During the recent Insider update to Windows 10 for PC, Microsoft opened gateways to one of the most anticipated feature–Extensions–with three extensions for consumers to try. That’s good enough to start with, but consumers will always need more, and instead of letting the developers again start developing for Edge, Microsoft is working on a Chrome Extension Importer tool which will let developers change few lines in their code, and make it work on Edge. Sounds like a plan!!
Well this is not a huge surprise on other hand. It is well known that Microsoft has done it in a way that Chrome extensions can work very easily with Edge Browser. So its only matter of time to find out if Microsoft is going to get this tool inbuilt into the Edge browser or will release this as a third-party tool for developers. Either way all everybody wants that it should work flawlessly, and not end up as another Astoria Project.
Jacob Rossi, an engineer on Microsoft Edge came shared that they are yet to finish, and not all APIs supported. Also Extn’s in Store will at first be a carefully selected set covering top scenarios and API coverage, opening up to more in future.
Lots of questions on this: yes we're working on a porting tool to run Chrome extensions in Edge. Not yet finished and not all APIs supported
— Jacob Rossi (@jacobrossi) March 18, 2016
One thing that is confirmed that Microsoft will allow side-loading Chrome extension after launch, but will need dev mode toggle & will have appropriate warnings in UI. This is a great news for anybody who love to live on bleeding edge, and would want to send out some feedback to the developer team.
Microsoft is also planning to distribute extension through the store. I am excited to see which extensions make their way first, and will our extension will be on the list. Lets stay positive!!
