Chakra Bleu! Microsoft Open Sources Core Edge Browser Component

Shortly after simultaneously wooing and aggravating developers with its PowerApps announcement, Microsoft has now made the move to open source an integral part of its Edge web browser, publishing the code onto dev depository GitHub by next month.

Revealing the news on a blog post over the weekend, where Microsoft was presenting at JavaScript gathering JSConf US Last Call in Florida, Microsoft program managers Gaurav Sethi and Adalberto Foresti wrote: “We will open-source the core components of Chakra as ChakraCore, which will include all the key components of the JavaScript engine powering Microsoft Edge.”

JavaScript

Chakra is the part of Edge that deals with JavaScript, and Microsoft is hoping ChakraCore will be a hit with those interested in pursuing Internet of Things projects.

“Since its introduction in 2008, Chakra has grown to be a perfect choice for the web, cloud services, and the Internet of Things,” wrote the duo. “With today’s announcement, we’re taking the next step by giving developers a fully supported and fully open-source JavaScript engine available to embed in their projects, innovate on top of, and contribute back to: ChakraCore.”

Other than being used in the Edge browser, Microsoft said that Chakra is put to work on Windows applications across all devices and form factors where Windows 10 is supported. It also powers services like Cortana and Outlook.com.

“With the release of Windows 10 earlier this year, Chakra was not only optimized to run the web faster, but more than doubled its performance on some key JavaScript benchmarks owned by other browser vendors,” read the Microsoft blog.

“ChakraCore is already designed to fit into any application stack that calls for a fast, scalable, and lightweight engine. We intend to make it even more versatile over time, both within and beyond the Windows ecosystem. While the initial January release will be Windows-only, we are committed to bringing ChakraCore to other platforms in the future.”

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