Spartan: Microsoft's new browser that might kill Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s venerable but often despised web browser, may be on its way out, it has been claimed. The new browser, codenamed at this point as Spartan, will be unveiled on January 21, in the company’s hometown of Redmond, Washington, when Microsoft shows off Windows 10 for the first time.

Spartan may make its formal debut there, but the general release of Windows 10 is not expected until the fall, so it may come at a later date. [caption id=“attachment_1968531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  image[/caption] Thomas Nigro, a Microsoft Student Partner lead and developer of the modern version of VLC a media playing app, claimed on Twitter earlier this month that he heard Microsoft was building a brand-new browser.

“Ok so Microsoft is about to launch a new browser that’s not Internet Explorer and will be the default browser in Windows 10. Wow,” he tweeted. Spartan will look and feel more like Chrome and Firefox, however, it will support extensions, reports said. The “lightweight” browser will be available on both desktop and mobile devices in Windows 10, they said.

Internet Explorer has a poor reputation among developers and users, much of which is rooted in Microsoft’s traditional preference for proprietary tools over open standards. Although that stance has changed considerably since the early days of IE, the stigma about it is so great that Microsoft recently made an ad explaining that the browser’s poor reputation is not deserved.

PTI