[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 releasing Windows anniversary updates alongside Edge 14, and Edge's standards compliance has improved dramatically. Microsoft did a great job catching up.

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). This put it on par with Firefox—a huge leap from Internet Explorer 11's dismal showing.

Why This Mattered

Microsoft spent the Internet Explorer era actively hostile to web standards. Developers wrote browser-specific hacks and maintained separate codebases. Edge was Microsoft's commitment to change that.

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 Firefox meant developers could finally consider dropping many IE-specific hacks.

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 tracking

Fetch API: Modern replacement for XMLHttpRequest

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

These weren't just checkboxes on the HTML5 Test. Developers wanted to use these features but couldn't because of IE's dominance in enterprise.

The Enterprise Problem

While Edge improved rapidly, most enterprises stayed locked into IE11 due to internal tooling dependencies. Microsoft's modernization of Edge didn't solve the real problem: backwards compatibility commitments meant IE11 would persist for years.

Edge's improvement didn't move the needle on real-world compatibility because enterprises weren't switching.

Looking Back from 2025

Edge's EdgeHTML era was short-lived. In 2019, Microsoft abandoned EdgeHTML for Chromium. This validated what many suspected: maintaining an independent browser engine requires resources even Microsoft struggled to sustain.

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 excellent, but it signals surrender rather than competition. The web would be healthier with more browser engine diversity. Edge 14's brief period of competitiveness was not sustainable.

Browser engines need either massive ongoing investment (Apple with Safari) or community-driven development (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.