Spartan Web Browser! OMFG on speed rendering web pages.

[Lloydbm41]

Just enabled the experimental setting in IE11 to utilize Spartan's rendering engine and holy mother of god is it faster! You can only enable this if you are running the latest Windows 10 preview (which is 9926), but considering we are just in the Alpha stages of Spartan and the Beta stages of Windows 10, color me impressed. I've been dealing with the bugs and issues related up to this last Build of 9926 and there have been many. But I consider 9926 good enough now to use as a daily driver. Def Beta naming worthy.

I think people are going to be very impressed with Spartan. I'm personally glad to see Microsoft moving away from IE. Try Spartan out if you are running the Preview builds on your PC. Just type about:flags in the IE address bar. Then enable the setting you see below next to the arrow. Restart IE.

For those curious, I have a dual screen setup on my PC and using Remote Chrome app on my iPad for this screen shot. That is why it looks the way it does.

 

[Fernandez21]

how did you do that? I cant find the settings.

 

[Lloydbm41]

how did you do that? I cant find the settings.

If you are on the latest Windows Preview 10 build (which is 9926), open IE, type about:flags in the address bar, then select the option to enable (as seen in my screenshot).

If you aren't on the latest Windows Preview build, the option is not available.

 

[maflynn]

If you are on the latest Windows Preview 10 build (which is 9926), open IE, type about:flags in the address bar, then select the option to enable (as seen in my screenshot).

If you aren't on the latest Windows Preview build, the option is not available.

I want to play with it, but I don't want to install windows 10 on my main machine - I'll have to wait and see. Looks interesting, I can't wait.

 

[rhinosrcool]

Windows 10 looks like it's going to be a winner. Not only does it look like it will be a hit on desktops but for phones, as well. Hopefully, MS comes up with a nice flagship WP.

Spartan is getting good reviews. I think MS deserves kudos for the new browser. We'll see how things unfold.

 

[JamesMike]

Just enabled the experimental setting in IE11 to utilize Spartan's rendering engine and holy mother of god is it faster! You can only enable this if you are running the latest Windows 10 preview (which is 9926), but considering we are just in the Alpha stages of Spartan and the Beta stages of Windows 10, color me impressed. I've been dealing with the bugs and issues related up to this last Build of 9926 and there have been many. But I consider 9926 good enough now to use as a daily driver. Def Beta naming worthy.

I think people are going to be very impressed with Spartan. I'm personally glad to see Microsoft moving away from IE. Try Spartan out if you are running the Preview builds on your PC. Just type about:flags in the IE address bar. Then enable the setting you see below next to the arrow. Restart IE.

For those curious, I have a dual screen setup on my PC and using Remote Chrome app on my iPad for this screen shot. That is why it looks the way it does.

Do you think it is better than Chrome or Firefox?

 

[Lloydbm41]

Do you think it is better than Chrome or Firefox?

I can't say. You can't actually use the browser. I am still using IE11, it just has the Spartan rendering engine enabled.

But it is really fast compared to before. Don't know if it is gonna be better than Chrome or Firefix? Gonna have to wait and see once Spartan is released.

 

[AustinIllini]

Windows 10 looks like it's going to be a winner. Not only does it look like it will be a hit on desktops but for phones, as well. Hopefully, MS comes up with a nice flagship WP.

Spartan is getting good reviews. I think MS deserves kudos for the new browser. We'll see how things unfold.

Agreed. Windows 10 for desktop is the future. It is too bad Android beat them to the punchline on phones. Even Windows 10 won't save MSFT from Android.

 

[maflynn]

Agreed. Windows 10 for desktop is the future. It is too bad Android beat them to the punchline on phones. Even Windows 10 won't save MSFT from Android.

Technically MS beat everyone to the phones, yet they blew their chances. Wince was out long before Android or the iPhone. MS had wince released in 1996, while its initial form was for PDAs, still Microsoft had plenty of opportunities to take control, and they blew it.

I like what windows 10 has to offer, but I do agree with you, they're not in catch up mode in the mobile arena, they're in trying to survive mode.

I like WP8.1, the thing that killed it for me was the lack of quality apps that I needed. There are a lot of apps and its growing daily but not the ones I needed, plus being mostly an apple family with everyone on iOS, it was difficult to be the lone man out. I'm still tempted to pick up a cheap Nokia on swappa to use along side my iPhone 6

 

[spinedoc77]

The only thing really holding me back from WP is widgets versus tiles. Tiles are nice, but widgets superior IMO for instant access to information. Certainly having more apps on android helps as well. Finally IMO there isn't any compelling hardware on WP yet, I'm not a big fan at all of the Nokia line. I'm definitely poised to switch though, I just haven't found a reason to yet.

