Microsoft has officially launched the Microsoft Edge browser on Mac.
Not since Internet Explorer was discontinued on Mac has Microsoft officially supported a web browser on macOS but the release of the new Chromium based Microsoft Edge changes all that.
Chromium is the open source code that Google Chrome is based on and this latest version of Edge has been in the works for well over a year now.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Edge for Mac is very similar to Google Chrome in looks and features. It even works with all the same extensions and plug-ins that Chrome works with.
The big difference is of course is that your data and information – especially when syncing across devices – is handled by Microsoft instead of Google.
However, Microsoft claims that it offers superior tracking protection to Chrome which may attract users concerned by Google’s data collection methods.
Whether Microsoft Edge For Mac means that Mac users no longer need to have to use workarounds to get Internet Explorer on Mac is not clear.
Incredibly some websites still require Internet Explorer in order to access them although hopefully the latest version of Edge will mean Mac users no longer have to find another way to use them.
You can read a bit more about what to expect in Microsoft Edge for Mac here.
You can download and try Edge for Mac here.
Interesting move by Microsoft to get into the browser market on the Mac.
From the image, I would presume that the default search engine is Bing, which by default means no tracking of search results by Google.
Which raises a question, can a user change the search engine, and if so and they choose Google, are search results then tracked by Google? (I would expect so but I wonder if Edge for Mac is able to treat the Google search engine differently).