Since Google announced a new four-week major release cycle cadence for Chromium, many have wondered how Microsoft would respond with its Chromium-based Edge browser. On March 12, officials provided the answer. In addition to offering Canary, Dev, Beta, and Stable channel releases for Edge, Microsoft also is adding an Extended Stable option.
Currently, Microsoft is providing mainstream users with new updates to Edge Stable roughly every six weeks. In the near term, this will shift to roughly every four weeks. But Microsoft also will add an “Extended Stable” option that will update every eight weeks, as well. Any users who don’t select the Extended Stable option will get updates every four weeks by default.
Microsoft’s goal in adding this new channel is to give business users refreshes at a more manageable pace. In between releases, Extended Stable channel users will get a biweekly security update with the most important fixes, but all other features and fixes will happen every eight weeks.
Microsoft plans to offer this new Extended Stable option simultaneously with Edge 94. The target release for the Stable/mainstream channel for that release is the week of Sept. 23, 2021.
