Microsoft announced back in December of 2018 that it will build a Chromium-based Edge browser, which eventually became generally available in January 2020. One of the advantages of using Chromium is the ability to run Chrome extensions. However, if you are running the Chromium-based Edge browser and head to the Chrome Web Store, Google has a message for you that reads “Google recommends switching to Chrome to use extensions securely” (spotted by WindowsLatest).
While Chrome extensions work perfectly on Edge, the message might prove to be alarming for unsuspecting users. The two companies have always tried to one-up each other to get users to use their browser offerings. With the new Edge featuring the ability to run legacy Edge apps and Legacy IE apps, it proves to be more suited to enterprises. Users that are now switching to Edge from Chrome would want to install their extensions of choice and such a message might alarm users of the potential threats, though there are likely none.
Google identifies browser versions based on the User Agent string and can decide to warn users or outright block services if the User Agent string is not whitelisted. This is what broke Google Meet in the new Edge last year. The prompt in the Web Store can very well be eliminated by Google through the way of whitelisting Chromium Edge.
With the companies working together to contribute to Chromium and bring about features from each other’s offerings, it is odd to see Google take such steps to persuade users away from Edge.