Aside from virtual desktops, Cortana digital assistant, and a reintroduced Start menu, Windows 10 also embarked on a brand-new browser for desktop users. Originally referred to as Project Spartan, which would eventually be named Microsoft Edge, this upgrade was necessary due to Internet Explorer's evident limitations and inability to meet the evolving demands of the modern web.

Here’s how Project Spartan delivered a sleek, modern, and performant web alternative, went through several hiccups, and emerged as one of the best browsers on any platform.

Welcome to Project Spartan

Back in January 2015, Microsoft first shared details about Project Spartan and, after a couple of months, made it available for early adopters as a part of Windows 10 Technical Preview build for PCs. The software giant buildt a new web rendering engine from the ground up to deliver a secure, reliable, and fast web-browsing experience to Windows 10 users.

Aside from that, it had unique add-ons like a built-in Cortana to deliver more information when you need it, inking capabilities to share a quick web note via email or social network, a distraction-free Reading View, and a lot more. At the Build Conference keynote in April 2015, Microsoft officially rebranded it as Microsoft Edge.

One glaring omission in Microsoft’s web efforts

Although Microsoft Edge scored high on overall smoothness, touch-friendly UI, and speed, it fell short in one crucial area – Extensions. Web extensions play an important role in extending your web browser’s capabilities. While the Edge add-on store featured a solid range of extensions from reputable developers, it couldn't compete with the extensive libraries of Chrome and Firefox.

This was a key factor behind many users opting for other browsers instead of Edge, creating significant challenges for Microsoft in motivating Windows users to seriously consider its browser.

Microsoft Edge in a Chromium avatar

In early 2020, Edge went through a major makeover and moved away from Microsoft’s framework in favor of the Chromium platform. This change of heart brought two major advantages for Microsoft. It opened the Chrome Web Store to Edge users and eliminated any compatibility issues due to a different web rendering engine.

By adopting the Chromium framework, Microsoft Edge started looking a lot like Google Chrome, making it easier for Chrome users to switch to Edge.

Going from barebones to a feature-packed solution

Ever since its move to Chromium on Edge, Microsoft hasn’t looked back. The company didn’t just move to Chromium and call it a day. It brought useful add-ons like different mode options to boost speed or efficiency, easy access to Microsoft 365 apps, security features like Password Monitor, and simplified privacy settings.

Over the years, Microsoft has been quite aggressive with new features on the Edge browser. Thanks to a built-in reader mode, a powerful PDF reader with annotation tools, read-aloud, and Collections, Edge surely has ample features to meet power users’ needs.

With features like sleeping tabs, vertical tabs, split screen, Workspace, and group tabs, Edge has undoubtedly the best tab management among all desktop browsers. Also, unlike Safari, cross-platform availability isn’t an issue with Edge since it’s accessible on most platforms, including Linux.

Microsoft did not hesitate to incorporate its own apps and services, such as OneNote, Skype, Microsoft Designer, Outlook, and News Feed, making Edge an attractive choice for Microsoft 365 users. And looking at the current market share, Microsoft’s efforts seem to have paid off. Microsoft Edge has a healthy desktop browser market share of 13.8%, beating the likes of Safari, Firefox, and Opera, trailing only Google Chrome (which corners 64.5% of the market).

Microsoft Edge in an AI era

In the current AI era, Microsoft has taken the lead with Copilot integration in its apps and services, including Edge. Copilot is just a click away in Edge, and also offers an option to rewrite emails and quick drafts in no time. Recently, the company has announced an AI-powered tab organization where you can group all your tabs under relevant headers with just a single click.

These are still the early days of AI, and we can’t wait to see how Microsoft takes it further in future interactions.

The rise of Microsoft Edge

It’s 2024, and Microsoft Edge is no longer a joke of the town like Internet Explorer once was. It’s right up there with the best of Apple, Google, and Mozilla, and it even beats their offerings in certain areas. While Project Spartan didn’t take off due to a lack of web extensions, Microsoft promptly addressed this by adopting a Chromium rendering engine, providing Windows users with a strong browser option.

Despite its strengths, Microsoft Edge has some shortcomings. The default setup is cluttered, with unnecessary add-ons enabled, which might push users towards alternative platforms. You really should tweak certain settings to get the best experience out of Microsoft Edge.