[German]The daily Edge update give us today. Yesterday I had published the blog post Edge: 111.0.1661.51; 110.0.1587.78; and 109.0.1518.95 (for Server 2012 R2); disable Bing button and PDF test. A couple of howrs later, Microsoft is pushing the update to version 111.0.1661.54 for the browser on March 24, 2023. Now the sidebar of the discover button (Bing button) can be disabled.
Advertising
Edge 111.0.1661.54 (Stable Channel)
Microsoft had already updated the Edge browser to version 111.0.1661.51 on March 21, 2023. The vulnerabilities closed by Google in the Chromium project as of March 21, 2023 (see Google Chrome 111.0.5563.110/.111 (Desktop) – and for Android/iOS) had not yet been fixed. In the meantime I came across the hint at neowin.net that there is already version 111.0.1661.55 (thanks to the user who also pointed out the update in a comment.
Vulnerabilities fixed
According to the security release notes, version 111.0.1661.54 includes all the latest security updates from the Chromium project are integrated (see Google Chrome 111.0.5563.110/.111 (Desktop) – and for Android/iOS). The update also includes the following Microsoft Edge-specific updates:
New features in 111.0.1661.54
According to the release notes, this update includes another "feature update" that brings the following improvements to the user community. Microsoft says:
Microsoft Edge Sidebar Improvements. The Microsoft Edge sidebar lets users access productivity tools side-by-side with their browsing window. In this release, the sidebar has been enhanced to increase productivity and improve user experience.
As communicated in our last release (Microsoft Edge release notes for Stable Channel), the sidebar now includes a toolbar button by default to access the experience. If admins enable the Discover app, hovering and clicking the toolbar button will invoke both the sidebar tower, and the new discover experience.
With this release, admins now have the ability to disable the Discover app and still keep the Sidebar. In this situation, the Sidebar tower will always be shown. If a user would like to hide their sidebar from always showing, they can do this in their Sidebar settings (edge://settings/sidebar).
Additionally, Enterprise users can choose to 'always show' or 'auto hide', when an admin 'enables' the Sidebar.
More customization options for the sidebar toolbar button are planned in future versions of Microsoft Edge. For more information, see Manage the sidebar in Microsoft Edge.
Personally, I would understand a security update – but the Microsoft developers need a few days to catch up with Chrome. However, the fact that a feature with the Bing button and the Discover bar, which is hated by many users and criticized by insiders months ago, is added to the browser and then finally disabled after about 14 days, shows that the developers have simply lost the scaling, which is important for the users.
Question for the readers: Do you still use Edge, or have you long since deactivated the stuff and rely on Google Chrome (e.g. via Ungoogled Chromium) or Firefox?
Advertising
Advertising
