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Microsoft have announced that they are about to test a new feature on Windows 10: Any link opened in the Windows Mail App will open in their customer browser, Microsoft Edge. This will be the case even if Microsoft Edge isn’t your default browser. Microsoft came to this decision on the basis that Edge is the best, most secure and consistent browser available for the operating system.
The new feature will override your default preference of browser, whatever it is, and get you to use Edge instead. It’s a move that some might describe as mischievous and an attempt to get people interested in its new browser, but it shouldn’t make to much of a difference to your experience as you could opt for another email system.
But is Edge all it’s cracked up to be? It’s actually not too bad. The Edge start page is a directory of useful cards and links, rather than a useless logo for the very system you’re using. The links are to your most frequently viewed sites, for ease of access.
It also has a “read aloud” feature that lets you listen to webpages. This is handy if you can’t see the screen, or are busying yourself with other things while browsing. It isn’t a distractingly monotonous robot voice either; you get a choice of human voices and can pause, reverse or fast forward through the paragraphs.
Another useful feature is ‘on-page answers’: you can highlight a piece of text and ask about an unfamiliar term, or for more information on a subject. Reader view is also handy for getting to the meat of a news or information site, dismissing the ads and images. It also has a nifty way of dealing with the problem of too many tabs. No matter how many tabs you put up you never lose the site icon, making them easier to recognise and there’s the option of a drop-down tab preview to scroll through to the one you want.
Will Microsoft Edge become Windows 10 users’ favourite browser? Only time will tell.
