It doesn’t matter how fast, feature-packed, or smooth Microsoft Edge is, without support for extensions, people are pretty much guaranteed to replace it with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on their Windows 10 machines. One of Microsoft’s biggest selling points for the web browser was that it would have extensions similar to those used in Chrome, rather than the crap that Internet Explorer uses. Those extensions weren’t present at launch, but Microsoft promised that they’d be added to Edge by the end of the year, but now the company is delaying that update until next year.
Support for extensions – or the lack thereof – is one of the biggest weaknesses of Microsoft Edge when compared with other browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Along with stability issues, this has been one of the biggest complaints among users and inevitably, a deterrent against user adoption. Microsoft had previously suggested that the missing feature would make its way to the browser by the end of the year, but with Threshold 2 fast approaching and not a sight of extension support in existing builds, a report now claims that Microsoft has pushed back the release of the feature until next year, coinciding with the release of the first Redstone update for Windows 10 When they do become available, extensions in Microsoft Edge are supposed to be very similar to those currently found on Google’s Chrome. This will make it much easier for developers to port their work across the two browsers. With Mozilla also adopting a Chrome-esque model for extensions, interoperability across all the major browsers may soon be a dream come true. While Microsoft has been making huge efforts to keep users on its newfangled browser, the lack of major features, and the lengthy delays in addressing the problems, are sure to keep users away for some time to come.