Microsoft announced on July 24th that starting with Edge version 143, it will remove the Network Console Tool, sparking significant backlash within the developer community.

The Network Console Tool is one of the signature features of Microsoft Edge browser, primarily used for capturing and analyzing network requests to help developers debug and optimize communication between browsers and servers. Developers can use this tool to edit and resend requests, test server responses, such as modifying request URLs, header information, or payload data to observe the effects of different parameters.

In its announcement, Microsoft stated that due to "inability to maintain" the tool, it will be removed starting with Edge 143, and no alternative solution will be provided. It remains unclear what Microsoft means by "inability to maintain," though speculation suggests this could be related to Microsoft's recent layoffs or the team being too busy to continue supporting this feature with limited user adoption.

Microsoft indicated that the team will focus on providing more stable features and improving compatibility with Chrome, recommending that developers use the REST client extension in Microsoft Visual Studio Code for API development and testing.

This decision has triggered considerable dissatisfaction among many developers. One user commented: "If Edge is ready to abandon developers, then developers will abandon it forever. Edge will become the first browser where developers cannot proactively identify webpage issues when users encounter problems."

Another user expressed frustration: "Why is Microsoft so eager to remove these useful features? Microsoft would rather add Copilot to devtools than maintain a useful tool."