Say goodbye to Internet Explorer as you know it

The reason Microsoft is rolling with Windows 10 instead of Windows 9 for its next major operating system is because the changes are so dramatic, it warranted a generational leap in naming the product. That's the official story Microsoft wants us to believe, anyway, and while there are alternative theories -- like lazy coding -- there are parts of Windows 10 that are truly shaping up to be vastly different than Windows 8/8.1. That includes the browser, and word on the web is that Microsoft is rolling out a new vehicle for surfing through cyberspace in Windows 10.

There's already been plenty of talk about Microsoft stripping down Internet Explorer so that it more closely resembles the look and feel of Chrome, but according to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, the Redmond outfit is actually building a new browser. The codename for the new browser is "Spartan" and as far as Foley's sources are concerned, it's not an early version of IE 12, but something completely different.

Those same sources say Spartan will still use Microsoft's Chakra JavaScript engine and Trident rendering engine (sorry, WebKit fans), but in a new lightweight package that resembles Chrome and Firefox, and of course supports extensions.

The desktop version of Windows 10 will supposedly ship with both IE 11 and Spartan. Why both? IE 11 will be included for backwards compatibility, while Spartan will ship on both desktop builds and mobile versions of the OS.