This Is Spartan, Microsoft's New Browser In Windows 10

[Guest]

Microsoft announced a brand new browser for Windows codenamed "Project Spartan."

This Is Spartan, Microsoft's New Browser In Windows 10 : Read more

 

[red77star]

Another reason to stay with Firefox and Chrome, no former IE looks even ugly.

 

[TallestJon96]

It'd be good for this to be competitive with chrome and Firefox, that way we have more than two options. I hear they are billing it as lightweight, so it should be quick and responsive (the most important thing EI lacks)

 

[RedJaron]

I feel a little stupid right now. Hearing "Spartan" the last few weeks was making me think of it in terms of an adjective, something that's stripped to the very basics. Now when they mention Cortana with it, I'm reminded of Spartans in the Halo universe. Duh, me.

I'm not sure what the hate toward IE is. I get numerous errors from Chrome every day that multiple tabs have become unresponsive, even though they still operate fine, and that my last browsing session crashed even when I exited the browser just fine. FireFox is still a memory hog that doesn't give memory back even after closing tabs, but it was the only browser that let me successfully ignore the SSL warnings to get back into my router and fix settings. And yes, IE has a few rendering anomalies with some pages ( notably this site with your forum notifications not updating correctly. ) Really, there's no reason to tout any one browser as end-all/-be-all.

 

[scolaner]

Hearing "Spartan" the last few weeks was making me think of it in terms of an adjective, something that's stripped to the very basics. /quote]

That is exactly what I had been thinking, as well. I was wondering how that was going to work. Now we know.

 

[alextheblue]

I'm not sure what the hate toward IE is. I get numerous errors from Chrome every day that multiple tabs have become unresponsive, even though they still operate fine, and that my last browsing session crashed even when I exited the browser just fine. FireFox is still a memory hog that doesn't give memory back even after closing tabs,

I've never had any issues with IE11. It's been really solid. I use desktop IE as well as Modern. I've also (generally) had good luck with Firefox. We use Chrome at my work and it gives me the pixelated dead frowny faces at least a few times a week. Previously we used an older version that was more stable but it had rendering issues with some pages we rely on and ugly text rendering on everything. At least the newer versions have finally caught up to the other browsers (including IE) when it comes to rendering nice text... but no it's certainly not the end-all be-all, and it's not always on the forefront of everything.

 

[ykki]

Good job, Microsoft. Keep reminding pc users about how you haven't made a halo game for pc for YEARS now.

 

[jerm1027]

I'm not sure what the hate toward IE is. I get numerous errors from Chrome every day that multiple tabs have become unresponsive, even though they still operate fine, and that my last browsing session crashed even when I exited the browser just fine. FireFox is still a memory hog that doesn't give memory back even after closing tabs,

I've never had any issues with IE11. It's been really solid. I use desktop IE as well as Modern. I've also (generally) had good luck with Firefox. We use Chrome at my work and it gives me the pixelated dead frowny faces at least a few times a week. Previously we used an older version that was more stable but it had rendering issues with some pages we rely on and ugly text rendering on everything. At least the newer versions have finally caught up to the other browsers (including IE) when it comes to rendering nice text... but no it's certainly not the end-all be-all, and it's not always on the forefront of everything.

I still shy away from IE, mainly because of the lack of support. As soon as MS ends mainstream support for a version of Windows, you're forced to upgrade your Windows install if you want the latest and greatest IE, and support for Windows 7 recently ended. So, I use it as little as possible to avoid reliance on something MS is quick to abandon. That and IE 6-8 leave a bad taste in my mouth. Although IE 11 is quick, and has some compatibility advantages, so I tend to use it when I just don't want to deal with all my addons for Chrome and Firefox, not to worried about my security or browsing habits being tracked, and just want the damn site to work. Chrome is still my go-to, especially with Linux (for updated Flash support), although I prefer running Chromium. Me and Firefox have a history of instability, so I only use it for Netflix.

 

[jimmysmitty]

It'd be good for this to be competitive with chrome and Firefox, that way we have more than two options. I hear they are billing it as lightweight, so it should be quick and responsive (the most important thing EI lacks)

I used to use both IE and FF, mainly FF for most stuff and IE for support. I haven't used FF in quite a while. Mainly because since IE9 there is not enough of a performance reason to justify FF. These days the difference is measured in milliseconds and unless it is so many that it is seconds apart, IE is about as fast as most other browsers and works with most every website unless it was developed for WebKit only, much like the old horrible ActiveX designed websites.

