edge-versus-chrome-feature-image

Google Adds New Warning For Edge Users

*Applies to new Chromium Edge only

microsoft-edge-versus-google-chrome

As you may be aware, the new Edge is very similar to Google’s Chrome browser in that both are built on the Chromium platform with Blink as the default rendering engine. This change has improved Edge no end and added a number of benefits, not the least of which is compatibility with extensions developed for Chrome and available via the Chrome web store.

It seems Google has now surreptitiously implemented user-agent sniffing on Chrome web store to identify the Chromium-based Edge and issue the following warning to Edge users only:

chrome-store-warning-message-in-edge

Google’s message does not contain any specific claims or accusations but it certainly implies a warning regarding extension security that many Edge users might be alarmed by… which is surely Google’s aim. I can assure you, there are zero security issues when utilizing Chrome extensions in Edge. If they work fine and are secure in Chrome, there is no reason why the same would not apply for Edge. It is also worth noting that Google is not displaying this warning message in any other Chromium-based browsers, only in Edge.

What Is The User-Agent

The user-agent is part of the developer tools available in most browsers and is used by developers to emulate different browsers and platforms to check/test compatibility. As part of its integral functionality, the user-agent specifies whatever browser is being used and some companies, including Google, abuse this component by implementing user-agent sniffing to identify and block access for a particular browser or, as in this case, issue a message for a specific browser.

google-fighting-microsoft

This is a fairly vindictive act by Google and obviously the Google hierarchy is not happy with Microsoft’s decision to change Edge over to the Chromium platform. The user-agent can be changed via the developer tools menu but I would not suggest doing this as a work-around. My advice would be to simply ignore the message and carry on as normal.

3 thoughts on “Google Adds New Warning For Edge Users”

    1. LOL. Hey Jon, my wife has been extremely ill, going through treatment and in hospital for a little over 12 months. I’m happy to say she has now recovered and is fit and well again, Still have to go into hospital here and in Brisbane occasionally but the worst of it is over, thank goodness.

      Good to hear from you mate.

  1. Thanks Jim,
    Quite a few years since Marco and BB.
    Very pleasing to hear all is good with your wife, and hoping you
    didn’t need a ‘lifeboat’ during the last wet, wet, wet weeks.
    All is good here on the Gold Coast, except for the would-be F1 drivers on the M1.

    Take care,
    😉

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