Can Edge’s Dual Engine Bridge Chromium and Legacy IE?

Once Internet Explorer dominated the web, it was eventually overtaken by Firefox and Google Chrome. Microsoft responded with Edge, aiming to provide the best browsing experience on Windows 10, but struggled to attract many users.

In late 2018, Microsoft announced a strategic shift to rebuild Edge on the same codebase as Google Chrome.

The upcoming Edge version is expected to include both the Chromium Blink engine and the legacy MSHTML (Trident) engine, providing backward compatibility for sites designed for IE.

According to a source, the new Edge will support a dual‑engine feature internally named “SelfholdingAndie,” allowing users to load Internet Explorer pages in a separate tab while browsing normally with the Chromium engine.

In internal builds 75.0.109.0 and later, the edge://flags page includes an experimental flag called "Enable IE Integration". When enabled, a corresponding option appears in Edge’s menu.

This feature is still under testing and currently launches the standalone Internet Explorer browser to load specific links, rather than rendering them directly within Edge.

The capability aims to help enterprise users transition to the new Edge while still accessing IE‑optimized web pages or applications, though Microsoft has not yet announced an official release schedule.

Some Edge settings differ from Chromium’s, and the main menu has disappeared in this version.

Users no longer need to install Edge extensions from the Microsoft Store.

The Chromium‑based Edge eliminates many compatibility issues of the legacy version, offers better web‑standard support, and naturally supports Chrome extensions, making it more attractive, though its ability to retain users remains to be seen.

Summary : The new Edge makes a strong first impression with fast startup and quick page loads, and it allows installation of extensions from the Chrome Web Store. Some settings are still missing, but they are likely to be added in future releases.