Will IE9 change the way we use the web? (Microsoft's newest web browser a revolutionary product?)

The Telegraph ^ | 09/17/2010 | Matt Warman

[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”.

[SunkenCiv]

Procomm was a hell of a product. :’p :’)

[dayglored]

> Almost since it launched Internet Explorer in 1995, the browser has been troublesome for Microsoft.

Clearly a typo. Should have read:

Almost since it licensed Spyglass Mosaic, a weak precursor of the Netscape browser, and re-badged it as their own in 1995, the browser has been used by Microsoft as a weapon to bludgeon, coerce, or destroy other companies and the internet/web community, despite the fact that the IE browser sucked mightily for many years and only became usable in its 7th release over a decade later*.

There, fixed it.

* Until IE7, the "About IE" box still credited Spyglass. I personally use IE as little as possible, but recognize that it has improved immeasurably in 7 and 8. I currently have no opinion on IE9, not having had a chance to try it out yet.

[dayglored]

> I hear those 1200 baud modems are the bee's knees.

I just graduated to (gasp!) 2400 baud, and I tell ya, CompuServe has never been so speedy! Rock and roll!!

[Amendment10]

Except for an ad at the bottom of the referenced Telegraph page, the article didn’t mention anything about security.