Microsoft's adoption of the Blink rendering engine forked from WebKit, used by Google Chrome and also Opera browser, is perhaps the company's biggest move to improve Edge's market share and position it to deliver better performance.
While the new Edge browser has same Chromium base as Chrome and Opera, it offers access to Microsoft account and features like Bing search engine by default; also supporting browser add-on and extensions, which developers are expected to submit to the Microsoft Edge (Chromium) Addons Store.
The company for the first time made a strong case why enterprise users should switch to the new browser, by outlining what is to be implemented as group policies for Windows device and a doc describing the policies for both Windows and Mac computers; with the group policies, even as incomplete as it's currently is, tailored to convince enterprises to switch to the new browser.
Release date & Update for Chromium Edge browser
Microsoft has announced a January 15, 2020 release date for Chromium Edge browser, and the stable version of the browser will come as part of Windows 10 update. And with Windows 10 updates as functionally mandatory, except of course, for those users in a managed enterprise network, all Windows PC will automatically download the update and perhaps start pestering you to complete the installation by restarting your PC.
The change won’t be a problem for most people, and if you never used the old Edge, and don’t want to use the new one, Microsoft will still respect your choice. But, Microsoft will still bundle the program onto your PC all the same, but it does offer a tool to help you stop Edge from installing on your computer with the next Windows 10 update.
Albeit, it requires a bit of leg works, though pretty straightforward; which allows you to choose when (or if) to install the new Edge browser.
How to Prevent Microsoft Edge from Automatic Installation on Your PC?
Microsoft has made available the Blocker Toolkit to help users to retain the original Edge browser (bundled with Windows 10 since its debut), at least for some time, but just like other such kits before it, it is very easily executable to run locally, also including a template that IT admins can use to block the original-Edge through the Group Policy settings.
If an organization's IT admin sets the Allow Microsoft Edge Side-by-Side browser experience policy to "Enabled" both Edge browser versions (new and old) can run simultaneously, while alternating, and users can create dual-browser setup by running the Blocker Toolkit's executable (which retains the Original-Edge) and allows the download and installation of the Chromium Edge.
Although, there are several caveats about the Blocker Toolkit, including that it prevents PCs running Windows 10 1803 or later from pulling in Chromium-Edge via Automatic Updates.
Additionally, users can manually download and install Chromium Edge after the Blocker Toolkit has been deployed, while organizations with machines running an update/patch manager, including WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) and SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) won't be needing the Blocker Toolkit, as IT admins can use these tools to deploy or bar Chromium-Edge as well.
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