When we think of Internet Explorer, the first things that come to our minds are “slow”, “terrible performance”, and “is there really someone left who uses that?”. Microsoft’s tried to shake off the negative image of IE (courtesy of Explorer 6), but sadly hasn’t been successful, and now the company seems to have finally decided to completely give up on its default browser.
No More IE, Spartan Is Here
It’s no secret that Microsoft’s been working on a new browser – codenamed Project Spartan – which should arrive with Windows 10. However, everyone thought that IE would stick around, and that’s obviously not the case. At Microsoft’s Convergence event, Chris Capossela (the company’s marketing head) said they they are focusing on Project Spartan, and are looking to rename it. It’s still unclear whether it will be the new default browser for Windows.
When asked a bit more about the company’s plans, a Microsoft spokesperson added that “Project Spartan is Microsoft’s next generation browser, built just for Windows 10. We will continue to make Internet Explorer available with Windows 10 for enterprises and other customers who require legacy browser support.”
From what we’ve seen so far, Project Spartan looks like a promising browser, with a cleaner look, Cortana integration, and a number of other interesting features. Among other things, Cortana will pop up on the web whenever you need it, and it will be able to answer your questions, tell you how many calories there are in a product, etc. Spartan will also offer a customizable cross-platform reading list, which you will be able to save for offline reading.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s been trying to fix some annoying IE issues, patching over 40 bugs and vulnerabilities that a mid-February update brought along.