Microsoft Is Phasing Out Internet Explorer

[bing101]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/21/7863331/microsoft-project-spartan-new-web-browser

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/microsoft-is-killing-off-the-internet-explorer-113874075974.html

THis is a concerted effort to for Microsoft to promote Windows 10 for Phones and Tablets.
Yes Microsoft will still have a Browser under the name "Project Spartan"  in Windows 10

[Dr Frankenstein]

I'm pretty sure that Project Spartan is built on IE's codebase and is only a name change.

[hotdogPi]

There needs to be a browser that automatically asks you if you want to download something whenever something would start to get downloaded. That way, malware would be reduced, since some malware is unknowingly downloaded, downloaded from clicking (or viewing!) an advertisement, or downloaded from misclicking.

[SteveG1988]

Spartan is forked from Trident, so it is basically a version of IE

[vdeane]

Yep, just a rebranded IE.  I assume this means that MS finally figured out that web developers are never going to equate IE with anything newer than IE6.

[Scott5114]

There needs to be a browser that automatically asks you if you want to download something whenever something would start to get downloaded. That way, malware would be reduced, since some malware is unknowingly downloaded, downloaded from clicking (or viewing!) an advertisement, or downloaded from misclicking.

Such a thing would be called "Firefox".

[vdeane]

Technically IE asks as well, though there may be a checkbox that users can use to bypass it in the future.  But most malware from the web is either a trojan horse (claims to be something else) or exploits security vulnerabilities that make the presence or absence of such a dialog moot (this is even more severe for IE due to IE's integration with Windows).

[davewiecking]

There needs to be a browser that automatically asks you if you want to download something whenever something would start to get downloaded. That way, malware would be reduced, since some malware is unknowingly downloaded, downloaded from clicking (or viewing!) an advertisement, or downloaded from misclicking.

This type of functionality can also be found in the competing product known as "Google Chrome". Both Chrome and FireFox allow you to bypass this feature (as does IE as noted). I don't have enough experience with Safari, but would be shocked if this feature isn't built-in...

[JREwing78]

There needs to be a browser that automatically asks you if you want to download something whenever something would start to get downloaded. That way, malware would be reduced, since some malware is unknowingly downloaded, downloaded from clicking (or viewing!) an advertisement, or downloaded from misclicking.

Technically IE asks as well, though there may be a checkbox that users can use to bypass it in the future.  But most malware from the web is either a trojan horse (claims to be something else) or exploits security vulnerabilities that make the presence or absence of such a dialog moot (this is even more severe for IE due to IE's integration with Windows).

Flash, Java, and Silverlight should just self-update, as needed, without intervention. Users either don't pay attention to the warnings to update these plugins, or they click the button to request a update that turns out to be malware. Chrome's self-updating Flash works rather brilliantly.

HTML5 does a lot to make Flash, Java, or Silverlight moot. Anything that discourages their use is a good thing.

[vdeane]

While those are certainly major factors, especially these days as browsers are becoming more secure, the browsers themselves still aren't 100% free of vulnerabilities (and in all likelihood, never will be; the only software without bugs/security issues is a hello world program).