Microsoft Edge Updates to Include Control over Flash Content

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s new player on the browser market, Edge, is about to get some more updates with the upcoming Windows 10 anniversary update.

The update is light on the overall part of the update, but the updates are also significant thus the importance of the upgrade. Microsoft has added some new handy features to the Edge browser.

One of the new updates includes the ability to handle flash content much more smartly by the browser. Flash refers to the content that plays automatically sometimes without us knowing whenever we open a web page. Flash is seen as something that is going to be dead soon hence the new update to the Edge browser.

The new update allows users of the Edge browser to control what they want and don’t want to play when they open a page. This gives the user an advantage in that they can choose not to view the pesky advertisements. Microsoft wrote in one of their blogs that, “With the Anniversary Update to Windows 10, Microsoft Edge will intelligently auto-pause content that is not central to the web page. Peripheral content like animations or advertisements built with Flash will be displayed in a paused state unless the user explicitly clicks to play that content.”

The Microsoft Edge update will also serve to enhance power consumption levels and improve the performance of the browser, on top of removing the pesky advertisements. Through the update, Microsoft is planning on removing dependence on Flash and introduces the modern RTC, Web Audio, and Canvas media players.  It plans to provide content that will make the flash player redundant.

Microsoft also mentioned the following in their blog, “We encourage the web community to continue the transition away from Flash and towards open web standards. Standards like Encrypted Media Extensions, Media Source Extensions, Canvas, Web Audio, and RTCoffer a rich way to deliver similar experiences with increased performance and security. We will continue to work within the W3C to ensure standards unblock all developers to transition fully away from Flash.

The announcement is a further boost to the excitement which is usually associated with the upcoming Anniversary edition upgrade. The upgrade is going to be made free for Windows 10 users. The update is coming this summer and with it, enhanced extension support, along with with flash control will be made available to the public.