IE successor in Windows 10: Project Spartan begins

In the current Windows 10 preview, Microsoft is integrating a version of its new "Spartan" browser for the first time. In addition to the new design, testers can also try out a few functions of the Internet Explorer successor.

Anyone who has signed up for Microsoft's Windows Insider Program and installed the Technical Preview of Windows 10 on a computer can now try out the successor to Internet Explorer for the first time. "Project Spartan" is the most noticeable innovation in Build 10049.

According to Microsoft, the new browser should be fast, compatible and "made for the modern web". With it, users should be able to easily share content, discover things and deal with affairs online. Spartan is still in a very early stage, but the preliminary version already gives a good foretaste of its fresh design and Microsoft has already built in some functions.

Helpful assistant

– The voice assistant Cortana, who recently started working in the Windows 10 preview, is also integrated directly into the browser. However, it is only available in the English version in the background, among other things to provide additional information independently while surfing.

– Users can color-mark words or sections of text in Spartan, add comments and share them as "Web Notes" or upload them to the Onedrive cloud storage facility.

– Spartan offers a reduced reading view of articles, as is already known from other browsers such as Apple's Safari. Only text and images are displayed without advertising and other elements. Users can also create reading lists and save web pages or PDF files.

Microsoft wants to release Windows 10 as early as the summer, a date in late August or early September is likely. Users who have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 installed on their computers will be offered the new operating system free of charge for one year. At the same time as the desktop software, Microsoft is also developing mobile Windows 10 versions. Which device receives which variant depends on the display size. The aim is a uniform platform for all devices with universal apps.

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