Microsoft Edge Stable released for Linux

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 31, 2021
Linux
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32

Microsoft has released the first stable version of the new Microsoft Edge web browser for Linux. When Microsoft announced the switch to a Chromium-based web browser in late 2018, it confirmed that the new Edge would be available for additional platforms. The classic version of Microsoft Edge was released only for Windows 10, and that limitation was one reason why it was not that successful.

The company released the first public preview of Microsoft Edge for Linux in late 2020, about ten months after the first stable versions of the new browser were released for Windows and Mac OS X.

The initial release supported Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and openSUSE officially. Microsoft did not reveal a schedule for the release of the first stable version of Edge for Linux. A Beta version was released for Linux eventually, but it took Microsoft until late October 2021 to release the first stable build of Edge for Linux.

Naked Security spotted the stable build first on the Yum repository. The first stable build of Edge for Linux has the file name microsoft-edge-stable-95.0.1020.38-1.x86_64.rpm, the second build, released a day after the first, has the file name microsoft-edge-stable-95.0.1020.40-1.x86_64.rpm. RPM files are Red Hat Package Manager files.

microsoft edge stable linux

Microsoft provides .rpm and .deb packages on its Microsoft Edge Insider website, and it is very likely that these formats will also be provided for the stable version, once Microsoft makes the official announcement and updates the stable Edge website.

You can check out the repository index for new releases at any time, or to download stable, beta and developer builds of Microsoft Edge for Linux.

Microsoft did not announce the official release of Edge for Linux yet on the Microsoft Edge website, or anywhere else to the best of my knowledge. Only the Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android versions are highlighted on the official website.

microsoft edge website

Microsoft Edge Stable is now available for all operating systems that Microsoft wants to support.

Now You: do you use Microsoft's browser?

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Microsoft Edge Stable released for Linux
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Microsoft Edge Stable released for Linux
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Microsoft has released the first stable version of the new Microsoft Edge web browser for Linux.
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Comments

  1. Guatavito said on November 7, 2021 at 12:29 am
    Reply

    Microsoft edge is based on chromium project. If edge is on enterprise version then do it. But if its on development channel avoid forever.

  2. ric said on November 3, 2021 at 6:26 pm
    Reply

    installed & removed ms-edge on linux.
    why? besides being proprietary is size (bloated code?).
    on my linux system:
    ms-edge = 370 Mb of disk space
    firefox-esr = 250 Mb
    brave = 92 Mb

  3. Hank Hill said on November 3, 2021 at 2:17 am
    Reply

    > True, but Edge is better than Chrome already, which many Linux users use

    Neither are a good fit for most Linux users who have a philosophy they believe in, often times mistaken for a religious zealot by people who don’t have any such philosophy to believe in.

    Both are proprietary leaving Chromium as the Free Open Source Software (FOSS) winner here.

    M$ has BILLIONS and could’ve made their own browser from the ground up, but they chose, IMO, the sneaky approach of using Google’s code to make Edge. This reminds me of the predatory insects who hatch in or on their prey and eventually consume them.

    > I give Microsoft credit for porting Edge to Linux even with such a small market share potential.

    IMO, Don’t underestimate M$’s plans here. Never underestimate M$. Look at what happened during the Novell and M$ “partership”, Novell is dead. Research the companies’ futures who have decided to partner up with them. It’s a One Microsoft Way world, remember this.

    IMO, If they truly loved open source, Edge wouldn’t be proprietary and sneaked into the Linux world. DirectX wouldn’t be proprietary and used to retain Linux gamers who keep a Windows machine around just for the purpose of gaming. I could go on about M$ proprietary apps and Linux but that’s another story.

    Don’t underestimate people being paid, mostly 3rd world, to blog/post glowing and fake reviews of a proprietary offering. You just don’t understand how powerful M$ is and what their end game is with Linux/open source.

  4. Alex said on November 1, 2021 at 12:06 pm
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    “invisible enemies” . Hahahhaa.
    I guess it’s true the frog doesn’t know when it’s being boiled to death.

  5. computer said no said on October 31, 2021 at 9:59 pm
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    I cannot really see the advantage of edge for linux users..other chromium browsers are available.

    Edge is what i would consider a browser of covenience for windows users and i feel microsoft are attempting to get into a sector they really do not belong.

    1. anona said on November 1, 2021 at 11:59 am
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      >I cannot really see the advantage of edge for linux users..other chromium browsers are available.

