Just a few days ago, Microsoft presented its integration of Copilot with Windows, organically, within the operating system, as it had done with Cortana in its time. Meanwhile, Photoshop showcased its generative AI capable of doing crazy things. Tools designed to streamline, simplify, optimize. And that’s what those of us who work with computers seek: to do more with less. Skepticism is of no use to us if we can’t accept the obvious: when it comes to possibilities, Edge eats Safari. And not just to use ChatGPT.
I’ve been a Safari user through most of its eras, the rough years and the indefensible years, the seasons of bugs and latency and those where there was no faster, cleaner browser to use on Mac. Beyond Chrome and small seasons with Firefox, I’ve also used Brave and Opera GX, the former for its security and the latter for its crazy integrations. But nothing to do with Internet Explorer. That’s why I find it so unusual that to this day his parents have shaped the browser that is already installed by default on my two Macs: Edge is almost perfect.
Today, Edge is better than Safari in many ways
We already talked about this a few months ago: I switched from Chrome to Edge on a 2017 Retina iMac for performance reasons. The improvements were immediate, thanks to a ‘efficiency mode‘ which saved about 80% of the energy expenditure of some tabs. In this article, we have taken a tour of the key features, the highlights of this Chromium-based browser. Now, after several “I don’t know if I should”, I’ve taken that leap to my Macbook M2 as well. And I’m pretty sure I won’t be near Safari for long. At least, until they give a change of course commensurate with the circumstances.
My daily life with Edge is no longer based on searching for information in the browser, but on asking the Bing chatbot, based on ChatGPT and certain Copilot tools, to help me remove certain doubts, to give me the answer to more abstract questions. Because information, after all, abounds and the virtue lies in how to filter and select. In this, this new ship on which Bard also sails, is incomparable with what we had until now. It’s funny, who would have thought that 2023 would be the year of chatbots?
Edge was able to easily integrate chat and document writing functions without interfering with what it was already doing well: group tabs into colorful subfolders, write integrations or more “professional” functionality, with insights on the page and a ubiquitous rating system to feel that we are helping to improve it day after day. Of plugins and extensions are also served, so it is very easy to transfer a particularity inherited from another browser. It’s hard for me to admit it, but it’s the reality right now. Now I just need a good iPhone widget and I will finish integrating it on my home screen.
Edge may not suit everyone’s tastes and needs. After all, anyone looking for simplicity can find cleaner alternatives. There are very minimalist options like UR Browser, also based on Chrome but from a very simplified point of view, with a download accelerator and its own VPN. Others, like Falconprides itself on being one of the lightest, using the QtWebEngine engine -based on Chromium-.
What has become clear to me after these months of use is that Microsoft has put in the batteries and is starting to gain followers where you would least expect them, in the rival stronghold. And everything seems to indicate that Apple is not targeting this market: WWDC 2023 it’s too close and right now there are other aspects at play.
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