[2025 Update: Edge switched to Chromium in 2019, abandoning the EdgeHTML engine discussed here. This post captures a brief moment when Microsoft was genuinely competing with its own browser engine. The EdgeHTML era (2015-2019) proved Microsoft could build a modern standards-compliant browser—they just couldn't maintain the pace of development Chrome required.]

Microsoft is preparing to release Windows anniversary updates alongside Edge 14. What's great is how much more compliant Edge is. Microsoft did a great job catching up in recent years.

The HTML5 Test Results

Edge14 (released tomorrow) is now right up there with Firefox on @html5test. 460 points. (473 with flags)

-- David Storey

Edge 14 scored 460 points on the HTML5 Test (473 with experimental flags enabled). This put it roughly on par with Firefox and represented a huge leap from Internet Explorer 11's dismal showing.

Why This Mattered

For web developers in 2016, this was genuinely significant news. Microsoft had spent the Internet Explorer era actively hostile to web standards, forcing developers to write browser-specific hacks and maintain separate codebases. Edge represented Microsoft's commitment to change that reputation.

The competitive landscape in August 2016:

• Chrome: ~520 points (clear leader)
• Opera: ~515 points (Chromium-based)
• Firefox: ~460 points (independent engine)
• Edge 14: ~460 points (Microsoft's new engine)
• Safari: ~370 points (Apple's usual slow pace)
• IE11: ~312 points (the legacy we were escaping)

Edge catching up to Firefox meant developers could finally consider dropping many IE-specific hacks. The gap between "good modern browsers" and "IE11" was becoming clear.

What Changed with Edge 14

Microsoft's anniversary update brought real web development improvements:

CSS Grid Layout: Early implementation of the then-new grid standard

Web Notifications API: Desktop notifications from web apps

Beacon API: Better analytics and tracking capabilities

Fetch API: Modern replacement for XMLHttpRequest

CSS Custom Properties: Variables in CSS (though limited support)

These weren't just checkboxes on the HTML5 Test. They were features developers actually wanted to use but couldn't because of IE's dominance in enterprise environments.

The Enterprise Problem

The irony was that while Edge was improving rapidly, most enterprises were still locked into IE11 due to internal tooling dependencies. Microsoft's modernization of Edge didn't solve the fundamental problem: backwards compatibility commitments meant IE11 would stick around for years.

Edge's improvement was impressive, but it didn't move the needle on real-world compatibility concerns because enterprises weren't switching.

Looking Back from 2025

Edge's EdgeHTML era was short-lived. In 2019, Microsoft abandoned EdgeHTML and switched Edge to Chromium (the same engine as Chrome). This decision validated what many suspected: maintaining an independent browser engine requires resources and momentum that even Microsoft struggled to sustain.

The EdgeHTML experiment proved Microsoft could build standards-compliant browsers. Edge 14's competitive HTML5 Test scores weren't fake—Microsoft's engineers genuinely caught up. But catching up once isn't enough. Chrome releases major updates every 6-8 weeks. Keeping pace with that velocity while maintaining an independent engine proved impossible.

Today's Chromium-based Edge is actually excellent, but it represents surrender rather than competition. The web would be healthier with more browser engine diversity, but Edge 14's brief moment of competitiveness wasn't sustainable.

The real lesson: browser engines need either massive ongoing investment (like Apple with Safari) or community-driven development (like Firefox). Microsoft's corporate software engineering approach couldn't match Chrome's velocity, so they joined rather than competed.

Microsoft's 2016 developer outreach extended beyond Edge. They also released Bash on Ubuntu on Windows that year, showing they understood they needed to meet developers where they were rather than forcing them into Windows-only tools.