Report: Microsoft Working on New Browser Codenamed Spartan

[engine]

According to this report, Microsoft is working on a new browser to look more like Chrome or Firefox.

I've never particularly liked the latest incarnations of IE, so this is good news to me.

Microsoft is building a new browser, codenamed Spartan, which is not IE 12Report: Microsoft Working on New Browser Codenamed Spartan [zdnet.com]

[incrediBILL]

I stopped using IE years ago.

Numerous reasons including, but not limited to, it blows, sucks, bites the big one, etc. However, the last incarnation in Win8 w/touch and it's sheer speed it pretty impressive.

I wonder if they'll cave and use the pretty much industry standard Apple webkit, like MS would use anything from Apple, or could they be going on the offensive and create the MS webkit?

That would be a cool turn of events!

[bill]

Likewise IE is hardly ever used on my machines except for testing.

I like the idea that they're working on a Trident base rather than Webkit. It's nice to have alternative rendering engines out there to choose from.

[IanCP]

I use FF 32 for certain things, and find it simply more convenient to use the Google Toolbar on IE 11 for other things, mainly searching.

I have Chrome, which I never use.

I'm simply not wedded to any of them. A browser is simply another tool for me, and I find both FF and IE work just fine - I have no particular preference.

[lucy24]

Is the name "Spartan" intended to imply "less bloat"?

[IanCP]

Is the name "Spartan" intended to imply "less bloat"?

Hah! Hardy! Hah! [Insert hysterical laughter] - "Microsoft" and "Bloat" are hand in glove synonymous words.

They can't help themselves, going back to DOS 3 and the first Windows - which was way back whenever I can't remember.

Bloat? Bill Gates invented the word.

</cynicism>

[incrediBILL]

It's nice to have alternative rendering engines out there to choose from.

Yeah, but it also makes twice as much work testing and debugging.

If they all worked from a common rendering engine perhaps the damn thing would be fixed by now as MS's QA people are 2nd to none. Sure stuff slips past, happens to the best of us, but if they were helping solidify a single platform we'd all benefit in the end.

MS still sadly thinks their browser is VHS to the rest of the world's BETA and they are about as wrong as they could get.

That MS problem with NIH is still hurting them all these years later.

They never learn.

[graeme_p]

From the article

Spartan is still going to use Microsoft's Chakra JavaScript engine and Microsoft's Trident rendering engine (not WebKit), sources say. As Neowin's Brad Sams reported back in September, the coming browser will look and feel more like Chrome and Firefox and will support extensions

So same UI, different rendering engine.

Its interesting that people immediately speculate that they may use webkit. A few years ago it would have been unthinkable that MS would use what started out as a component of KDE (and it says a lot for its design that it has been ported to so many OSes).

[lammert]

@graeme_p: I read this as "So same rendering engine, different UI." which is more like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

[lucy24]

A few years ago it would have been unthinkable

It would not be the first time in human history that two entities generally perceived as sworn enemies are actually hand in glove.

[Leosghost]

Is the name "Spartan" intended to imply "less bloat"?

Suppose they could have called it "conditional comments" ( too long and already taken ) ..or "IEshim" ( shorter and more to the point than spartan, but again already taken )..seriously, let us hope that we have to do neither of those things to cope with it..but I'm not holding my breath..

[mcneely]

Sure, lets all just use the same rendering engine, platform, search engine, social network .. Lets all just do that so that we can all be locked into a never ending cycle of non-innovation.

Used to be back in the day, everybody had a hook .. everybody had something different going on - And I think we were all better off because of it ... These days? .. not so much.

Having a build that we can trust and use is just as important as having a build we don't trust and never use -- Having competing browsers with the same rendering engines is a lot like having a Ford Fiesta and a Volkswagen Rabbit parked in your garage ... The only noticeable difference then would be the kinds of or types of backweb and spyware each company chose to use to achieve it's own desired end ...

We still have competing operating systems, so I don't see why we can't still have competing browser builds ..

[Leosghost]

As long as they ( looking again at you MS ) were standards compliant, no problem with as much browser variety as possible..I have 4 on this linux box..:)

[graeme_p]

@lammert - oopns, that is what I meant "same rendering engine, different UI"

[tangor]

Competing browsers (and rendering) has a secondary effect in that webmasters (those who actually care) will make the effort to code to the widest audience possible... that means browsers of all kinds. In the long run I believe that is more beneficial to the end user than anything else.