Edge was supposed to help Microsoft reclaim its position at the top of the web browser market, and while the design and performance of the browser are comparable to that of Chrome and Firefox, the fact that it doesn’t support extensions at the moment has severely hampered its adoption. However, WinBeta reported on Wednesday that Windows Insiders will be receiving support for extensions in Edge by the end of the month, with regular Windows 10 users expected to receive support sometime this June.
Many months after its initial launch, Microsoft is at long last addressing the biggest gripe with its Edge browser to date. Since it conception, extension support has kept even the most devoted Windows users from ditching other, more complete browsing experiences like Chrome and Firefox. Thankfully, add-ons will finally make their way to Edge before the end of the month, in time for Microsoft’s annual BUILD developer conference. This news stems from WinBeta who spoke with “contacts familiar with the matter” determining that extension support is now being tested internally within the rs1_release, or RedStone 1 release, builds. If history is any indication, we’ll likely see the feature pop up for Insider Preview members in the coming days/weeks. If we’re lucky, that means third-party developers will finally start bringing over their Chrome extensions to Edge. It’s difficult to predict a specific release window for the build, since Insider updates usually come out whenever Microsoft engineering VP Gabe Aul is ready for them to, but nonetheless we can safely expect that it’s coming soon. WinBeta’s sources claim that build 14284 will be the first rs1_release to introduce extension support in Edge.
