The popular Microsoft browser Internet Explorer, or “IE” as it’s affectionately called, is fading into oblivion. To be specific, the browser will still exist, but it’ll no longer be updated. This news came at the same time Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela announced the proposed launch of new browser.
This new browser, which is currently in development, is code-named “Project Spartan,” and it will launch in conjunction with Windows 10. The new browser will feature an all-new rendering engine. It’ll include Microsoft’s OneDrive, a cloud-based note storing service, as well as Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant.
Spartan will be a single browser that you can use on PCs, tablets and smartphones. It will also be a Windows store app.
Internet Explorer will receive tech support until 2016, at which point Spartan will take over. The browser had a dominant run in the 90s and 2000s, operating with little to no rivals until the arrival of Firefox in 2004. When Google introduced Chrome in 2008 Internet Explorer saw its market share slowly dwindle away.
Interestingly, while Internet Explorer may fall to a distant second or third in browser market share, its security still ranks higher than any other browser.
We look forward to the launch of Windows 10, as well as Spartan, in the coming year. RIP Internet Explorer.
