for years. But IE was once the most widely-used browser in the world, so why would Microsoft want to improve it if they had nothing to gain?
Fast forward to the late 2000s when Chrome came along. The new kid on the block soon ate Internet Explorer’s lunch. It now stands as the most-used browser in the world. Google had no issues leveraging their popularity in search and email to convince people to give the browser a shot, and casual users started noticing that it performed better than what they were used to.
People kept noticing how Internet Explorer’s subsequent releases, while they were improvements, were incremental at best. Even the original Microsoft Edge that debuted with Windows 10 was nothing to write home about on a good day.
What’s the Difference Between the Original Edge and Today’s Edge?
The original Microsoft Edge came with Windows 10 and was essentially the same old Internet Explorer with a coat of paint. Microsoft would cherry pick data to try and prove it was better than Chrome or any other browser, but its market share was so minuscule that it became clear nobody was falling for the ruse.
Eventually, Microsoft realized that a mere rebrand wouldn’t be enough to save the browser, so they went the extra mile and adopted the Chromium engine. Can’t beat ’em, join ’em! As a result, anyone on the new Microsoft Edge can install add-ons easily from the aforementioned Edge Add-ons page as well as the Chrome Extensions page. Granted, I can only install extensions from the former due to my workplace limitations, but at least I actually have options again.
Also, I don’t really have anything to back it up, but I sometimes feel like the browser loads pages and runs faster with equivalent tasks on Chrome. There’s a fairly good chance it’s all in my head or the difference is a fraction of a second here and there (especially since it’s only a Flatpak), but the overall performance just feels smoother than when I used Chrome for work.
Why Not [OTHER BROWSER HERE]?
I know I could easily use something Chromium based that’s quite excellent like Vivaldi, or perhaps something like Brave. I know those are good options, and I even used the likes of Vivaldi for the longest time. I would recommend it as something that fits the bill for a power user.
However, those other Chromium-based offerings don’t let me install extensions on my Google-based work account. Edge is useful here because it allows me to install extensions from its own page that isn’t gated off.
Since many popular extensions are uploaded to both the Edge Add-ons page and the Chrome Extensions store, that means I can install them from the former without issues. Yes, even though I’m on another browser, I still can’t install from Chrome’s extensions because it’s the same work-related Google account. I just want to make that clear in case there’s any confusion over why I went through all the trouble of using Edge.
This is also why I can’t actually use something like the Chromium-based Opera; it has its own add-ons page like Edge, but the selection is slim pickings when I search for anything I want. I failed to find Dark Reader and SponsorBlock there altogether.
I could get something Firefox-based for work, but I’m fine with just my personal browser being based off Firefox. I haven’t really seen any options that catch my attention other than LibreWolf, but that seems a little bit too hardened for casual use at work.
I understand that Edge is proprietary and more than likely comes with some form of telemetry like Windows 10 and 11, but considering I was previously using Chrome, my choices came down to whether I wanted Google or Microsoft to get my telemetry. While neither company is all that benevolent, it feels like Microsoft is at least trying to improve over the past few years. Google, on the other hand, seems content to sit back and do nothing outside of things like Manifest V3, but that’s another issue entirely.
Overall
If you know what you’re getting yourself into, Microsoft Edge is a solid browser on Linux. I enjoy using it for work-related tasks while I use Firefox for personal, non-work related browsing.
What do you think of Microsoft Edge these days? Have you tried it? Did you ever try the original Microsoft Edge from way back? How would you compare Edge today to Chrome or other browsers? Is there another alternative you think I should try instead?
Sudo Science 