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Comment by SamuelAdams | Hacker News Reader

Maybe Microsoft should address the reasons why people do not switch? Look, Edge is a fine browser - it's fast, stable, and easier (compared to IE) to build websites for.

But it's not cross platform. I use a Windows desktop, Debian laptop, and Apple phone. Edge is available on exactly one of those platforms, while Firefox and Chrome are available on all of them.

Until that is fixed I will not consider edge, despite how fast or "secure" it may be over the competition.

Edit: seems that Edge is available on the App Store[1], and Linux requires a Wine workaround. I prefer native support, without hacks or clunky install processes.

[1]https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-edge/id1288723196?...

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If I'm not mistaken safari is the only iOS browser, all other browsers are just a skin for it. So thanks to apple there is no cross-platform browser that works on all your devices.

Unless you count safari, if they still bother porting that outside iOS/OS X. In which case that wouldn't be preferable anyway.

There is nothing wrong with running different browsers on different operating systems.

Yeah, all the browsers on iOS are reskins of Safari but to an end user that's all that matters since those reskins can bring things like synced bookmarks and history.

Funny, all that matters to me is that I can use the browser without signing in.

Chrome on the other hand, I discovered just yesterday, refuse to export bookmarks from android unless you sync. Yet another reason not to use chrome I guess.

But not extensions.

It really doesn't matter if Firefox on iOS is just a skin around Safari if it integrates with the Firefox services and syncs bookmarks, history, etc. Right? Isn't that the value you're getting out of the mobile browser, not the rendering engine?

I still prefer being able to choose my rendering engine, which is a big part of why I use Android.

That's the ticket for me. I want a consistent experience. I want the same bookmarks, extensions, and history on all my devices, without worrying about it. And I also want great performance.

> Isn't that the value you're getting out of the mobile browser, not the rendering engine?

Cannot comment on iOS, but the main value of Firefox on Android (vs. the default Chrome) is that it runs extensions, particularly uBlock Origin.

Shared login data is probably the top one for me.

It's even worse. There's API for adblock apps and there are good apps, but it works only with Safari itself. Any other iOS browser doesn't support this API (I'm not 100% sure, but I think that it's Apple's restriction, not their choice), so if you want fast browsing experience with iOS, you must use Safari.

Apple know that MS could steal customers by making a browser that works better than Apple's. Perhaps a built in .doc viewer to get installs from Word users -- then MS have chance to ruin the prejudice that "it's only Apple can make software that looks good and works intuitively".

> Maybe Microsoft should address the reasons why people do not switch? Look, Edge is a fine browser - it's fast, stable, and easier (compared to IE) to build websites for.

> But it's not cross platform. I use a Windows desktop, Debian laptop, and Apple phone. Edge is available on exactly one of those platforms, while Firefox and Chrome are available on all of them.

It's actually available on less than one platform, since it only runs on Windows 10, and only on desktop editions (so not on thin client desktops, which use Server).

The whole point of Edge for me is Windows-tuned browser. The moment they make any attempt at cross-platform, I won't consider it at all. I value native software tightly integrated with system. They should use latest DirectX APIs, they should integrate with drivers, etc, providing fastest experience on Windows. That's why Safari is good, for example.

There is no way Edge could run in Wine on Linux.

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