The New Development Opportunity with Microsoft Edge Extensions

Last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 14291 to Windows Insiders on both PCs and eligible Mobile devices.

This build, which is a part of the Redstone development branch of Windows, continues to move Windows 10 towards its next big update which is expected this summer.

That update is commonly referred to as Redstone 1 (RS1) and we recently learned from several reports that it may be the only major Windows 10 update this year with Redstone 2 (RS2), orignally expected this fall, being pushed out to 2017.

One big concern was whether the previously announced extension support for Microsoft Edge would make it into RS1 or RS2 but with last weeks release of Windows 10 Build 14291 we now know extensions will arrive with RS1 this year.

Currently Microsoft Edge is only supporting three extensions in this new release and it is expected that other partners will join such as AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, LastPass, Amazon, Evernote and others.

Right now all three of these currently available extensions have to be sideloaded in Microsoft Edge but, according to Microsoft, extensions for Edge will ultimately be available through the Windows Store in order to provide a safe discovery and installation process.

If you are already familiar with the process of app submissions and handling through the Windows Store then this might be an area that you could expand in so that you can build your developers portfolio.

Something else to be aware of is that some type of conversion tool or bridge is expected from Microsoft to help those of you with existing extensions available for Chrome convert them for use with Microsoft Edge.

With BUILD 2016 beginning next week we fully expect Edge extensions to be a big part of the story and I will be there in person to bring you all of those details right here at DevPro.

Stay tuned.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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