First Look: “Project Spartan” in Windows 10 Using Parallels Desktop
In earlier blog posts, I’ve showed you how to install the Windows® 10 Technical Preview in a Parallels Desktop® 10 for Mac virtual machine, and given my early impressions of Windows 10. True to its word, Microsoft has increased the frequency of updates to the Windows 10 Technical Preview, and one of those updates included the “Project Spartan” browser—described as the successor to IE, the browser that currently has the largest installed base and greatest use of any browser.
In other words, I had to drop my other plans for the day of the release, get the new browser and test it out.
First, I wanted to see if Project Spartan would have any issues displaying the web sites I go to regularly:
You can see some of these pages rendered in Project Spartan in the following figures:
I also tried drawing on a web page, a much-touted Spartan feature:
What’s especially nice about the drawing capability is the fact that these annotations can be saved and shared. I’m sure that I’ll be using this feature a great deal.
And, as expected, Project Spartan shows up well in Parallels® Access™:
Of course, Project Spartan is embedded in Windows 10, so I also added to my Windows 10 experience by trying out Project Spartan. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I’m not surprised to see several Apple® OS ideas in the Windows 10 Technical Preview, but it really disappoints me when I also see Apple mistakes imitated—for example, overuse of transparency and disappearing scroll bars. I know how to turn these mistakes off in the Mac OS, but I haven’t yet found how to do so in Windows 10. Needless to say, I’m definitely looking forward to finding the appropriate switches.
Like other parts of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, Microsoft is actively seeking feedback on Project Spartan. The Project Spartan window has a button to reveal a feedback panel, shown here:
You can read more about Project Spartan here.
Bottom line: I’m pretty impressed.
