Microsoft Confirms New Browser Engine Won’t Power IE11 In Windows 10

Even before Microsoft officially confirmed it there was a lot of speculation about the company’s all new web browser currently codenamed Project Spartan. Microsoft then confirmed it and gave us a glimpse of what it looks like. It’s still very much a work in progress so we can expect the final version to have more features and possibly more user interface tweaks. While the company had said at one point that the new engine being developed for Spartan would power Internet Explorer 11 as well, it backtracked today, and is now saying that the new engine will exclusively power Spartan on Windows 10.

This could be yet another nail in Internet Explorer’s coffin. Microsoft has confirmed that Spartan is going to be the default browser for all Windows 10 users.

Program manager for Spartan at Microsoft, Kyle Pflug, confirmed today that the new engine will power Spartan exclusively in Windows 10. “Internet Explorer 11 will remain fundamentally unchanged from Windows 8.1, continuing to host the legacy engine exclusively.”

Apparently Microsoft decided to clear this up following feedback from testers who were confused over the role of these two separate browsers in Windows 10. Pflug lays down the law: “Project Spartan is our future.”

It remains to be seen though if Microsoft plans on shipping Internet Explorer 11 with every copy of Windows 10 or whether the browser will only be provided to business customers who actually require legacy browser support. Microsoft has not clarified this as yet.

The company did say recently that its going to come up with a new name and brand for Project Spartan. Hopefully the new browser will have better luck than Internet Explorer, which some jokingly refer to as the number one browser in the world for downloading a more capable web browser.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Computers
Tags: internet explorer, Microsoft, project spartan, Windows 10