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People love to criticize Google Chrome for being a bloated browser that eats up your computer’s resources. Well, Microsoft Edge has gotten even worse. It started with good intentions, but Microsoft can’t help it.
I really wanted to like Microsoft Edge. I switched to using it on my desktop PC and Android phone, even recommending it to others. However, as time has passed, that has become more difficult to justify. The dream of a Chrome-like browser without all the Google bloat seems dead.
RELATED: Microsoft is making it hard to recommend Edge
Feature Slide
Microsoft Edge didn’t start out bloated. In fact, that was one of the reasons I decided to give it a try. I thought it might be a stripped down version of Chrome with a lot of the same features, but just less.
For a while, it seemed like that was the case, but it wasn’t long before the feature started showing up. “Feature creep” is when new features are constantly being added to a product, to the detriment of that product. Unfortunately, it’s a common occurrence in modern browsers, apps, and other types of software.
Instagram is one of the most well-known examples of feature creep. It used to be a very simple app about posting photos. Only photos. Now it’s a bloated amalgamation of good old Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Facebook.
The strange thing about Edge’s feature augmentation is that it’s not really about stealing features from other browsers. Microsoft has been adding a lot of simply unnecessary stuff.
2021 was the year that Microsoft really started to pack features into Edge. That has continued, albeit a bit slower, into 2022. Let’s take a look at some of the more notable additions.
Edge has the ability to give loans. If you make a purchase between $35 to $1,000, an option to “buy now, pay later” will appear in the browser. Microsoft partnered with Zip for this feature, and will likely take a cut of the transactions.
Do you remember playing games on MSN? Well, you can play those games on Edge. A small icon appears in the toolbar, if you enable it, which opens a sidebar with games like Solitaire, Bubble, Sudoku, and more. The actual games are played on a web page, not in the browser.
Reviews are a great way to learn about a product before you buy it. There are plenty of great places to go for these reviews, but Microsoft wants you to see them in Edge. When you checkout at some online retailers, you may see a popup with coupons and reviews. A potentially useful idea, but probably not what you expect from your browser.
One of the most recent additions is a visual search feature. Every time you hover over an image on a website, you’ll see a little icon to perform a Bing visual search. Essentially, it searches the web for similar images. This was annoyingly enabled by default in Edge 95.
While some of the features Microsoft has added are more useful than others, like price tracking, it’s too much for a browser. None of these features are really for browsing the web.
Edge is not all bad
To conclude, I must mention that Edge has some good ideas. Overall, it’s a good browser and a viable competitor to Chrome. Regardless, I still use it on my PC, Android phone, and iPhone, though it may not last much longer.
Edge is more than just Chrome with the Microsoft name on it. The company has added more than a few unique features. You can automatically clear your history when you close the browser, you can move tabs to a sidebar, there’s a dedicated Kids Mode, and more.
What do all these characteristics have in common? They improve web browsing and the browser experience. Features like that are much more welcome than games and coupons. At the end of the day, the browser’s job is to make using the Internet as easy as possible. Every little notice and popup gets in the way.
RELATED: All the unnecessary stuff Microsoft added to Edge in 2021
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