Windows 10's Spartan: Microsoft Developing New Chrome/Firefox like browser

While Microsoft was expected to bring some major changes to IE in Windows 10, looks like the Richmond software giant is all set to introduce a new browser. A report published by ZDNet stated that Microsoft is now building an all new browser dubbed as Spartan. Which in return means that IE 12 and Spartan could be different all together.

Reportedly Spartan will be developed on Microsoft's Chakra JavaScript engine and Microsoft's Trident rendering engine, which directly means that it won't be switching over to WebKit.

As per the report, Windows 10 for desktop could ship with both IE11 and Spartan. However, Spartan is simply the designated codename by Microsoft as it isn't clear and the name could change during its release. The report further stated that IE 11 will support backward-compatibility and Spartan will be made available for both desktop and mobile versions of Windows 10.

Several reports suggests that the new browser will look and feel like Chrome and Firefox. It will also support extensions. Lately, IE that is bundled with Windows 10, is facing stiff competition from alternatives like Chrome, Firefox and Apple's Safari.

Recommended link:10 Best Smartphones of 2014 With Nano SIM Card Slots

Microsoft will most probably unveil Spartan on January 21 along with the next set of Windows 10 features. "But my sources also aren't sure if Spartan will be functional enough for inclusion in the Windows 10 January Technical Preview and mobile preview builds that are expected to be available to testers in early 2015. It may not show up in the test builds until some point later, they say," the report said.

Neowin reveals that, "Microsoft has made a rather large decision regarding Trident, the engine that powers the browser, and no, it's not adopting Webkit. The team behind the engine has forked Trident into two components that will result in a new .DLL when the browser ships. Because of the fork, the modern component of the IE12 should be lightweight compared to what we have now in IE11, at least, that's the hope because all of the legacy base has been removed."

Stay tuned to Gizbot for more updates!