      True, but Edge is better than Chrome already, which many Linux users use

      1. Iron Heart said on November 2, 2021 at 6:52 pm
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        @anona

        Nah, Edge is equally bad (if not worse) than Chrome for user privacy:

        https://threatpost.com/microsoft-edge-privacy-busting-telemetry/153733/

  6. Michelangelo said on October 31, 2021 at 7:18 pm
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    @Dumbledalf You don’t need a Microsoft account, what are you even talking about…. it is just like with Chrome/Chromium where you don’t need a Google account to use it, or Vivaldi, or Opera…. or Firefox, do you have a problem with them wanting you to use an account to sync and do that kind of stuff?
    The only one that doesn’t require you an account is Brave, their method is different and privacy respecting sync feature because it can’t be linked to you and you don’t have to provide any information, but you are not only lying but also pretending like OTHER browsers are any different.

  7. Hot Male said on October 31, 2021 at 6:54 pm
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    I hope it comes with goodies like menu entries in the default text editor “Search with Bing” and that it also hijacks the default search method on any given system so we can all search for restaurants and cardealers with Bing, right there built-in in our application launchers! Hopefully they could also implement somehow that when you start your linux computer a microsoft account is required! Glorious times!

  8. Anonymous said on October 31, 2021 at 6:26 pm
    Reply

    Edge has pretty good parental controls through MS Family and a nice “kids mode” that Firefox and Chrome lack. I wonder if those features are present on Linux.

    1. Anonymous said on November 1, 2021 at 4:03 pm
      Reply

      Yes the kids mode and parental controls are also there in the Linux version.

  9. Dave said on October 31, 2021 at 4:22 pm
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    Let me know when it’s released for Pi OS.

  10. microfix said on October 31, 2021 at 3:16 pm
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    It all comes down to preference using any ‘blink’ rendering browser.
    Although polluting any linux distro with a ‘target vector’ is not my idea of security.
    Consider Brave if one prefers privacy and security in Windows or Linux, the browser update cadence is similar to Edge timewise..

  11. Paul(us) said on October 31, 2021 at 2:59 pm
    Reply

    I am quit pleased to see that Microsoft Edge stable for Linux is available because its a good thing for Linux. This is good thing for the further development/possibility’s from the o.s. Linux.

    Its good to have a least two distinct browsers on any operating system platform.
    But on my personal system’s that will be not Microsoft Edge.

    By the way on Linux (Raspberry & Windows also) Mozilla Firefox is the absolute number one for me. I dabble with the number two browser between Pale moon and Vivaldi

  12. ULBoom said on October 31, 2021 at 2:40 pm
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    The four people who will use this should be ecstatic. Browsers are the primary privacy compromiser in Linux, Chredge may be the most astute at data collection.

    MS’s putzing with Linux waxes and wanes, we’ll see MS selling Linux computers again at some point.

  13. Anonymous said on October 31, 2021 at 2:19 pm
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    I’m not quite ready to transition to Linux. Waiting for Google, Youtube and a few others to craft their goodies for Linux… :-)

  14. JohnIL said on October 31, 2021 at 1:32 pm
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    I give Microsoft credit for porting Edge to Linux even with such a small market share potential. I used it for a short time in Ubuntu while doing some testing. Works way better then Firefox that’s for sure.

    1. Mikhoul said on October 31, 2021 at 6:44 pm
      Reply

      You could use Brave (Linux version) and have the same speed..

  15. Morzum said on October 31, 2021 at 11:28 am
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    Or in other words: Wolf in sheeps clothing now available for your freedom and privacy respecting sheepfarm. There is absolutely zero use for, or reason to, EVER EVER EVEEEEEEEEEEER install Edge on linux. Avoid this at any cost. IF you were drunk as s**t and installed it just for a laugh: After you sobered up, make some coffee and completely wipe your drive and reinstall your system. Seriously.

    1. ddk said on October 31, 2021 at 7:47 pm
      Reply

      Oh Oh. I installed Edge on Linux Mint just to try it out and actually it’s pretty decent. Browsing speed is great. however that new tab page had to go, just gossipy news and info there. Replaced it with Tabby Cat extension for cute little virtual kitty cats as landlord here doesn’t allow pets.

      I try to “privatize” it as much as possible. Using strict blocking helps a lot.
      Regarding Linux and MS partnerships, was wondering on the kernel aspect if maybe an alternative kernel like Liquorix might be better for privacy/security.

  16. Anonymous said on October 31, 2021 at 10:31 am
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    Is the linux population that rotten yet that it’s going to want to use a Microsoft browser ? Possible.

  17. Trey said on October 31, 2021 at 10:24 am
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    No kidding. What are they smoking.

