Microsoft is planning to retire its almost two decade old browser ‘Internet Explorer’ (IE) and replace it with a new and crisp one which can compete with rivals like Chrome and Firefox in its new OS Windows 10 which is going to be released next year.
The new browser won’t be called Internet Explorer 12 when released and is rumoured to have a new flat user interface similar to Google’s Chrome or Mozilla’s Firefox, which have been intensely successful in satisfying surging user demands for a more modular UI. Codenamed ‘Spartan’, the new web browser will be built entirely from ground up and will be integrated into Windows 10 and work on both the desktops and companies smartphones. It’s unclear whether Spartan will run on Android, Apple’s iOS, and other operating systems that compete with Windows.
ZDNet was the first to report that this new browser means the end of Internet Explorer, the Microsoft browser whose relevance has waned in recent years. It will be a “lightweight” browser that looks and feels more like the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. But apparently Spartan will be offered alongside IE when Windows 10 debuts next year.
Microsoft is not retiring IE 11 completely as the new OS will be shipped with both the browsers with the latter one being used for backwards compatibility only. Both browsers (IE and Spartan) will still use versions of Microsoft’s Chakra JavaScript engine and its Trident rendering engine.
IE has lately been synonymous with slow browsing speeds and lack of extension support which the rival browsers offer. It has also been subject to targets for cyber attacks and hackers due to numerous vulnerabilities which were left exposed during its development. A new browser on the whole is a good idea to brand the browser in a new light and let the old name be forgotten in the dark lanes of internet.