A Linux version of Microsoft"s Chromium-based Edge browser has long been in the works, with the Redmond company first teasing it at Build 2019 and officially announcing it later that year. However, it wasn"t until October of last year that the Dev channel of the Edge Insider program debuted on Linux. Over six months later, it"s now time for the Beta channel to make its way to Linux users, Microsoft announced today.
Since its Linux debut back in October, Edge has gained some new capabilities, including the ability to sign in with a Microsoft account and enable syncing across devices. The availability of Edge Beta for Linux lines up with last week"s release of Edge 91 in the Beta channel, and it includes those improvements we"ve seen over the past few months.
It"s been a long journey for Linux users so far, and given how long it"s taken for the Beta channel to become available, there"s no telling when a stable release will happen. Microsoft also doesn"t offer the Canary channel of Edge - which gets updated on a daily basis at the expense of stability - for Linux. Either way, a Beta release should offer more stability than what we"ve had so far.
Edge Beta for Linux is available as both a Debian/Ubuntu package and as an .rpm file for Fedora or openSUSE users. If you use the Windows Subsystem for Linux and you"re a Windows Insider in the Dev channel, you can also try the Edge browser there, since Microsoft recently added support for Linux GUI apps in Windows 10.