During Microsoft’s Build 2022 conference, it was announced that Microsoft Edge WebView2 is now available with the .Net MAUI framework, bringing faster loading for web pages, alongside room to grow for web apps and more.
This is mainly to help developers in the transition from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge after its older web browser is finally shut down next month (June 15).
Granted, this may not be the most exciting news for consumers who have long since jumped ship to Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.
However, Microsoft Edge WebView2 will be of great benefit to developers who no longer have to toil over getting backward compatibility to work in order to keep their critical Internet Explorer-based web apps and enterprise services running.
WebView2 brings more than backwards-compatibility
In addition to no longer having to worry about backward compatibility, Microsoft has also boasted that Microsoft Edge WebView2 is the “ best and latest web platform for building embedded browsing experiences” in trials performed by the Cerner Corporation. These tests showed that Microsoft Edge WebView2 had significantly better performance than Internet Explorer 11.
With render times being reduced by 85%, CPU utilization by 33%, and memory utilization by 32% compared to Internet Explorer, there’s seemingly no reason now for developers and consumers alike to not make the switch to Microsoft Edge.
Regardless of the broad choice of web browsers that users can choose from in 2022, it’s encouraging that Microsoft Edge has the potential to be as fast as Opera, Google Chrome, and Apple’s Safari browser with the new WebView2 technology.