Users trying to access Google Docs via the latest Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser are unable to open any document and are receiving an “unsupported browser” notification, according to Ghacks. This latest Edge browser and Google Chrome share the same Chromium engine. While Google Chrome users can access Google Docs, Chromium-based Edge users are unable to do so. This phenomenon appears to be a rather deliberate course of action followed by Google to maintain its monopoly in the realm of web browsers.
Microsoft has been working on a new edge browser that is built upon the Chromium engine and comes with almost all the features of Google Chrome. As of now, this browser is only available as a development preview. Users who have attempted to use Google docs using this new Chromium-based Edge browser were notified saying, “The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser.”
Upon clicking the supported browser link in the notification, one can come across a list of browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. The current stable version of Microsoft Edge is supported. However, the new browser based on the Chromium engine isn’t under the list of supported browsers.
A couple of days ago, users experienced a similar issue while using Google Meet when it suddenly stopped working for Microsoft Edge users. After these events, Google released a statement saying that the Chromium-based Edge browser had a new user-agent string which isn’t on the whitelist of Google Docs or Google Meet. Google said that it would add this new user-agent string to the whitelist of these services to make them available for Edge users.
Events like these don’t seem to be a mere technical error such as missing user-agent error. There have been many such incidents where Google hasn’t provided support for users of browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Safari. Time and again, Mozilla had to keep battling Google to receive browser support for many applications.
Upon observing such frequent patterns of delay, not providing browser support and so on, it is evident that Google is trying to outfox its competitors by withdrawing browser support for its applications. Perhaps Chrome dominates the browser segment and it does not have to take such steps to keep its market share. But we have to note the fact that this new Microsoft Edge browser based on Chromium engine might outdo Google Chrome in a few aspects.
image source: Ghacks.net
