Google Wants Microsoft Edge Users to use chrome

Microsoft’s most notable contribution to the browser market, until now, had been the meme-able legacy of the Internet Explorer. But Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge browser strives to be lighter, faster and more efficient than its EdgeHTML engine. But now, in a bid to undercut the new competitor, Google is warning users against installing Chrome extensions on the Edge browser.

A banner was spotted by Windows Latest, that pops up when a Microsoft Edge user tries to install extensions from the Google Chrome store. The extension warns users to make use of the Google Chrome browser to use extensions “securely”.

Although, there’s no know more tab to know why Google recommends doing so. Instead, the dialogue box only has a hyperlink that directs the user to download and install Google’s own browser. What’s more interesting is that this pop-up doesn’t appear while using other Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Kiwi, at least at the time of writing.

However, this warning doesn’t affect the ability to install extensions in Microsoft Edge. It’s simply a warning and that’s that. But this isn’t the first time Google has treated Edge differently. For instance, Google Stadia just doesn’t work on Microsoft Edge.

In this case, Google seems to make use of “user agent string” that identifies itself to websites including the browser version number you are using. While abusing user agents isn’t a good practice, Google and Microsoft have had a history of tiffs.

Microsoft, in the past, has warned Windows users against making use of Google Chrome. More than concerns regarding security or anything else, this was likely due to the fact that Microsoft’s Edge failed in invigorating user interest.

In fact, once, Microsoft even planned on forcing enterprise users to make use of the Bing search engine on Chrome. But the resultant uproar prevented Microsoft from implementing it.