 

[AustinIllini]

I like WP8.1, the thing that killed it for me was the lack of quality apps that I needed. There are a lot of apps and its growing daily but not the ones I needed, plus being mostly an apple family with everyone on iOS, it was difficult to be the lone man out. I'm still tempted to pick up a cheap Nokia on swappa to use along side my iPhone 6

You nailed this on the head and it starts with Microsoft. If Microsoft wanted better adoption of the "Metro environment", they would have done away with the desktop version. In the same vein, they should have had a working metro Office sweet at launch, not now when it is too late to save Windows 8/8.1.

 

[mKTank]

You nailed this on the head and it starts with Microsoft. If Microsoft wanted better adoption of the "Metro environment", they would have done away with the desktop version. In the same vein, they should have had a working metro Office sweet at launch, not now when it is too late to save Windows 8/8.1.

"Done away with the desktop version."

Well I for one am glad you're not in charge of the Windows division.

 

[AustinIllini]

"Done away with the desktop version."



Well I for one am glad you're not in charge of the Windows division.

God forbid the software work as expected. There needs to be one, unified browser. Not the current Windows trash. You or I could out manage the last 6 years of Microsoft blindfolded.

 

[mKTank]

God forbid the software work as expected. There needs to be one, unified browser. Not the current Windows trash. You or I could out manage the last 6 years of Microsoft blindfolded.

Lol they're doing just fine. People always struggle with adoption of new technologies that differ greatly from the old.

Microsoft's latest released OS, Windows 8.1, is the fastest and most stable one they've ever made. I can't begin to say the same about Apple and their latest OS with a straight face. I'd say they're being managed just fine.

 

[AustinIllini]

Lol they're doing just fine. People always struggle with adoption of new technologies that differ greatly from the old.

Microsoft's latest released OS, Windows 8.1, is the fastest and most stable one they've ever made. I can't begin to say the same about Apple and their latest OS with a straight face. I'd say they're being managed just fine.

You would be 100% wrong.

Windows 8 will represent a time when Microsoft and its products hit rock bottom.

Windows 10 is a step in the right direction, but the unclear boundary between "desktop" and "metro" apps needs to be rectified. The fact that they haven't already is a disgrace and a major part of the reason the enterprise (MSFT's bread and butter) are running to the hills from Windows 8.

 

[gotluck]

I'm still on windows 7 personally, but performance on 8.1 is actually better indeed

we are running server2012 which has the 8.1 ui and yes, I am glad our workstation are on 7, because i dont want to deal with teaching people its really just the UI that is the issue for enterprise IMO

 

[mKTank]

You would be 100% wrong.

Windows 8 will represent a time when Microsoft and its products hit rock bottom.

Windows 10 is a step in the right direction, but the unclear boundary between "desktop" and "metro" apps needs to be rectified. The fact that they haven't already is a disgrace and a major part of the reason the enterprise (MSFT's bread and butter) are running to the hills from Windows 8.

You would be wrong actually. Windows 8.1 is superior to 7 in every way except for the learning curve. It has far fewer bugs and is much faster at pretty much everything, including gaming. Windows 8.1 is the best operating system Microsoft has ever done but has sold poorly due to the aforementioned learning curve. If your entire argument bases how good a product is by how much it has sold, then I think I'm done wasting my time here.

As it stands, Apple's latest operating systems are struggling speed-wise and stability-wise. The same cannot be said for Microsoft. Nobody's "running to the hills," Windows 8 is much better for enterprise users except for, again, the learning curve. They want to avoid teaching business users everywhere how to use Metro and just stuck with Windows 7.

You Apple guys really need to scrape the bottom of the barrel for excuses nowadays don't you.

 

[AustinIllini]

You would be wrong actually. Windows 8.1 is superior to 7 in every way except for the learning curve. It has far fewer bugs and is much faster at pretty much everything, including gaming. Windows 8.1 is the best operating system Microsoft has ever done but has sold poorly due to the aforementioned learning curve. If your entire argument bases how good a product is by how much it has sold, then I think I'm done wasting my time here.

"Better" means nothing if it doesn't sell. Especially when your company is a software company. It is not selling to the professional market.

As it stands, Apple's latest operating systems are struggling speed-wise and stability-wise. The same cannot be said for Microsoft. Nobody's "running to the hills," Windows 8 is much better for enterprise users except for, again, the learning curve. They want to avoid teaching business users everywhere how to use Metro and just stuck with Windows 7.

That's a failure on Microsoft's part. Good software is intuitive and has minimal learning curve. See also: Android, iOS.