  18. ilev said on October 31, 2021 at 9:47 am
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    Who in his right mind will let anything Microsoft into his Linux machine, let alone a browser ?

    1. Marl Karx said on October 31, 2021 at 7:38 pm
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      @ilev And do you have a problem with Chrome which is not fully open source either or Vivaldi which is not fully open source either or Opera which is not open source either? I mean, they are also available for Linux, do you also complain about them being on Linux and people choosing to use them everytime you see them mentioned?
      And if you want to complain just about Chromium, well, Firefox supports censorship and deplaforming so they are not any better for the web, but they love Google’s money so I am sure they are okay about their fanbase shrinking as long as they get the easy money.

      I mean, you sound like those ones that pretend that using Linux is somehow more private and safer and better than a Windows machine, while probably using facebook or twitter and having your google account opened with a gmail all the time, prove me wrong, once you connect to the internet you are not any different than a normal user using a browser on Windows.
      The worst part is you get less applications so sometimes people are forced to choose between Apple or Microsoft, and they choose Microsoft because at least they can build their own machine and don’t pay premium prices for cheap crap components and a crappy processor like M1, I mean, usually Designing apps and photography apps = Windows or MacOS, but anyway that’s not the point.

      Besides browsers mentioned, all you get are small forks, forks that have no real users numbers and just exist while saying “we are more private that the the guy above us” but they don’t do anything, they don’t release new features, they don’t have R&D or anything, the only one that is open source and does R&D and tries to do more than just removing code in their forks or pre-adding other people’s work like uBlock or something and then when those extensions get abandoned, sold or manifestv3 type behavior appears, then byebye because it is not something they were prepared to deal with.

      So your comment is really ignorant because you make it sound like only Microsoft is the evil one and Linux is the holy land of privacy and liberty and never malicious actors get involved and try to bring their agendas and BS on top of the Linux FOSS fanboy type crap.
      Just look at the ‘Linux Foundation” and tell me how is that even a good thing.

      This is the reason people barely can stand Linux users, it is exactly what Blender fanboys do, apparently they only look at the price but they can’t even see how terrible the experience is compared to other commercial close source 3D application like Houdini or Zbrush. And then they ignore all the people putting money in Blender Foundation to bring their agendas and do the same because money is the only one that matters in the end and those developers get sold easily for it.

      But if people want to use Office, Edge, Visual Code (which is really popular among platforms if you didn’t know that, and the userbase is increasing regardless of platform because it is good and free unlike Sublime and offers more than Notepad++ etc), and Outlook, and Windows in a second partition and Xbox console… it is their problem, not yours, so what do you even care about if people want to use Edge? Just don’t be ignorant and don’t pretend Edge is the worst because it belongs to Microsoft and it is not open source, when others even Vivaldi is like Microsoft in that regard, and the most used browser is Chrome which is made by Google.

      1. Fireview said on November 1, 2021 at 9:13 am
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        The world runs on Linux.
        Windows is for office workers and videogaming kids, and righties like Marl complaining about invisible enemies.
        Enjoy your ransomware and pirated software or whatever Windows users deal with these days. You’re the product.
        Nothing wrong with Apple M1 chip either.

      2. Tim said on October 31, 2021 at 10:10 pm
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        @Marl Karx mic drop, good sir.

    2. Dumbledalf said on October 31, 2021 at 1:58 pm
      Reply

      There are some Linux users that are excited about it, it’s fast and whatever, but I personally don’t use it, because it requires a Microsoft account, I don’t have one and don’t intend to have one.

    3. WorknMan said on October 31, 2021 at 1:56 pm
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      Yeah, I don’t even use their browser on Windows. Karma’s a bitch, and there are some sins that can never be forgiven. #ie6 #neverforget

    4. Ron said on October 31, 2021 at 1:53 pm
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      If you use Linux, you do.

      “Microsoft is a member of not only the Linux Foundation but also the Linux kernel security mailing list (a rather more select community). Microsoft is submitting patches to the Linux kernel “to create a complete virtualisation stack with Linux and Microsoft hypervisor”. ”

      Quotes from https://www.techrepublic.com/article/what-is-microsoft-doing-with-linux-everything-you-need-to-know-about-its-plans-for-open-source/

    5. Anonymous said on October 31, 2021 at 11:29 am
      Reply

      That’s what I was thinking,you are using Linux to move on from Microsoft.

    6. Gerard said on October 31, 2021 at 10:23 am
      Reply

      ilev, my thoughts exactly.

      1. edwaine said on November 2, 2021 at 4:58 am
        Reply

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