Spartan arrives alongside new Windows 10 preview build

As suggested in previous weeks, a new build of Windows 10 has appeared on the eve of the new month and it brings the long-awaited Spartan browser with it.

Build 10049, the fourth technical preview build since November 2014, has been pushed to users in the “fast ring” rapid release cycle. It should come to slow ring customers in the coming days too.

What’s interesting about the new build is Spartan’s new prominent position on the Windows task bar, which was previously reserved for Internet Explorer.

As we’ve explained in previous articles, both Project Spartan and Internet Explorer will feature in Windows 10 but to varying degrees of importance. Internet Explorer, for the most part, now remains as a bridge between old and new for enterprise users. Spartan will boast a plethora of new features, and will subsequently run the modern Edge rendering engine. Internet Explorer will not have access to this.

Read more: Microsoft’s Spartan and Internet Explorer to feature Edge, Trident respectively

As far as appearance and functionality goes, users can jot down notes on a tablet using a pen or their fingers, suggesting that the browser is fully touch-capable at present.

Interestingly, the pastel UI looks a good deal like the Opera-fork Vivaldi — a browser that we think is one of the most interesting to hit the scene in the last while.

While the build is still filtering through the Microsoft Insiders’ veins, everyone should be able to experience the browser in due course, when Windows 10 releases in the northern summer. Well, we hope anyway.

For additional information on the latest build, check Microsoft’s official blog post here.