Extensions For Edge Delayed Until 2016

Microsoft has stated that extensions for Edge will not arrive until 2016, the company had previously said they would arrive in late 2015 but that timeline has now slipped. For the many who are waiting for this feature, this will come as bad news.

Edge, which is a brand new browser for Windows 10, is Microsoft’s attempt at resetting the brand stigma that Internet Explorer carried with it. With a revamped Trident engine and new features like being able to draw on a webpage called WebNotes, the company was hoping to regain consumer confidence with Edge.

Microsoft issued the following statement today about the new timeline:

“We’re committed to providing customers with a personalized web experience, which is why bringing extensions to Microsoft Edge continues to be a high priority. We’re actively working to develop a secure extension model to make the safest and most reliable browser for our customers, and look forward to sharing more in a future Windows 10 update in 2016”

Not having a popular features like extensions does hurt Edge’s ability to compete with the likes of Chrome and Firefox and seeing as users are left waiting again for a feature that was promised but not delivered on time likely means that more users, who were holding out, will move to another browser. While the browser has improved, in terms of compatibility when browsing the web, simply being equal to you competitors is generally not a reason users will switch products.

For those of you who are participating in the Insider program, Microsoft did say that you will get to try out extensions before they are made available to the general public. But, the company is not giving any hints about when in 2016 the feature would arrive. Seeing as they were initially targeting a late 2015 release, it would not be too surprising to see the feature arrive sooner, rather than later, especially since the company says it is a high priority, but officially, no guidance was given.