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I installed Edge Chromium manually, when it was released some months ago, and it has updated itself several times - all fine.

Now I need to know if Edge Chromium has been installed to all Windows 10 machines via Windows Update. (Since I manually installed mine, I can't see that).

What is the current status on that? And if not, when will that happen?

From one of my research sites : PCWorld

"Beginning January 15, Microsoft will begin replacing the old Edge with the new Edge on consumer PCs with Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro, though Release Preview Insiders will be the first to get it."

Also, why would they make a brand new browser, if it isn't going to be standard on Windows 10? Why would they make a 'WebView2' control for several programming platforms (they have just released a 'Developer Preview' for .Net), why would they make Visual Studio integration? I think my assumption is fair!

I'm still convinced, it will be installed via Windows Update some day, but apparently, it hasn't happened yet.

Update:

Now Microsoft has started to roll out Windows 10 2004 (I have installed it on my machines).

However, since I had already installed Microsft Edge Chroumium, the question remains:

Is Edge Chromium installed as part of Windows 10 2004?

Surely someone must have installed Windows 10 2004, in which case it's a simple question.

Update:

I reinstalled Windows 10 (in a virtual machine). This time I didn't upgrade Microsoft Edge.

Now the other day Windows Update offered to install Edge Chromium! (which I of course did). So it seems that web developers can finally forget about the original Edge.

Update 2:

Windows 10 version 20H2 has completely removed the original Microsoft Edge. From now on there's only Microsoft Edge Chromium - currently Version 86.0.622.51.

Poul Bak
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1 Answers1

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Is Edge Chromium installed as part of Windows 10 2004?

It absolutely is not.

Now, I need to know if Edge Chromium has been installed on all Windows 10 machines via Windows Update. (Since I manually installed mine, I can't see that).

Edge Chromium has not officially replaced EdgeHTML at this time. Microsoft, at this time, has not announced when Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge) will be preinstalled, and EdgeHTML will not be enabled or installed by default.

However, the first stable Edge Chromium did indeed happened when Windows version 1903 was released.

What is the current status of that?

Edge Chromium updates are not distributed through Windows Update, once installed through Windows Update, Microsoft Edge (Edge Chromium) is updated using a similar mechanism as Google Chrome.

Source: Overview of the Microsoft Edge channel

I'm still convinced, it will be installed via Windows Update someday, but apparently, it hasn't happened yet.

Microsoft does plan to eventually install Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge) through Windows Update. However, updates to Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge) will be done through the browser, instead of Windows Update. In fact, Microsoft specifically decided against the continued development of a browser, tied to the development of Windows by switching to the development of a browser-based on Chromium.

If you’d prefer not to install Microsoft Edge manually, you can wait for it to be installed in a future update to Windows 10, following our measured roll-out approach over the next several months. We will start to migrate Windows 10 customers to the new Microsoft Edge in the coming weeks, starting with a subset of Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring.

Source: Upgrading to the new Microsoft Edge

The rolling release schedule that is described in the blog article, has not actually happened, but likely to happen once Windows 10 version 2004 is released in some capacity.

why would they make a brand new browser, if it isn't going to be standard on Windows 10?

I suspect Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge), at some point in the future, will come already be installed. I suspect that date will come after Internet Explorer and EdgeHTML 18 is no longer supported.

Why would they make a 'WebView2' control for several programming platforms (they have just released a 'Developer Preview' for .Net), why would they make Visual Studio integration?

It took around 18 months for the first stable channel Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge) release to happen. The development cycle of Visual Studio and .NET are not tied to the development cycle of Microsoft Edge nor the development cycle of Windows.

Furthermore, WebView2 is designed to provide the developer a choice, in order to allow a different browser engine to be used within their application other than EdgeHTML.

Users will be able to experience all the features above when it’s delivered via a measured roll-out that you’ll see ramping up over the course of the next few weeks. If you can’t wait and want to try it now, you can download the new Microsoft Edge here.

Microsoft Edge (Chromium) as of June 3rd, 2020 can now be installed through Windows Update on supported versions. Microsoft Edge (Chromium) must be manually downloaded on earlier supported versions of Windows.

Sources:

Ramhound
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