I wont use Chrome mainly due to Googles policy on personal information. Being mainly an ad revenue company, they will try to utilize and sell your information whenever possible. Microsoft is not mainly ad revenue driven so it is not as bad.

That said, it will be fun to test the new browser out. It may be good or it may suck. You can never tell these days.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I am glad they are finally going to be supporting all of HTML5. As a web designer myself, IE has always been a major pain to work with, it is so buggy at interpreting code that it always requires annoying workarounds. If you read any code on webpages you will see comments like:

<!-- for IE7, 8, ... -->

 

[TechyInAZ]

If Spartan is a simple browser (besides add-ons), then it will probably be a excellent browser.

 

[nitrium]

I could be tempted to use it if it has extensions, especially Adblock.

 

[damric]

I can't wait to use this new Internet Explorer






to download Chrome.

 

[Bloob]

I feel a little stupid right now. Hearing "Spartan" the last few weeks was making me think of it in terms of an adjective, something that's stripped to the very basics. Now when they mention Cortana with it, I'm reminded of Spartans in the Halo universe. Duh, me.

I'm not sure what the hate toward IE is. I get numerous errors from Chrome every day that multiple tabs have become unresponsive, even though they still operate fine, and that my last browsing session crashed even when I exited the browser just fine. FireFox is still a memory hog that doesn't give memory back even after closing tabs, but it was the only browser that let me successfully ignore the SSL warnings to get back into my router and fix settings. And yes, IE has a few rendering anomalies with some pages ( notably this site with your forum notifications not updating correctly. ) Really, there's no reason to tout any one browser as end-all/-be-all.

I found FF consuming less RAM when having lots of tabs open (I almost always have 40+). There are some sites, like the Google Cast Dev -site, that seem to be leaking, at least on FF.

 

[Grognak]

Some of you say "why not?", well I say: Why? I've been using Firefox for 8 years now, I won't go back to IE just because their stuff is slightly better than before. Unless this new browser somehow beats FF in both performance AND support (lol tough luck) there's no reason for me, or just about anyone, to change.

 

[fuzzion]

They do realise that the spartans died in the end right?

 

[qlum]

The biggest problem with internet explorer is not the browser itself but rather the time you need to support an old version where with firefox and chrome you can just end support 6 montjs back with ie you still have to support ancient internet explorer 9 or sometimes even 8. Other than that I found that tje rotten apple browser is the worst in terms of compatibility not ie 11. Firefox is generally best though chromiums also has its benefits

 

[Cryio]

The biggest problem with internet explorer is not the browser itself but rather the time you need to support an old version where with firefox and chrome you can just end support 6 montjs back with ie you still have to support ancient internet explorer 9 or sometimes even 8. Other than that I found that tje rotten apple browser is the worst in terms of compatibility not ie 11. Firefox is generally best though chromiums also has its benefits

Your problem officially ends in January 2016.

Microsoft will offer support only for IE9 on Vista/Server 2008, IE10 on Windows Server 2012 and IE11 on the rest of the OSes.

There is plenty of support for IE from Microsoft. If you want your website to perform properly, use graceful degradation since IE9 supports HML5.

If IE11 is anything to go by, Spartan will again be the most HTML5 compliant browser out there. So you really don't need "to support it". Just use proper coding technics on your site and it render beautifully on Spartan.

 

[red77star]

Won't make difference cause I don't see Windows 10 creeping at 20% market share ever.

 

[toadhammer]

> Hearing "Spartan" the last few weeks was making me think of it in terms of an adjective, something that's stripped to the very basics.

I had the same thought. The alternative is that they see it as a fight to the death that will completely destroy both sides.

 

[dextermat]

I hope Spartan won't be as subjected to Trojans as Internet explorer has been over the years.

