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Comment by arihant | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why comments here think it is Metro IE repackaged. It doesn't look anything like it (it looks more like Chrome than Metro IE), doesn't have the same rendering engine, supports crazy amount of new functionality:

1. Google Now styled contextual cards appear as soon as you start typing in address bar to search.

2. It does have support for Hubs, probably the best feature of Windows 8.

3. Annotations, so many ways of annotations. Not only it is natural, there is actually no easy way to annotate the web in any browser today.

4. Reading lists - not new, but new in MS realm.

5. Lastly, the hidden weapon - Cortana. It is integrated every-freakin-where in the browser. It is like Siri had sex with Google Now.

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This is really exciting. I think it can be better when companies like Microsoft demonstrate tight top-to-bottom integration.

But it's also hard to forget previous behavior when they used that same integration to screw people over. Let's hope they follow a more benign path this time.

How did Microsoft screw you over by integrating something into Windows?

Pretty sure he's talking about bundled IE and OEM licensing terms prohibiting preinstall of a competing browser, which probably stalled the development of web standards by a few years.

That's not what stalled the development of web standards. That's what helped them win the browser wars, during which, mind you, nobody was really trying to follow any standards. Everyone was racing to introduce proprietary features. Microsoft won partly by strong-arming OEMs into not pre-installing other browsers, and partly by simply building a better browser.

But just as they won, they got sued big for antitrust, and they let IE languish, which may or may not be due to the lawsuit. This was what slowed adoption of new features because sites were overwhelmingly designed for IE, and IE was not improving at all.

Why does any of this matter? For all practical purposes, this is IE - nobody would choose to use it, but because it will come bundled with Windows, a lot of people who don't care to switch browsers will use it. That's all there is to it.

A lot of people seem to not realize that the last reiterations of IE have actually worked to keep up with web standards, not to redefine them. Microsoft is actually trying their best to support web standards, when all other browsers break your code you will appreciate their hard work. But no, "it's just IE, it's just Microsoft" so let's not use the evil companies software? Come on, don't be so quick to jump the gun, do a little more research. This is precisely why they're dumping IE, and starting fresh, too many misconceptions exist about IE, but also this allows them to do new things.

> Microsoft is actually trying their best to support web standards

That's good. So does every other browser since forever.

> when all other browsers break your code you will appreciate their hard work.

I am a webdev, and I use Firefox as my main browser for work. When I am done with a feature or a new page I usually test it in Chrome and it works without problems. Then IE, and I still have to tweak the hell out of the code to make it work there as well. So ms is not there yet.

What you fail to analyze is why MS got that way. They got there because they dropped the ball on IE post XP.

When MS stretched violently with IE 6 back then, they changed the web landscape forever, they were light years ahead of competition. The practically invented AJAX. If MS can do with Edge what they did with IE 6, the future is very bright.

Since IE 6, most changes in web technology has been incremental. The powerful changes like WebGL are not enough mainstream. MS was, and still is, in power of forwarding things fast. So when you look at it like that, this is all good news.

I, for one, am planning to give it a fair shot. I'm intrigued for the following reasons:

* I love the idea of Cortana and Annotation in my browser. * Microsoft have lately proved pretty capable of producing fast and power-efficient browsers * Native OS integration could provide some nice features (share charm, good hi-resolution rendering support, native touch-gesture support). * Hoping for Ad-Block support - that's the only add-on I really use

Of course if none of that pans out, I'll be back to Firefox.

For all practical purposes, this is IE - nobody would choose to use it, but because it will come bundled

Where is this conclusion coming from? If a new engine won't make it not "IE", then what will?

I would jump off of Chrome in a heartbeat if there were a viable option for me. I actively search for Chrome alternatives every once in a while and I love when a new browser comes out. Unfortunately, it looks like they went Metro in Edge and I'll probably hate it. The only thing Metro means to me as a power-user and a developer is less control. Even on my Surface Pro and my little Dell tablet running Windows 8 - I use Chrome in desktop mode and I don't use any Metro apps at all.

(EDIT: Actually, there is one Metro app that I use regularly on my HTPC and tablets and that is Netflix.)

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