Is This The Beginning Of The End For Internet Explorer? Windows 10 Said To Introduce New Primary Web Browser

I think few would argue that Microsoft had many missteps with Windows 8. Some have even gone as far as calling it a failure on par with Windows Vista. For those reasons, Microsoft has a lot riding on its next OS, Windows 10, and so far, it seems to be doing well in giving us the impression that we’re going to see a new Windows OS that we can properly call the “best ever”.

Apparently, in order to make that message even clearer, Internet Explorer must go. Or, more appropriately, it needs to begin fading off into the distance. According to ZDNET‘s Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft is working on a brand-new Web browser that’s likely to ship with Windows 10. Codenamed ‘Spartan’, the browser has similar goals as Chrome and Firefox – with a big one being lightweightedness.

While Microsoft still commands quite a big piece of the marketshare pie with Internet Explorer (between 20% and 60%, depending on who’s counting), the general consensus has long been that it doesn’t hold a candle to competitors – especially those that have slimmed down and put a lot of focus into performance. It seems like IE is in a losing battle, so Microsoft (and probably many others) have deemed it necessary to begin winding it down.

Rumor has it that Spartan won’t be adopting the WebKit render engine like most of its competitors, but instead will retain Microsoft’s own Trident engine. Along with that, the Chakra JavaScript engine will also be retained. None of that can be considered a downside, though – updates will be made, and since the goal is to bring Chrome or Firefox-like simplicity to Spartan, it might just manage to eat into the marketshare of those same browsers.

What do you think? Could Microsoft possibly hit us with a real winner here? Or do you think both Chrome and Firefox are safe?