Microsoft: Spartan and Internet Explorer engines are fundamentally different
Microsoft further separates its new browser ‘Spartan’ from Internet Explorer. The software giant equips the browser on Windows 10 only with its latest engine. In contrast, Internet Explorer will only be able to access the original engine for legacy reasons.
This mainly means that Internet Explorer on Windows 10 does not have two render engines, as previously reported, but only one. In addition, Spartan only gets the latest render engine. Microsoft says it made this decision based on user feedback. They emphatically stated that they want to experience Internet Explorer and Spartan as essentially two separate products.
The tech giant lists a number of reasons in a blog post why it has decided to further separate Spartan and Internet Explorer. The company first writes that Project Spartan is intended for the future web, with Windows 10 offering the chance to apply this with the latest technology. By separating Spartan from legacy code, Microsoft says it can “fulfill that promise” to make the browser suitable with the latest requirements.
Furthermore, Microsoft indicates that it will continue to offer Internet Explorer on Windows 10 for legacy reasons. The company uses this browser to respond to the needs of especially enterprise customers, who are tied to older software and standards. Internet Explorer on the latest operating system must be consistent with IE 11 on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. “The latest engine in Internet Explorer 11 means compatibility issues arise and the browser behaves differently on Windows 10,” Microsoft said.
The news about the latest developments of Project Spartan comes shortly after Microsoft announced that Adobe is helping with the development of its latest browser, as Adobe is also doing with WebKit, Blink and Gecko. Adobe contributes to the layout, typography, design and movement of Spartan. There is no definitive name for that program yet. Spartan will in any case not be called Internet Explorer.
Spartan should become the default browser of Windows 10. The program will include support for extensions and standard features the speech assistant Cortana. In addition, Spartan would also offer a new method to reduce tab chaos by allowing users to group tabs together.