Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Microsoft Edge browser previews for Linux

news
Oct 21, 20202 mins

The Microsoft Edge Dev Channel for Linux preview release supports Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and OpenSUSE Linux

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Credit: Salvatore Gerace

Microsoft is offering Edge browser preview builds for Linux, thus making the browser available for all five major desktop and mobile platforms including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. 

Microsoft on October 20 announced the availability of Microsoft Edge Dev Channel for Linux. The release supports Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and OpenSUSE Linux distributions. Weekly builds are planned following the typical Dev Channel cadence alongside other supported platforms.

With the initial preview, Microsoft aims to provide a representative experience for developers who want to build and test websites and apps on Linux. The company said web platform and developer tools capabilities, including core rendering behaviors, extensions, browser DevTools, and test automation, generally should behave consistently with other Edge editions, but some end user features may not be fully enabled yet. The release supports local accounts only and does not support signing in via a Microsoft or Azure Active Directory account. A future preview will add these capabilities

To get started with Microsoft Edge on Linux, users can install a .deb or .rpm package directly from the Microsoft Edge Insider site, which will configure a system for receiving future automatic updates. Microsoft Edge also can be installed from the Microsoft Linux Software Repository using a distribution’s standard package management tools.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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