Chrome or Edge?

If you ask people what application they use the most, you will probably get a variety of answers: WhatsAp, TikTok, Telegram, Snapchat, etc. The most-used app is usually none of those, but the one you use to get to them. People tend to forget that their internet browser is an app. No matter where you go or what device you use, you need a browser to get to these apps.

Apps go in and out of favor - what’s hot today may not be all but gone tomorrow, especially with browser versions. It was only a few years ago that Internet Explorer (IE) ruled as the world’s most-used browser, but while it was filtering out, Google Chrome picked up steam and took the top spot and has held it for several years now.

As IE’s replacement, Microsoft’s Edge, released in 2015, failed to take the Explorer crown because it just wasn’t as impressive and easy to use as Chrome OR Internet Explorer. Now, after eight more years and constant tinkering and updates, Edge is beginning to look like a worthy opponent.

As of June 2023, Edge occupies #3 spot in worldwide market share standings among browsers (5.18%) – well behind Safari (25.89%), which still has less than half of Chrome’s market share (61.05%). The prediction a year ago was that Edge would soon take the #2 spot, but at a fifth of Safari’s market share, it’s obvious that still has not happened

As it stood from June 2021 to June 2022, the following were the market share standings:

• Chrome 64.8%
• Safari 9.77%
• Edge 9.6%
• Firefox 9.46%
• Opera 2.88%
• Internet Explorer 1.14%

It’s apparent that Safari has pulled away from Edge, which fell by about 4 percentage points, and even though Chrome lost a few points, it is still the undisputed leader.

One reason why Edge had increased its market share after an embarrassing debut was that it adopted the Chromium framework in 2020 – which Chrome uses. Unfortunately, last year’s gains have evaporated.

However, the move to Chromium gave Edge much greater speed and made a quantum leap in how many extensions and add-ons could be used with it.

Is the most popular browser necessarily the best? Should you seriously consider switching to Edge? It doesn’t seem to be all the way there yet, but since it comes as part of windows - the world’s most popular Operating System (OS), you probably already have it. In business, it’s always a good idea to have two browsers at your disposal. You may want to check out these features:

Collections for storing sets of pages
Coupons
Price comparison
Cybersecurity features
Web capture for screenshots

Collections for Storing Sets of Pages

Nobody likes searching through a long list of Favorites or Bookmarks for a website link they had saved. These lists quickly become an unwieldy mess. You can mitigate the clutter in various ways, such as creating folders or groups for links you commonly use together, but this too is tedious.

It might be good to look over the ‘Collections’ feature on Edge. You can create a sidebar where you can store groups based on different criteria. Looking for a new automobile or appliance? Save the sites with noteworthy deals.

You can easily delete collections once you’ve finished with them, so you won’t end up with endless webpage links, as tends to happen with bookmarks.

Coupons

If you like and use site coupons, you don’t need an extra app for them - Edge will automatically take care of it.

It will also alert you if there are available coupons on a shopping site you’re visiting. A popup will appear, and you can check whatever site coupons are available.

This is not only a time-saver, but it helps prevent you from forgetting to check for coupons if you’re in a hurry.

Price Comparison

Once you view a product on a retail site, Edge will alert you if better pricing exists on other sites. Depending on how much you shop around, this will save a lot of time searching other sites, finding the product and checking the price yourself.

It will also offer a pricing history so you can see if the product is going up or down in price on various sites.

This is very helpful for getting ‘the most bang for your buck’ and ensuring you’re not missing out on savings by ordering the same item from a different retailer.

Cybersecurity Features

Edge has Cybersecurity features that will alert you if a site you visit is compromised and show you if any third-party advertising trackers are present. Additionally, it will let you know if any passwords you have stored for the site have been breached.

Microsoft has always been tops in Cybersecurity, and its Defender SmartScreen will steer you away from sites that have been used for phishing or contain malware.

The privacy issue is extremely important. Google is notorious for gathering and selling customer info, including which sites you have visited. Have you ever wondered why, when you’re looking for a certain product or service, you suddenly start getting advertising geared towards exactly what you’re looking for? That’s not luck or providence. That represents a major revenue stream for Google – it’s all in the ad clicks.

Using one of three tracking prevention settings, Edge lets you limit the amount of your information that advertisers can capture to prevent as much of your personal information from being gleaned by advertisers as possible.

Web Capture for Quick Screenshots

It’s a snap to capture screenshots with Edge’s Web Capture feature, which is found in the browser menu. You can not only capture a screenshot easily, but you can mark it up as well. You can save the entire screen or just drag a rectangle to a specific section you want to capture. If you’d like to make remarks on the capture, you simply bring it into a window for adding notes.

In summation

So should you change or not? It depends on what you use it for and how you use it. Neither creates more IT support issues than the other, so while your Managed IT Services provider may offer an opinion, be aware whether they are a Microsoft or Google Partner. People have a tendency to suggest what they have on their shelves – especially in IT Services. ITfirm.com can offer both, Each individual employee here has both Chrome and Edge, but just about all of us – from the techs to admin – use chrome.