Windows 10 build 10041 is missing Spartan but comes with new IE rendering engine updates

As some people are quickly finding out, the famed Spartan browser is missing from today’s Windows 10 build 10041. However, just because Spartan isn’t present in the release today, that does not mean that it isn’t being worked on furiously by the IE team.

In a post on the IE blog site, the team covers some of the improvements they have achieved in the rendering engine department for the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Much of their updates come by way of addressing user feedback from the Windows Insider program. The new engine features now include:

• Improved ECMAScript 6 compatibility (up to 74% in the Kangax ES6 compatibility test in this preview)
• Expanded support for DOM L3 XPath
• Support for WAI-ARIA Landmark Roles
• Support for CSS Conditional Rules (@Supports)
• Support for the Web Audio API
• Support for CSS Gradient Midpoints (aka color hints)
• Improved FeBlend mode support
• Unprefixed support for the Fullscreen API
• Support for the Touch Events API and related interoperability improvements. Touch Events are enabled when a touchscreen is present and can be enabled under about: flags.
• Support for the HTML5 Date-Related Inputs API. This is off by default and can be enabled in about:flags. Improved accessibility is coming in a future build.
• Partial support for CSS Transitions & Animations on SVG elements
• A toggle for the CSS Filters API is available in about:flags but the feature is not yet implemented in this build.

As the IE team was attempting to shift to the ‘newer’ release cadence of the entire OS, some new features have been either been omitted or partially implemented. Insiders will find these partially implemented features are under active development and as such, will be worked on and released over the preview process of Windows 10.

If you had your heart set on testing out Spartan today, unfortunately, you will have to wait until upcoming builds. Insiders can however play around with the features made available to the rendering engine in today’s build release.