Leaked: first look at Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

We have known for a little while that Microsoft is planning to release a Chromium-based version of its Edge browser, and a new leak gives us our first glimpse at it. With Chromium at its core, it is perhaps no surprise that this version of Edge bears more than a passing resemblance to Google Chrome.

The leak also confirms much of what we thought we already knew about the upcoming browser -- support for Chrome extensions, a dark mode, synchronization of favorites, and more

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• Sign up as an Microsoft Edge beta tester to try the new Chromium-based version of the browser first

The software leaked out over the weekend, and it is based on Chromium 75. The leak was first reported by the Verge, and if you want to grab a copy for yourself -- the usual warnings about unreleased software from unknown sources apply -- you'll find it available for download in the PC Beta forums. For the sake of safety, consider running it on a secondary system, in a virtual machine, or in a sandboxed environment.

Fire up Edge -- which has, as Bleeping Computer notes, an internal build number of 75.0.107.0 -- for the first time, and you'll be prompted to import data from your current browser. Once up and running, you'll notice that despite being Chromium-based, there is a distinct Microsoft look and feel to the software.

You can install browser extensions from either the Microsoft Extension store or the Chrome Web Store (although this needs to be enabled as an option first), meaning there will be an array of options for customization right from the start. As this is a Microsoft browser Microsoft's SmartScreen takes the place of Google Safe Browsing that would normally be found in Chrome. In keeping with Chrome, however, there are experimental settings, or flags, to tinker with at edge://flags.

Take the browser for a spin and see what you think. If you don’t fancy the idea of installing such early preview software, you can either hold out for the official public release, or sign up as a Windows Insider to get your hands on a build a little earlier.