Microsoft Edge has been a work in progress ever since being announced as code name Project Spartan back in January. Building a new browser from the ground up is no mean feat especially when we consider the legacy Internet Explorer has built up. For Microsoft, Edge is a chance to start fresh and innovate what a browser can be, “blurring the edges” between consumption and creation. A post on Microsoft’s JobsBlog shows just how committed the Edge development, design and engineering team are to creating the browser for the future.
Clarice Chan outlines that working on a project such as Microsoft Edge has given her and her team an opportunity to “sculpt and imagine what we think the future of the Web will be like.” She describes how developing Microsoft Edge is not only a big part of the Windows 10, but also a defining time in the careers of her team. Chan outlines that features such as “Ask Cortana” bring new possibilities, and uses the example of Cortana’s contextual awareness of your commands in relation to the web; if you ask Cortana about Jaguar she will know whether or not you mean fancy car or feline. For Chan, working on the new project has allowed the team to “be inventive” and having a hand in a product that “enhances people’s daily lives and make them more productive than ever” drives Chan and her team to create a “sort of window to the world.”
Not only does Microsoft Edge have to be packed with new and innovative features such as Cortana and OneNote integration but also needs to be familiar to those who already use Internet Explorer day in and day out. John Jansen, principal software engineering lead for Microsoft Edge says his work is both “motivating and challenging” as he feels a “strong weight of responsibility” in making sure Microsoft Edge “works better than any other browser for whatever people are trying to accomplish on the internet.” By this he argues that some users will use Edge like his mom as “an icon to find recipes” and others will use Edge in more advanced ways.
Jansen and others throughout the Microsoft JobsBlog have indicated that the insiders using Microsoft Edge and giving feedback have been a vital part of the browser’s development and a key motivator for ensuring the “focus to help refine it.” Software engineer Anthony Henderson outlines that the Insider Program has been “really exciting” as they have been creating the features “the people actually want.”
It is clear that the Microsoft Edge development team is primed and ready to debut Edge as the browser in Windows 10 – coming on July 29th – and they’re as excited as we are to see what’s next for their project as consumers start using Edge as a tool to interact with the web in new and innovative ways.
