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Microsoft is reportedly working on an all new web browser to launch alongside Windows 10 in 2015. The project is currently codenamed ‘Spartan' and will see the company move away from Internet Explorer, which has garnered up quite a bad reputation over the years.
According to ZDNet, the new app is not going to be Internet Explorer 12 but a brand new browser instead. This isn't the first time that we've heard that Microsoft may move away from Internet Explorer , back in August during a Reddit AMA, IE Engineer, Jonathan Sampson, said that the company had been internally debating moving away from Internet Explorer to avoid the “negative perceptions that no longer reflect our product today”.
The Spartan web browser will apparently look and feel a lot more like Firefox and Chrome, although the foundations of Microsoft's current web technology will remain intact. The new software will utilize the Chakra Javascript engine along with the Trident rendering engine rather than switching over to WebKit, which is used by many competing browsers.
Apparently IE 11 will still come bundled with Windows 10 though for compatibility reasons, meaning that users will have two browsers on their hands when the new operating system launches next year.
The next Windows 10 event takes place on the 21st of January, Microsoft will be revealing new details about the OS then and will likely show off its next preview. We will also be hearing more about the company's future plans for Xbox and PC gaming.
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KitGuru Says: Microsoft is probably doing the right thing by moving away from Internet Explorer and its poor reputation. It will be interesting to see what the company does to make its new browser more competitive. What do you guys think of this? Is ditching Internet Explorer a good move? Do you think history will just repeat itself with this new browser?
I think they should first pick ONE browser and move forward with it instead of this “limbo” stuff with Spartan and IE. They confused people with the Start menu debacle in 8 and it seems they haven’t learned their lesson. They need to truly streamline and innovate. Using the bones of IE and changing the name will do them no good and actually will hurt them, in my opinion; deceptive. They should focus on what they are good at and abandon web browsers all together. Let the other guys do it while they build an OS that focuses on the end user. Microsoft HAS to stop the game of “we can make (insert product here) to!”
They can’t drop IE, as they can’t ship an OS without a browser. Suppose they did drop it, however. Having a “Choose your browser” popup on first login is not streamlined in the slightest, either. They can’t make the decision to bundle all of the common browsers, as that’s clunky and very few people would remove the ones they don’t need. That leaves them with one option; bundling one of the common browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari (lolnope), Maxthon – with Windows. They can’t do that either, as it shows loyalty to one company, and they’d end up in monopoly disputes like those that led to them not being allowed to package Office with Windows.
Their only real options are to remain with the IE brand (which is awful), or create something new. It will be IE at heart, yes, but most won’t realise this. All Microsoft need to do to make IE a genuinely good browser is to give it a good UI and good developer tools. Page rendering and support for new web technologies is barely an issue any more, but the interface is simply awful.
We both want different things from Microsoft. Change the name of IE to “Spartan” or whatever the heck they want, be done with IE, and just use the Spartan browser. Why have two? It’s confusing and clunky.
Hope its not a sheep in wolfs clothing.. get it? neither did MS i mean in 2014 MS cant even resume an upload/download what does that tell ya? im mean really they put Netscape outta business & sat with its hands under its legs while others drove the way leaving them waaaaay behind.
I kind of agree with this decision. IE 11 is a decent browser – not the best, but a decent one – but the brand is dead.