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Microsoft Confirms Windows 10's Browser Will Support Extensions

The company hasn't said a thing about Google Chrome though

Jan 28, 2015 09:56 GMT  ·  By
Spartan browser on laptops and smartphones
   Spartan browser on laptops and smartphones

Microsoft's Internet Explorer team has provided a few more details about the new Windows 10 browser in a two-hour chat on Twitter, revealing among others that Spartan will also support extensions when it comes out later this year.

Details have not been provided on this new implementation, but this isn't the first time we're hearing about support for extensions in Spartan browser, especially because Microsoft is looking into ways to provide users with more ways to improve the functionality of the app and offer more customization options.

“We're working on a plan for extensions for a future update to Project Spartan,” the team briefly says in one of its tweets today.

Spartan, which is currently in development, is very likely to arrive in a future version of Windows 10 Technical Preview, but no timing has been provided for now. Joe Belfiore, however, said during the company's Windows 10 event on January 21 that Spartan could ship in the next two, three, or four months, so it's hard to predict when the browser will become available.

Available alongside Internet Explorer

Spartan is set to be offered in Windows 10 from the get-go and Microsoft says that it'll be configured as the default browser in the operating system.

Internet Explorer, however, will also be offered as a backup, the company confirms in another tweet.

“Consumers on Windows 10 will get Spartan by default. IE will be available for Windows 10 & can enabled by the user,” the IE team explains.

Basically, offering a Spartan – Internet Explorer mix is necessary in order to tackle all compatibility issues that might arise from implementing a browser with an updated engine, so in case you find any websites that fail to load properly, Internet Explorer will be there to help.

At the same time, the company says that organizations with internal apps that are specifically designed to work with Internet Explorer will also have the browser as a backup option in case something goes wrong, but it admits that Spartan could become the one and only browser at some point in the future.