You Apple guys really need to scrape the bottom of the barrel for excuses nowadays don't you.

I resent the idea that my opinion somehow means less because I use apple products in my personal life. I log more than 40 hours a week on my Windows work machine. If you "Windows guys" can't accept the fact your Windows 8 was going up in flames from the beginning, I'm not going to waste any more posts trying to explain it to you.

Windows 8 is a cataclysmic failure. Windows 10 and Spartan are ways in which Microsoft is separating itself from that mistake.

 

[mKTank]

"Better" means nothing if it doesn't sell. Especially when your company is a software company. It is not selling to the professional market.



That's a failure on Microsoft's part. Good software is intuitive and has minimal learning curve. See also: Android, iOS.



I resent the idea that my opinion somehow means less because I use apple products in my personal life. I log more than 40 hours a week on my Windows work machine. If you "Windows guys" can't accept the fact your Windows 8 was going up in flames from the beginning, I'm not going to waste any more posts trying to explain it to you.

Windows 8 is a cataclysmic failure. Windows 10 and Spartan are ways in which Microsoft is separating itself from that mistake.

As I thought, his whole argument is based on sales.

9/10 would waste time arguing with brand loyalists again. Funny how the pages have turned and Microsoft is the one making stable, fast software and Apple is making clunkware. Sure makes people super defensive (defensive enough to preach their hate for the competitors in a thread about web browsers).

 

[Lloydbm41]

Personally, I had no problem with 8.1 because I didn't run it in 'metro' mode. I'm not a fan of tiles all over my screens. I opted for Win7 style and never had any issues, especially after they added the Start button back and the ability to close apps with the X at the top right corner instead of the weird hold, slide down, wait design they had for metro.

With windows 10, I'm still using the normal desktop environment from Win7, but I like how they have incorporated a very minimal amount of metro into things like 'settings', start button, search and so on. It isn't obtrusive and eerything is intuitive.

Windows 10 is the new Windows 7. Windows 8 will likely be looked at as the Vista of its day.

 

[maflynn]

Windows 8 will likely be looked at as the Vista of its day.

It appears to be the case, though 8.1 is a solid product. I'm really happy with 8.1 on my SP3, and I liked Wp8.1, though I did sell the Nokia that was running it.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread. I may look for a cheap Nokia that will be able to run windows 10. I like my IP6+, but there are things in WP environment that I do miss.

 

[spinedoc77]

"Done away with the desktop version."

Well I for one am glad you're not in charge of the Windows division.

Lol, +1. It always amazes me when people dump on windows 8, I just don't get it. I understand removing the start button was an idiot move, but literally 3 minutes spent downloading and installing classic shell and problem solved. The entire "metro mode confused me" crying has me confused as well, just don't use it if you don't like it. Windows 8 is by FAR the most stable version I've used, and 8.1 fixed most of the issues.

Microsoft at least has the balls to bridge the mobile/desktop divide which no one else has attempted, and they did a damn fine job of it although with some growing pains. If it wasn't for them I'd still be stuck using an ipad, now you won't catch me touching an ipad even if my life depended on it. I could never go back to that level.

 

[mKTank]

Lol, +1. It always amazes me when people dump on windows 8, I just don't get it. I understand removing the start button was an idiot move, but literally 3 minutes spent downloading and installing classic shell and problem solved. The entire "metro mode confused me" crying has me confused as well, just don't use it if you don't like it. Windows 8 is by FAR the most stable version I've used, and 8.1 fixed most of the issues.

Microsoft at least has the balls to bridge the mobile/desktop divide which no one else has attempted, and they did a damn fine job of it although with some growing pains. If it wasn't for them I'd still be stuck using an ipad, now you won't catch me touching an ipad even if my life depended on it. I could never go back to that level.

Well I think iPad is for a slightly different market. I still can't find a Windows 8.1 tablet that is as thin, light, small, and offers 10 hours of battery life. But yeah, 8.1 is a solid product and IMO is the best desktop OS out there. Yosemite had the chance to reclaim the title but the bugs are pretty bad, even with the update that just came out today.

 

[Renzatic]

Microsoft at least has the balls to bridge the mobile/desktop divide which no one else has attempted, and they did a damn fine job of it although with some growing pains.

I'd say "has the balls to start the bridge between the mobile/desktop divide", because the biggest problem most people had with Windows 8 is that it still felt too divided and unfinished. Instead of a smooth blending of the two, they just popped one on top of the other.

The good news is Windows 10 finally does this. Looking at how OneNote plays across the different form factors makes me excited for one big, unified environment again.

 

[mi7chy]

IE11 is already fast enough so I hope they work on making it more correct and stable.