“We’ve known for months now that Microsoft was working on a new browser currently named Project Spartan for Windows 10, but it always appeared as though the company planned to keep Internet Explorer front and center,” Kristofer Wouk reports for Fox News. “But the negative connotations with the name were just too much — Microsoft is finally giving up on IE.”
“The most recent iterations of the browser have worked well enough, yet the legacy of the monstrosity that was Internet Explorer 6 loomed large over them,” Wouk reports. “While we knew that Spartan would be included in Windows 10, it wasn’t clear if it would be the operating system’s default browser, and if it was, whether it would eventually carry the Internet Explorer name.”
Wouk reports, “It’s not quite the end of the line for IE, however. The to-be-renamed Project Spartan will be the default Windows 10 browsing experience, but Internet Explorer will be included in some versions of the OS for comparability purposes relating to enterprise software.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Ah, Internet Exploder is no more (mostly; MS carries their legacy baggage like an anchor around their collective neck).
So, what will they name their next POS?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
This move was an obvious prediction months ago.
Microsoft has rebranded initiatives many times in the past, especially all their mobile hardware.
– Windows CE in 1996
– PocketPC
– Project Origami
– Ultra-mobile PC
– Windows Mobile
– Windows Phone
Pretty crazy that they had to rebrand their Internet browser!
A multi-rebranding from Apple has been its mobile (i.e. cloud) services over the years.
– eWorld
– iTools
– dot Mac
– MobileMe
– iCloud
Maybe iCloud is here to stay?
I always thought there was a lot of truth in the WinCE product name.
Also eWorld, if you took the e to stand for empty. Boy, that was miles ago. The world has come so far.
They’re skating to where the puck used to be.
With no skates.
at a baseball diamond
… in the middle of a summer dust storm.
…in Texas.
…wearing straight jackets.
…screaming “developers developers”
…without an audience
….with a blue E symbolising E-vil for a hat
IE usage must be rather low, as for me, I haven’t seen anyone use it in years.
On thin ice too…
Different name? Same cruddy code base?
If you’re still using IE but want a better browsing experience, ye have not because ye axe not.
> But the negative connotations with the name were just too much…
Negative connotation? “Windows” has FAR greater negative connotation. THAT is the name Microsoft needs to axe.
I guess they mean Spartan suggests independence, uncooperativeness, a single minded approach as with the Greek State.
goodbye, IE. welcome back, Bob.
New name for Project Spartan?
“Trojan”, for safe browsing.
They just need to drop a few consonants from “Spartan” for the final name:
“Satan” seems appropriate.
Start with Spartan name, drop a few letters and you have Spam.
SPARTAN is just SATAN with PR.
Mac + and SJG: brilliant!
You give Microsoft too much creative credit, I can not believe they would have even dreamt this up. – brilliant yes as was trojan for the safe browsing feature.
Roman was not built in a day – but Macrosloth, moves slow and is behind now. Who really cares.
My guess would be that M$ names it: Win Surfer. 😀
Not the least clever thought in this thread.
Following Microsoft’s software design philosophy, here is what we can expect from Spartan, or whatever it will be called:
1. It will do the same things as IE, but every command will be moved to a new location that is impossible to find.
2. A big-ass ribbon will be introduced at the top that will take up 25% of the browser window.
3. It will kinda look similar to Outlook and Office, but not quite, which will make it even more difficult to use.
4. Rather than using web standards like Safari and Firefox do, it will have a number of propriety features that will make it incompatible with many websites.
5 It will not work on MS’s own mobile devices.
Other than those factors, it will surely be just another POS from the boys in Redmond.
You forgot me toon that M$ will probably hold a funeral for Safari. 😀
…to mention…
2.1 Every new tab you add, a new ribbon is added too. After 5 tabs you no longer have any screen space for the webpage.
I miss “monkey boy”……….now we can only see him at the Los Angeles basketball games tardingout to the max…….
Its not an issue, Microsoft funds and controls to some degree, FireFox anyways.
Mozilla Corp. / Mozilla Inc.
Would the iPhone include a portrait of Steve Balmer screaming? 😀
Error, logo not iPhone.
Mozilla, Inc. derives most of their income from Google Google is FF’s default browser, because Google pays for the privilege. M$ has nothing to do with it, I’m afraid.
“But the negative connotations with the name were just too much — Microsoft”
Just so, ipse dixit. There’svthe name they need to dump!
Good riddance! But in the end, the new browser will be a big pile of crap just like their current browser.
More blood on Apple’s WebKit.
Perhaps if Microsoft had cut off more of its gangrene parts sooner (and I mean years sooner) it wouldn’t be dying a steady and painful death.
Of course, it would have had to innovate along the way, too. That’s an analogy for another day….
Maybe M$ will add code to an open source browser and brand it. 😀
The U.S. govt. Just had a brain seize then. Cause they and most of their websites rely exclusively on IE. Now what? Better sic Obummer on um.
*giggle* Actually, I expect the plentiful security holes in IE have been a useful way to PWN and surveil people-of-interest over the Internet. Now what the NSA et al. do???
As for IE crap like Active X, that’s been on the way out for some time. Hopefully it will now finally die the death. It’s been a wide open gate to hacking IE users since day 1. Silly MS.
*giggle* Actually, I expect the plentiful security holes in IE have been a useful way to PWN and surveil people-of-interest over the Internet. Now what the NSA et al. do???
As for IE crap like Active X, that’s been on the way out for some time. Hopefully it will now finally die the death. It’s been a wide open gate to hacking IE users since day 1. Silly MS.
Finally!! After all the damage. Better later than never!
Loved the MDN comment, the words “is no more” and reference to “anchor.” Reminded me of a line in the moving about the ending of the British slave trade by William Wilberforce, as it was announced in Parliament, “The slave trade is no more.” The slave ships were anchored in port. Hopefully, this will lead to less Microsoft slaves.
Since, they’ll probably just rip off Apple, let’s think of synonyms for Safari, like Quest or Jaunt or Ramble, or Odyssey.
Marketing Logic: If a product name has a bad connotation, change the name. (o_O)
Hopefully, the damned Spartan thing will actually be SAFE and follow WEB STANDARDS for a fsckin’ change. Wouldn’t that be a miracle. 😛
With that logic, Microsoft will soon be changing their name. They already changed CEO’s.
What an excellent idea! 😉
Picosoft?
But I thought the big blue “e” WAS the internet? /s
Spartan? Meaning empty or lack of items? Or lack of functionality?
Oh, well.
Yes! 😀
The only decent IE That I ever used was IE 5 for Mac which MS gave up on when Safari was introduced around 10-12 years ago. The PC version on my work computer is horrible. HORRIBLE!