Setting new standards is what Microsoft has been known for, and it has seemed to have done that yet again. If all goes in its favour, it may make IE9 the most secure browser in the world and will give Firefox, Chrome and others an additional incentive to do the same.
The “platform preview” of this latest offering from the software giant Microsoft was released on 16th March which has got people already excited. However it could take the final version of IE9 atleast a good 12 months to Release To Manufacturing.
With IE9, Microsoft’s joins the horse race with Google Chrome with which it faces a tough competition.According to the preview Internet Explorer9 offers the users improved speed and support for HTML 5 (a new web protocol that lets you play videos and other embedded content on web pages without specialist plug-in). Other features on board include enhanced support for CSS3 and an improved JavaScript Engine. But the preview said nothing about the browser’s user interface and security. Test by NSS Labs, sponsored by Microsoft show that with the addition of other security features, Internet Explorer 8 was already the safest browser so IE9 is expected to measure upto the security standards. When it launches, it will bring onboard a slew of innovations that will require Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7 at least, plus Internet Explorer8. It will require the modern graphics and security underpinnings that have come since 2001, and is intended to be run on a modern operating system in order to build on the latest hardware and operating system innovations.
Sadly though, Internet Explorer 9 will not support Windows XP, cutting out a decade-old, yet still popular operating system, as browser’s platform preview requires Direct2D, an API unavailable with it. In fact, the Windows IE9 Platform Preview will only run on latest Microsoft operating systems. The “platform preview” is available for downloading to see the demonstrations of the new features. The IE9 preview does a better job with the Acid3 standards test than earlier versions, but at 55 per cent, it remains poor, considering that some other browsers pass completely.
In the most recent market share estimates from NetApplications, Internet Explorer has 61.2 percent, compared to 24.2 percent for its closest competitor Firefox, so IE9 appears to be a safer bet for Microsoft allowing it to arrest its market share.IE9 promises a lot for both the users as well as Microsoft, so lets just wait to see the updates on IE9.