Microsoft Names Internet Explorer Legacy Browser

[NoShoes]

Microsoft Names Internet Explorer Legacy Browser

It's the end of an era.

Looks like Internet Explorer is on its way out and and Project Spartan, Microsoft's codename for Windows 10's new browser, is officially on its way in. Project Spartan will now be "the default browser for all Windows 10 customers", effectively ending the era of immediately opening IE on a new Windows machine to download a different browser.

According to the Internet Explorer Team Blog, both Project Spartan and IE were originally set to be powered by the new rendering engine on Windows 10 and each would have the capability to use the legacy engine when either browser came in contact with legacy technology or enterprise sites. However Kyle Pflug, Program Manager for Project Spartan, revealed today that "on Windows 10, Project Spartan will host [our] new engine exclusively. Internet Explorer will remain fundamentally unchanged from Windows 8.1, continuing to host the legacy engine exclusively."

Pflug continues, "Project Spartan was built for the next generation of the Web, taking the unique opportunity provided by Windows 10 to build a browser with a modern architecture and service model for Windows as a Service. This clean separation of legacy and new will enable us to deliver on that promise.

The choice to keep IE as a legacy browser may not come as a huge shock considering Microsoft's recent announcement regarding Project Spartan's new branding, but IE has been with us all for a long time. Regardless of personal preferences, I know I'll be taking a moment of silence in remembrance of IE.

Source: IE Blog [http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/24/8284781/internet-explorer-is-slowly-dying]

Permalink

 

[Pyro Yuy]

So it will essentially be no different from before, I'll open it, download Firefox/Chrome/whatever, then proceed to ignore it...

But now it's Halo themed!

 

[circularlogic88]

Great! Can't wait to use it to download my preferred browser.

 

[hickwarrior]

Wonder how businesses will react to this. Not so well, from what I've heard. Loads of applications that only really 'work' on IE. Many people not knowing what to do now with IE on its way out.

At least a helpdesk's getting quite a bit more busy with this news.

 

[Recusant]

Wait, wait wait- I can NOT be reading this right. "the default browser for all Windows 10 customers"? As in, you're not going to give us the option to not install it? As in, you're carrying out the EXACT SAME behavior that got you hit with an antitrust lawsuit fourteen years ago? An antitrust lawsuit you LOST? I'm glad you realize how absurd that lawsuit was, especially in light of what Apple gets away with, but how little attention do you think we're paying?

 

[Callate]

Good riddance to IE, but we're still not exactly hearing why we should be so jazzed about Project Spartan. At least, above and beyond all the other browsers people have been using instead of IE all this time.

 

[Hartland]

To me this just sounds like another attempt of "Embrace, extend, extinguish"-routine that MS has done before. Perhaps at a greater scale... since it seems that they want the entire web to assume -their- web-standards yet again. I'm probably just reading too much into it though.

 

[Pyrian]

...effectively ending the era of immediately opening IE on a new Windows machine to download a different browser.

And replacing it with immediately opening Spartan on a new Windows machine to download a different browser?

 

[Baresark]

Yeah.. rebranding IE isn't fooling anyone into thinking you made a quality browser. MS didn't, and they won't... and even if it's perfect, people won't use it.

 

[cathou]

Wonder how businesses will react to this. Not so well, from what I've heard. Loads of applications that only really 'work' on IE. Many people not knowing what to do now with IE on its way out.

At least a helpdesk's getting quite a bit more busy with this news.

but it could take a decade before business adopt Windows 10. most of them havent finish to switch to 7 yet.

i hope spartan is good at least. yeah i know i'm not a "real" geek because i'm actually enjoying internet explorer, and that Firefox have no appeal at all on me. But internet explorer from version 8 and up wasnt bad at all imo

 

[snekadid]

Ok M$... talk to me here. You're claiming that you're not going to make the same mistakes, that Windows 10 will turn everything around. But.... you keep doing the same thing over and over again! I hate to break it to you, but GFWL was Xbox Live on a PC. Everything about it screamed that it was a little window into their console. You're doing the same thing with Spartan, everything you say sounds like you're just changing the name of IE and hoping no one notices that the paint on the Spartan logo rubs off and theres a big blue E underneath.

Level with me here guy. What exactly do you think you're trying to accomplish? Can you even explain it in under 20 buzzwords?

 

[Evil Smurf]

This changes nothing if Spartan is just as backwards as IE

 

[inmunitas]

Wonder how businesses will react to this. Not so well, from what I've heard. Loads of applications that only really 'work' on IE. Many people not knowing what to do now with IE on its way out.

At least a helpdesk's getting quite a bit more busy with this news.

but it could take a decade before business adopt Windows 10. most of them havent finish to switch to 7 yet.

i hope spartan is good at least. yeah i know i'm not a "real" geek because i'm actually enjoying internet explorer, and that Firefox have no appeal at all on me. But internet explorer from version 8 and up wasnt bad at all imo

It has nothing to do with "geek" cred, IE has been a pain in the arse for web developers/designers for over a decade due to its lack of compliance with standards, some of which were finalised in 1999, not to mention presenting itself as a major security vulnerability due to its integration with Windows itself. If that kind of stuff doesn't bother you then don't worry about it.

 

[Aerotrain]

Goodbye, IE. Using you I downloaded Netscape, Firefox, Opera and Chrome over a period of many years and different computers. You were not very good but, goddammit!, you were there when I needed you. I'll refrain from judging Spartan until I try it. If it's just you faking your own death, IE, I'll be so pissed.

 

[MonsterCrit]

I'd be more broken up about this if I didn't see this as a clever marketing trick to basically shrug off the negative image of a name. Question... will the new browser Cnform to more w3c standards or will it be like IE and be the bane of Web Developers the world over because they effectively have to write two different sets of CSS and javascript?

 

[killerbee256]

Isn't Microsoft grand standing a bit here? All they're saying is "hey guys we're changing the name of the built in browser in windows 10!" What's the big deal?

 

[Fox12]

Is this new browser capable of downloading other browsers twice as fast as IE? Thank goodness.

 

[Rad Party God]

Saving your favorite browser on a USB thumbdrive also works as an alternative to not needing to open IE to download said browser

But anyways, if it's going to be the same, then meh, at least we're getting a slightly cooler name coupled with Cortana.

CAPTCHA: Learn from mistakes. Hardly captcha, Microsoft has always wanted to shove IE down our throats.

 

[Gennadios]

"...service model for Windows as a Service."

Uh no, I'll switch to Linux and game on consoles before I adopt any version of Windows that uses those particular terms for marketing. I hope I can still get enough mileage out of my Win7 machine to bypass 10 completely.

 

[beastro]

Goodbye, Internet Exploder.

I shall use you're successor to DL other, better browsers from now on after a reformat and ignore it like I have you for the past 15 years.