Microsoft reinvents their browser with Spartan: will IE finally die?

Microsoft Spartan and Windows 10

As plans of Windows 10 begin to take shape, it not too surprising that Microsoft is considering revamping their browser choices. “Spartan” the codename for the Microsoft browser is beginning to gain some interest. Details about the key piece of the Windows 10 platform have been leaked and it looks promising.

Reports claim Spartan will be integrated with the previously discussed Cortana (Microsoft’s digital assistant). This is especially important for mobile devices, since Cortana is planned for release on tablets and mobile phones.

Users will have the ability to tell Cortana: “go to Facebook” and Spartan will launch. Spartan will also include digital inking support for users to “annotate a web page with a stylus and send the notes to a friend/colleague.” This will be super helpful for collaborations and project teams that need to see exactly what the other person is referencing.

More Spartan features we love

The new browser will also allow users to group tabs however they want, splitting into work and personal tabs if needed. Spartan may allow users to open multiple sites in grouped tabs together, so they can do things like compare prices of a new computer without having to switch between tabs.

Neowin, posted a mockup of an (alleged) actual version of Spartan earlier this week. Since Spartan was designed to go with Windows 10 and many of those design elements have yet to be released publicly, it is difficult to get an accurate idea of what Spartan will look like in the final conceptualization.

Neowin also noted that Spartan would replace the “modern” version of Internet Explorer (IE). This is the version in the Windows Store that was originally part of Windows 8. Other sources report that Spartan will be a Windows Store only app.

So is IE gone forever?

Currently, IE is not an app, it’s part of the OS; by making Spartan an app, Microsoft would be able to update it more quickly, but would also run the risk of people not bothering to download it as Microsoft reportedly want to keep IE on Windows 10.

Microsoft is definitely making steps in the right direction to keep up with their technology counterparts. Hopefully as plans progress and prototypes are tweaked, Spartan will become and integral part of Windows 10 and we can say bye-bye to IE, or at the very least have IE as the option rather an integral part of the OS.