Microsoft’s New Windows 10 Browser May Support Chrome Add-Ons

Microsoft Corp. is expected to release more details about its browser for Windows 10 during an event Wednesday, and a new report claims the "Spartan" project browser will support extensions originally made for Google Chrome. A report from last month had said that Microsoft was planning to replace Internet Explorer (IE) with a "revolutionary" browser more like Chrome.

While Google Inc.’s Chrome allows users to download a number of popular extensions or “add-ons” to customize their experience, Microsoft has so far not included the feature in its Internet Explorer browser. Features like blocking advertisements or including chat functions are popular on Chrome, and Microsoft is reportedly planning to include some Chrome extensions to make its latest browser more attractive to web developers as well as users, according to a report from Neowin.

The browser, code-named “Spartan,” is an olive branch from Microsoft to web developers, whom it has alienated in the past by eschewing a number of open standards for Internet Explorer, thereby forcing them to develop specifically for the popular browser. Spartan is reportedly part of a new approach making Windows 10 easier to support on the Internet.

One user of the anonymous code and text-sharing site Pastebin included a portion of Microsoft’s preliminary code for the new Windows 10 browser. The code shows how similar its extensions operate compared to Chrome, and will make it easy for developers to offer them on Project Spartan.

Microsoft’s replacement for IE11 will reportedly allow developers to port their extensions “quickly” and “with minimal effort,” rather than natively supporting Google’s browser, according to Neowin. The site says Microsoft’s new browser is reportedly so radically different that it will be offered alongside IE11 in Windows 10.

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant is expected to announce more details Wednesday at a live event scheduled for 9 a.m. PST (12 p.m. EST).