Project Spartan: We get our claws on Microsoft's browser for Windows 10

The Register ^ | April 1, 2015 | Tim Anderson

[dayglored]

First look.

Microsoft has released the first public preview build of Windows 10 to include Project Spartan, its new web browser.

Is Project Spartan really new? The browser engine, called EdgeHTML, is a fork of the Internet Explorer (IE) web engine, called Trident, though with a key difference: EdgeHTML has no compatibility modes and will simply render the latest web standards Microsoft is able to deliver.

The user interface is new but is really the successor to “Modern IE”, the Windows 8 web browser that runs in the don’t-call-it-Metro environment.

Users will perceive Project Spartan as new though, since it will be the default browser in Windows 10 and like other Metro apps now runs in a window, integrating with the Windows desktop.

...

[dayglored]

The Register takes a look at Project Spartan -- the new Windows 10 browser.

[dayglored]

For the Windows Ping List... PING!

[aft_lizard]

I havent received the new build yet. I am excited to try a new browser. Chrome is crashing more and more and is such a huge memory hog. Windows 10 is a really exciting OS. Although I am sure the usuals will come in and make a baseless claim on it soon.

Oh please add me to your pinglist.

[dayglored]

> I havent received the new build yet. I am excited to try a new browser. Chrome is crashing more and more and is such a huge memory hog. Windows 10 is a really exciting OS. Although I am sure the usuals will come in and make a baseless claim on it soon.

I have to pull out my Win10 VM at home tonight and let it update. I'm psyched to play with Spartan.

> Oh please add me to your pinglist.

Yes Sir!

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“The user interface is new but is really the successor to “Modern IE”, the Windows 8 web browser that runs in the don’t-call-it-Metro environment. “

Snicker-don’t-call-it-Metro environment. I don’t like the metro browser so I hope it is not the same.

[miliantnutcase]

The GUI is blah.. but dat memory foot print! MS actually pulled it off!

[CyberAnt]

I’m so glad to hear that about Chrome.

I’m also glad I didn’t download it.

[Dalberg-Acton]

Add me to your Windows ping list, please.

[dfwgator]

Great, yet another browser we’ll have to test our webapps against.

[molson209]

Don’t update to build 10049 it takes forever

[dayglored]

> Add me to your Windows ping list, please.

Done!

[daniel1212]

I think if Chrome was not pushed so much then it would have less than 20% of the market. Firefox and derivatives are far superior for poer users. You cannot even get multiple tab rows (FF TabMixPlus extn.) with Chrome. Or IE, or most any browser, among many other extns..

DT DeepDark theme, With Colorful Tabs

Extensions

[daniel1212]

My update is at 79%, and going. Let you know how Spartan it is.

[NormsRevenge]

We all know what happened to the Spartans! 8-o

[minnesota_bound]

I do support at a company and we have to deal with the mess that is IE6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and the activex controls which change with each version.

IE6 and 7 are under 1% use in this country but 8 is still out there and works with the company websites for the most part but not all pages. However it is hit and miss going to other versions. IE11 is not used by the company as it is not compatible with some of our sites and other company sites we work with. We use IE10 as the standard for our own intranet site. To use it with webmail and other parts of the site we need to use compatibility mode which dumbs it down to IE9. The vendor company sites that we work with may need 8 thru 11.

Looking forward to “Spartan”...... I know it won’t work as Microsoft left a trail of wrecked websites in it’s path on the internet.

We have been forced to use Google Chrome and Firefox along with IE as they each look at webpages differently.

[dayglored]

> We all know what happened to the Spartans! 8-o

Ruh-roh!!

[dayglored]

> My update is at 79%, and going. Let you know how Spartan it is.

Turned out I didn't have a chance tonight after all, so maybe later this week. How did yours do?

[trebb]

Chrome is crashing more and more and is such a huge memory hog.

Haven't had any issues with Chrome - are you keeping it updated?

[daniel1212]

Don’t update to build 10049 it takes forever

A long time you mean and true. I let it run it overnight.

[daniel1212]

Turned out I didn't have a chance tonight after all, so maybe later this week. How did yours do?

I let it update over night, and it ran from about midnight to 4AM, based upon event viewer. Which always has error messages, such as:

The system firmware has changed the processor's memory type range registers (MTRRs) across a sleep state transition (S4). This can result in reduced resume performance.

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {9E175B6D-F52A-11D8-B9A5-505054503030}

The program searchui.exe version 0.0.0.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.

'Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy' install failed for saved2serve@gmail.com. Error: 'Package could not be registered.' (2.5731477 seconds)

And about a dozen others, none of which seem to affect performance.

Spartan is entirely unimpressive, except for the web note/write on screen feature, which i do not find useful yet, and translate this page. Why not enable different colored tabs, multiple tab rows (and adjust tab size), session saving, site searching, and many other options Firefox and derivatives has?

Seems you like have less features overall is supposed to be an improvement with MS in some things, including browsers. W/8/10 has less personalization vs. XP as regards things like inactive/active window title/tool tip etc. font and color, things. You have to use high contrast now to get even a few of those functions.