Originally posted on TechCrunch:
Remember when Chrome was fast? Microsoft might, if ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley's recent report that the software company is building a lightweight browser, codenamed "Spartan," bears out.
According to Foley, Spartan is "new" and "isn't [Internet Explorer]." Her post notes that it could be set free inside of the Windows 10 release schedule. In short, Microsoft may be building a speedy, simpler browser that maintains use of Internet Explorer's rendering engine.
Internet Explorer has had a ribald history, growing from zero market share, to market-dominating heights, to slow decline in the face of Firefox, to faster decline in the face of Chrome, to a recent re-acceleration under a new, standards-based approach. Its life has been bitcoin's late 2013 to date, but stretched out over several decades.
Whether the company's recent moves have been enough to salvage Internet Explorer's tarnished brand, however, is open to interpretation. Microsoft certainly wants its browser to gain market...
