Microsoft is building a new browser that will replace Internet Explorer as the default in Windows 10, features include a new, clean UI, Cortana integration and inking support.
Even though Internet Explorer still has a fairly large marketshare in some parts of the world, there's no denying that it has a serious image problem. Problems with IE6 through 8, the lack of web standards support and the advent of Google Chrome have made a serious dent in Internet Explorer's reputation, And even though Microsoft has gone through a lot of effort to make its browser compatible with the ever evolving web standards and has gone to great lengths to boost its popularity, it looks like they are losing the browser wars. Spartan is Microsoft's big comeback plan, an entirely new browser (well, not really, more about that later) to get rid of the negative vibe surrounding Internet Explorer.
Spartan will bring a bunch of new features to convince people this is not just another browser and, more importantly, not just another IE. It all starts with a new, clean UI. Spartan will look a lot like a minimalist version of Google Chrome, the image below is an internal mock-up closely matching the design of Spartan in recent builds published by CNBeta.
In an attempt to declutter the mess of having a bunch of different tabs open at once, Spartan will debut a new way to group browser tabs in any way you like. Support for custom themes was considered at one point, but that idea was scrapped or at least pushed back to a future update, according to The Verge.
Microsoft's personal assistant, Cortana, will be deeply integrated in the new browser. Not only will Cortana search be available on the new tab page and directly from the address bar, other Cortana features like flight tracking, parcel tracking etc. will also be accessible from within Spartan (vaguely reminiscent of Google Now). Cortana will completely replace all Bing functionality.
Another Microsoft service that will be directly integrated into Spartan is OneNote. Spartan will come with inking support that allows users to take notes and doodle on any webpage and then share it through OneDrive. You'll also be able to share webpages on your favourite social networks using the share button next to the address bar.
Spartan will provide a unified experience across tablets and phones, but that doesn't mean that it will be a universal Store app, according to The Verge, Microsoft is planning to release a desktop app through it's Store and a separate Store app for tablets and phones. Releasing them through the store has one big advantage, the 2 apps will be continually updated with new, identical features.
Even though Microsoft will be branding this as a completely new browser at its core it will still be Internet Explorer, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. At one point the IE team considered switching to Webkit, but that was voted down and in the end they decided to continue with IE's Trident engine. Yes the same rendering engine that made every web developer's job into a living hell in the IE6 days. But Trident has come a long way since IE6, it's now relatively standards compliant and it will only get better with Spartan. According to Neowin and ZDNet the Trident engine has been forked and hugely improved. Spartan will use this new and improved version whenever possible, resulting in a big performance boost. When websites require it, Spartan can still switch to the less efficient legacy version. According to ZDnet's Mary-Jo Foley Internet Explorer will still be included with Windows 10 for enterprise compatibility reasons.
Lastly there's the name, Spartan. This definitely isn't the final name, for now it's just a codename, but Microsoft could choose to keep the name, just like they did with Cortana. The one thing we do know is that this new browser won't be branded as Internet Explorer 12. The IE brand is damaged beyond repair and Microsoft knows it's a lost cause, they'll be doing everything in their power to position Spartan as a brand new browser.
