Rumor: Microsoft Working On Lightweight 'Spartan' Browser For Windows 10

[exfileme]

This browser borrows its codename from the Halo lore.

Rumor: Microsoft Working On Lightweight 'Spartan' Browser For Windows 10 : Read more

 

[boletus]

The main reason I do not use IE these days is simply because of its deep integration into the Windows OS. MS can try all they want to make it the most secure browser on the planet, but the fact is that if it becomes compromised, the consequences are potentially greater than with a third-party browser.

 

[ElusiveSpy]

I think this is great news. Time to shake up a bit the market heavily dominated by Chrome. If Spartan succeeds, we'd have two real alternatives instead of just being Firefox. The fact that they are making a new browser gives me great hope as they can shed all those support for legacy code bloating and dragging down IE. I for one would love to see more integration between my OS and the browser, just like how much integration there are between Chrome and other Google services.

 

[red77star]

What a stupid company Microsoft is....this was a great chance to drop Trident engine in IE and go with Web Kit. Completely drop numbering so instead of calling it IE 12, just call it IE. But no...they are going to write to separate layers, one for legacy and new one...stupidity beyond comedy.

 

[red77star]

Just to add more to this...no need for two browsers...just drop trident engine and switch IE to use Web Kit and simply call it IE.

 

[kenjitamura]

"Microsoft Working on Lightweight"... Microsoft known for making anything "lightweight"?

 

[padlius]

Problem with Microsoft management is that they cant open a new chapter. They should not even offer backwards compatibility for so many reasons. On the other hand Apple seems to be OK with scraping things in order to create a better product/experience. The trouble is that introducing backwards compatibility would create more work and would also use up more processing power

 

[jimmysmitty]

What a stupid company Microsoft is....this was a great chance to drop Trident engine in IE and go with Web Kit. Completely drop numbering so instead of calling it IE 12, just call it IE. But no...they are going to write to separate layers, one for legacy and new one...stupidity beyond comedy.

Screw WebKit, go purely HTML5. WebKit is just ActivX all over again as it is proprietary and not nearly as efficient as HTML5. As well, IE11 has shown to be just as fast as WebKit using Trident. These days the difference is in milliseconds, which is near impossible for anyone to use. To top it off, IE can be controlled via Active Directory making it much easier for IT people to secure their systems than using a third party browser.

Either way, I don't see why Microsoft would go with something else when their in house engine has been used and is probably easier for them to use.

"Microsoft Working on Lightweight"... Microsoft known for making anything "lightweight"?

Well for one, Windows 8 is actually lighter than 7 and 7 was lighter than Vista. Sure it is not as light weight as Linux but then again it has to support a much broader range of hardware and software out of the box.

Problem with Microsoft management is that they cant open a new chapter. They should not even offer backwards compatibility for so many reasons. On the other hand Apple seems to be OK with scraping things in order to create a better product/experience. The trouble is that introducing backwards compatibility would create more work and would also use up more processing power

Apple is also ok with releasing easily hackable products. Their products are the most insecure of them all, at PWN2OWN their OS and browser are normally the first to fall every year.

Then again if Apple actually cared about their consumers they would dodge and side step every issue that comes up with their products, such as the bad signal reception on the iPhone 4s or the fake FBI viruses Macs had a while back.

 

[knowom]

I refuse to use a Microsoft web browser they've had so many security problems with IE for years and years and years. I feel much more secure with Mozilla personally and generally just like their web browser.

 

[Mike69Hunt]

Microshaft need a decent cross-platform browser to encourage the use of Bing. You know, like Google did in 2008 with Chrome.

Anyone that remembers IE6 will have little trust for M$, but it seems they are finally trying to win through releasing decent cross-platform products. Instead of the Gates/Balmer strategy of wipe out the competitors, then sit on the market. As that stopped people from trusting the brand and now they are (still) starting from the bottom in markets like search/maps/mobile etc.

 

[Murissokah]

The main reason I do not use IE these days is simply because of its deep integration into the Windows OS.

Very true, as is your security concern. Add to that the fact that these integrated solutions tend to do a lot more for the vendor than they to for the user.

 

[delellod123]

i hate what a memory hog chome is and won't use it. Hoping for the best with this one. I'd love to get off firefox, it is really starting to get shaky for me.

 

[game junky]

This is going to be one of those wait and see scenarios - I use Windows 7 on my desktop at work and home and Windows 8.1 on my work laptop and when I tested the Windows 10 Tech preview, I have to say it was a pretty good meshing of the things people liked about those two operating systems so it wouldn't surprise me if I jump with both feet forward on new workstation deployments once it's released as soon as I test compatibility with some enterprise software pieces. That being said, one of the most painful things to deal with as a technician is browser compatibility issues - having to know what only runs in IE, what requires IE10 or above, what requires the latest version of Java or Silverlight, what seems to only run in chrome (my browser of choice), etc. It's a huge pain in the tail to assist some users who don't have the "let me try a couple of things before I call" mentality. The idea of adding "which IE browser did you use" makes my head hurt already - maybe sites won't render all that differently between the two and all this is just putting the cart before the horse. I guess we'll just have to test it and see how web developers run with it

 

[red77star]

It just happens that IE is only problem I have with web development because that browser doesn't display things right, never did and it will never do with Trident engine. Just adapt Web Kit as I said before.

 

[The3monitors]

I dont know. Maybe i might go back to aol virus online too just to get a peace of mind. Maybe i might go to this ie offspring since chrome is just as compromised as ie now.

 

[Turb0Yoda]

2Q & 3Q. Shouldn't it be Q2 & Q3??

 

[FTLAUDMAN]

Multi-platform, redesign extensions, remove decades of bloat... It all sounded good until the part about keeping Trident and continuing with Halo naming.