14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently working on a completely new browser that could see daylight in Windows 10, and rumor has it that the company might provide us with a glimpse into its feature lineup at the upcoming consumer event on January 21.
Internally codenamed Spartan, the new browser is believed to represent a completely new beginning for Microsoft in this side of the market where Internet Explorer still struggles to fight the negative perception and convince people that it deserves a chance.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, believes that Spartan won’t be used as a name for the final product, as Microsoft will most likely keep the Internet Explorer moniker alive for the upcoming browser as well.
"We are talking about IE 12. Spartan is just the code name,” he told TechNewsWorld, adding that Microsoft might unveil it at the January 21 event. "That's my expectation," Enderle said. "It's based on a consensus of rumors, so I think we can rely on that date."
But information coming from within the company claims something else.
Spartan could be available alongside Internet Explorer in Windows 10, so offering a second browser with the same name would obviously create more confusion, and Microsoft does not afford that right now.
Internal hints at name change
More, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team revealed in 2014 that the company even planned to change the browser’s name to fight the negative perception, so Spartan would be a good point to start doing this once again.
Spartan will most likely come with a revamped UI that will bring it closer to the other browsers on the market, so keeping the Internet Explorer name doesn’t make much sense, especially since visually it would be significantly different from all its predecessors. Current leaked screenshots point to a cleaner approach, with a tab bar at the top of the screen and a minimalist approach that makes much more sense for a modern browser.
Details, however, continue to be scarce, so let’s just hope that Microsoft is ready to show off its new browser at next week’s event.