 

[RedJaron]

I still shy away from IE, mainly because of the lack of support. As soon as MS ends mainstream support for a version of Windows, you're forced to upgrade your Windows install if you want the latest and greatest IE, and support for Windows 7 recently ended. So, I use it as little as possible to avoid reliance on something MS is quick to abandon. That and IE 6-8 leave a bad taste in my mouth. Although IE 11 is quick, and has some compatibility advantages, so I tend to use it when I just don't want to deal with all my addons for Chrome and Firefox, not to worried about my security or browsing habits being tracked, and just want the damn site to work. Chrome is still my go-to, especially with Linux (for updated Flash support), although I prefer running Chromium. Me and Firefox have a history of instability, so I only use it for Netflix.

Win7 just went into extended support, it wasn't cut off altogether. IE on Win7 will still be supported and updated for years. If you're worried about having an old IE because your OS can't get the newest version, by the time that happens your OS itself is going to be very outdated and lacking support as well.

I found FF consuming less RAM when having lots of tabs open (I almost always have 40+). There are some sites, like the Google Cast Dev -site, that seem to be leaking, at least on FF.

Try this. Fire up both IE and FF to the same page. Open as many new tabs as you want on both of them ( same tabs on both of course. ) Now close all but one of them in each browser. Hell, make sure the only tab open on each of them afterwards is the "New Tab" blank page. Compare memory use. On my machine right now ( Win8.1, IE 11, FF 35, ) IE has gone back to 60MB memory while FF is still at 200MB ( and yes, you're right, with all of them open IE was using more memory. ) A few years ago I remember FF repeatedly using 1.5GB of memory that it refused to give up unless I completely shut it down, so I'm happy it's gotten better. But even now I still see it holding onto 300MB - 500MB for no reason. I often keep a tab or two open on a separate display while gaming ( wiki, GW2 event timers, etc, ) and I don't like closing down the entire browser to give back memory.

They do realise that the spartans died in the end right?

Yep, and Cortana eventually went insane too.

 

[jerm1027]

I still shy away from IE, mainly because of the lack of support. As soon as MS ends mainstream support for a version of Windows, you're forced to upgrade your Windows install if you want the latest and greatest IE, and support for Windows 7 recently ended. So, I use it as little as possible to avoid reliance on something MS is quick to abandon. That and IE 6-8 leave a bad taste in my mouth. Although IE 11 is quick, and has some compatibility advantages, so I tend to use it when I just don't want to deal with all my addons for Chrome and Firefox, not to worried about my security or browsing habits being tracked, and just want the damn site to work. Chrome is still my go-to, especially with Linux (for updated Flash support), although I prefer running Chromium. Me and Firefox have a history of instability, so I only use it for Netflix.

Win7 just went into extended support, it wasn't cut off altogether. IE on Win7 will still be supported and updated for years. If you're worried about having an old IE because your OS can't get the newest version, by the time that happens your OS itself is going to be very outdated and lacking support as well.

Meaning Windows 7 will no longer receive feature updates, such as new versions of Internet Explorer. Extended support means just security updates. That means Windows 7 will NOT get the new Spartan browser, but instead will get security patches for IE11 until support for Windows 7 is terminated altogether. This is why Windows XP was stuck on IE 8 and never got upgraded to IE 9, 10, or 11, and why Windows Vista won't get IE 10, or 11 either. Mainstream support ended for XP in April 2009, just after the release of IE8 in March of that year. Similarly, mainstream support for Windows Vista ended April 2012, just before the release of IE 10 in September of that year, so Windows Vista never got the upgrade to IE 10. Project Spartan is going to be the bundled browser in Windows 10 which is slated to be released later this year, so IE 11 is already going to be an outdated browser. This is why I can't use IE. Yet Firefox and Chrome still run great on Windows XP and Vista, and will presumably run great on Windows 7 years after the release of the Win10 and Spartan 2.0 or whatever. With Firefox or Chrome, I'm not arbitrarily cut off of from new features just because my OS isn't the newest. If I want that Spartan browser, I'm going to have to move to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.

 

[RedJaron]

I work in web QA, so I'm aware of the version limitations. It's great that Google and Mozilla want to continue supporting every version of every OS out there. But I think it's pretty nit-picky to complain that a company won't provide additional updates for a six-year-old product.

 

[qlum]

The problem is not microsoft not supporting an 6 year old product but rather shipping a webbrowser as an integral part of an os. Instead of maybe packing it with the os and letting you download it separatly.