Just a few weeks back, Microsoft pushed out a new Windows 10 build which solved quite a number of issues and back then they promised that the next build will feature the new Windows 10 browser, Project Spartan. Well, this morning the Windows 10 team released Build 10049 which fixes some problems from the previous build.

But, the biggest change in this new preview build is the inclusion of the Project Spartan browser which was long promised by the team over at Redmond. The browser currently doesn't feature anything that we've not yet seen and in addition to that, Project Spartan will be pinned on your taskbar by default.


I have been using it for a short while now and from my initial impressions, the performance was quite OK. Not as blazing fast as Chrome but given that it doesn't have a solid name yet all can be forgiven. I even did a HTML test comparison between IE 11 on Windows 10 and the results came out identical.

Some of the tagline features of this new browser made to replace Internet Explorer is Cortana, Inking on top of the page, a new distraction free reading mode and also a new engine.

Overall, Microsoft notes that Project Spartan in Build 10049 is still a preview of what they're working on and the design and features as still not final. Things can drastically change in the coming months leading up to the launch of Windows 10 and Microsoft will be closely monitoring the feedback towards the new browser to implement tweaks to the UI.

You can try out Project Spartan for yourself today by becoming a Windows Insider and sideloading a preview build of Windows 10. However, at the moment Build 10049 is only available to Windows Insiders which choose the 'fast' ring on Windows Update. As per usual, Build 10049 will be available to 'slow' ring users and as a standalone ISO by the end of the week.