Microsoft has opened submissions from extension developers for its new Chromium-based Edge browser.
Redmond made the decision earlier this year to end the development of Microsoft's own browser engine and use Google's Chromium instead.
The decision was met with a mixed reaction. Some welcomed Microsoft adding its expertise to Chromium's development, while others – especially Mozilla – expressed concern about the loss of another alternative to Google's dominance.
"Microsoft’s decision gives Google more ability to single-handedly decide what possibilities are available to each one of us," Mozilla CEO Chris Beard said at the time.
Most browsers are based on Chromium with the only major alternative being Firefox (except for Apple devices). The advantage for developers is that it means fewer engines to test for compatibility issues.
In response to Mozilla's stance, Kenneth Auchenberg, Microsoft's program manager at the time, tweeted:
"It's time for Mozilla to get down from their philosophical ivory tower. The web is dominated by Chromium, if they really 'cared' about the web, they would be contributing instead of building a parallel universe that's used by less than five percent."
The new Chromium-based Edge has been available in preview for some time and is nearing its public release on January 15th. As such, Microsoft wants help in ensuring that extensions for the browser are ready.
Users can technically install any extension built for Chrome in Edge by going to Settings > Extensions, and then enabling the Allow extensions from other stores option.
However, that's not a step your average user is going to take. The average consumer expects to find the extension they want in the Edge store and that's what Microsoft wants help filling.
According to Microsoft, extensions built for Chromium ”will work without any modifications in the new Microsoft Edge,” so it should be a fairly trivial process.
You can find out how to submit your extensions here.
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