PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Microsoft has released a public beta version of the firm’s next generation browser, Internet Explorer 9.
The new browser adds hardware accelerated graphics support, new document object model (DOM) and new javascript engine (Chakra) which are threaded to take advantage of multi-CPU systems.
Also on offer is a greatly revamped UI with the ability to pin sites on the task bar. IE9 also adds support for the emerging HTML 5 standard and bundles a new download manage to securely handle web downloads.
There seems little doubt that Microsoft has learned from the stiff competition from browser rivals Firefox, Chrome and Opera. New standards, minimalist netbook-friendly UI and performance enhancements categorise the healthy inter-browser rivalry leading up to the release of IE9.
Writing on the IE blog, Dean Hachamovitch said, "Our point of view is that the browser is the stage, or backdrop, for the web, and the sites are the star of the show. Similar to the relationship between Windows 7 and Windows applications, people go to the web for sites, not the browser."
“How can IE make sites shine? How can IE put sites at the center of the experience?", asked Hamovitch. "Microsoft has more than a billion Windows customers in the world today, and we want browsing the web – one of the most common things they do on Windows PCs – to be a great experience."
"IE9 makes what’s easy and familiar for Windows users available for websites and the people who browse them. Users can pin sites in the taskbar just as they pin applications, and launch web tasks directly, the same way they launch everything else in Windows."
You can get the IE9 beta from here. Beware, you will also need a Flash beta from Adobe and after installing this our IE9 beta became unresponsive until the beta Flash was removed. This is still very much beta software.
The new browser adds hardware accelerated graphics support, new document object model (DOM) and new javascript engine (Chakra) which are threaded to take advantage of multi-CPU systems and a greatly revamped UI with the ability to pin sites on the task bar. IE9 also adds support for the emerging HTML 5 standard and bundles a new download manage to securely handle web downloads.
Writing on the IE blog, Dean Hachamovitch said, "Our point of view is that the browser is the stage, or backdrop, for the web, and the sites are the star of the show. Similar to the relationship between Windows 7 and Windows applications, people go to the web for sites, not the browser."
“How can IE make sites shine? How can IE put sites at the center of the experience?", asked Hamovitch. "Microsoft has more than a billion Windows customers in the world today, and we want browsing the web – one of the most common things they do on Windows PCs – to be a great experience."
"IE9 makes what’s easy and familiar for Windows users available for websites and the people who browse them. Users can pin sites in the taskbar just as they pin applications, and launch web tasks directly, the same way they launch everything else in Windows," said Dean Hachamovitch.
You can get the IE9 beta from Microsoft’s showcase website beautyoftheweb.com.
Beware, you will also need a Flash beta from Adobe and after installing this our IE9 beta became unresponsive until the beta Flash was removed. This is still very much beta software.
To subscribe to our Twitter feed, head over to @PCR_online.
