The newest web browser from Microsoft will be called Microsoft Edge which will be the official name of the project codenamed Spartan.
Microsoft’s vice president of operating systems, Joe Belfiore, said at Microsoft’s annual build developer’s conference in San Francisco, that the new browser will ship with Windows 10 on all devices and will eventually replace the aging Internet Explorer web browser.
Microsoft Edge will be able to run Google Chrome and Firefox extensions allowing developers to carry their favourite plugins between browsers. However exactly how users will be able to download and install other plugins is still uncertain.
The name “Edge” is actually taken from the new rendering engine called EdgeHTML which the new web browser will try to use as default in Windows 10.
Microsoft Edge is designed to be basic and have minimal standard features so you can bolt on exactly what you want using plugins and extensions. However the review version of Microsoft Edge does come with some features like digital ink annotation, Cortana integration, and a built-in reading list. Microsoft Edge is designed to give users new ways to interact with the code behind websites, offering them new degrees of website interactivity rather than just the bland “read-only” style we currently see today.
There was no mentioned of a release date for the Edge browser, only that it will ship with Windows 10 so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to download it as a standalone browser until sometime after the release of Windows 10.