Posted on 09/17/2010 8:56:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The internet of the future is likely to look very different from the distinct pages and sites we visit today – that was the message as Microsoft launched the latest version of their much-maligned Internet Explorer web browser. And while every major manufacturer always claims that theirs is a revolutionary product, the company that remains best known for Windows and Office might just be on the right track this time. Headlines around the world greeted IE9 as Microsoft’s most ambitious yet, while others called it revolutionary. Respected British website Techradar.com went so far as to call it “ie-mazing”.
Almost since it launched Internet Explorer in 1995, the browser has been troublesome for Microsoft. Even when it was in use by 95 per cent of all web users in 2002, a tech-savvy audience maintained that it was not the best option available. Firefox, the now-defunct Netscape Navigator and more recently Google Chrome have set the pace for speed and ease of use. With usage now down to less than two-thirds of the online population Microsoft has staged a fightback that, for once, appears to be winning many experts round, even if browsers are all starting to look more similar anyway.
At the heart of IE9, however, are two key features: the first is a bid to make websites more like applications, which means that the depth of features of, say Microsoft Word, could also be available to any site where developers have sufficient resources. In practice a chunk of that is largely cosmetic, but it’s a visual change that makes a genuine difference to the way people use the web. In the words of Microsoft’s Leila Martine, head of Windows in the UK, “it’s making web pages first class citizens”.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
In a demo, Microsoft showed IE9 to be at least five times quicker than Google Chrome.
They are able to increase the load speed significantly faster because of the integration between hardware and software: with the advance of new web programming language HTML5, Microsoft is now able to offload much of the burden of processing graphics onto computer hardware that’s built for the job, the graphics processing unit (GPU).
Of course Google isn’t going to sit still....
Competition is good.
WONDERFUL! So while MS is creating a new "revolutionary" browser, they're now using ASP and ActiveX MORE in order to "make websites more like applications." Really, MS? Ok, so you've got exploits coming out of your arse, you're patching security flaws monthly, and now you want to sell the user communities to the hacking community by making "websites more like applications?"
Sorry, I have no taste for IE anymore. If a site uses ASP or ActiveX, I just don't visit or partake in the content. I'd rather browse knowing that I have control over my kernel (I use Linux) vs. browsing and accepting any ActiveX request that comes along.
And of course Microsoft will not be standards compliant. You’ll still have to program webpages with Microsoft workarounds.
I’m running the beta (downloaded yesterday). I was getting the “foggy screen of death” in IE8 and could not get it solved. Since downloading the IE9 beta, I have not had one such incident. It also appears to be faster, although I have not used it enough to ascertain just how much faster.
Not for me. Not after getting hammered with a virus awhile back. The tech who cleaned it for me said “Rule #1 for avoiding attacks is to use any browser EXCEPT IE.
Well, there’s always Lynx ;).
Are they still going to use Active X, or rely on Silverlight.
My favorite post of the day, so far.
That’s a good point, dfw. I didn’t even consider Silverlight. I hid that update on all of my Windows machines. I’ll swallow the bitter MS pill on a few machines, but I prefer open source. Besides, WINE plays World of Warcraft in Linux much better than Windows does!
No, no, no! The Dear Leaders, Gate, Soros, Obama, Me-chelle believe that competition leads to Social Darwinism and inequality, and the little people don't know how to spend their money anyway, so they must "nudged" and guided into the "correct" way of thinking and buying and eating. /s
Hopefully it’s not as crappy as Vista
Then there are the tech-challenged like me who don’t understand a word you said.
I just installed the beta, and it’s running well so far. Hopefully no crashes. Stuff is moved around a little bit, but seems really good so far.
No, but it is an improvement over their old browsers.
Irrelevant. It’s Windows-only. It’s not going to revolutionize anything.
Hmmm...
Think I will stay with WebKit based browsers for now
I lost any trust in Microsoft LOOOONNNNNGGGGG time ago
Cool, I’m looking forward to this.
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