Managing Edge

• A new Chromium-based Edge browser became generally available in Jan. 2020 for Windows and macOS.
• The new Edge could enable some organizations to consolidate on a single browser for most sites and use Internet Explorer mode for legacy sites.
• Organizations can use a variety of tools to centrally manage deployment, updates, IE mode, and other settings.

A new Edge browser (version 79) that uses components from Chromium and other open source projects became generally available in Jan. 2020. Organizations may want to consider standardizing on Edge to take advantage of improved performance, reliability, and compatibility. Like the old Edge, the new Edge offers safer browsing using the integrated Windows 10 Defender SmartScreen and Application Guard features. Organizations can centrally manage Edge settings; for example, they can direct Edge to use Internet Explorer (IE) mode for compatibility with their intranet sites and forms.

Managing Deployment

According to Microsoft’s Windows as a Service policy, any new Windows 10 feature should be made generally available as part of a scheduled Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) feature update or version. However, Edge is generally available separately from the Windows 10 SAC, in part because it is available for other OSs such as macOS. Therefore, organizations wanting to deploy Edge will have to manage the deployment of the browser separately, in addition to managing configuration and future update settings. Edge may be part of future Windows 10 versions released through the SAC, removing the need to deploy Edge separately from the OS, but no such plans have been announced.