Microsoft unveils IE9 public preview

Microsoft is showing an early preview of Internet Explorer 9 today at its MIX10 developer conference. The forthcoming release will supposedly mark a major change from previous versions, focusing heavily on performance improvements and standards support -- particularly HTML 5 and SVG. It will also make full use of hardware acceleration for rendering graphics, while a new JavaScript engine, code-named Chakra, compiles JavaScript in the background on a separate CPU core if available.

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"The development team is committing to delivering an update to the browser code every eight weeks, putting the first such update in mid-May, and to interact with developers via the Microsoft Connect feedback loop as the company moves toward a more full featured beta."

In other words, they're still two years behind FireFox and Chrome.

Heh... Good point, TomSEA... And also only available for Vista and/or Win7??? Is that just the pre-release, or are they planning to use that as another method to try to bludgeon everyone into upgrades?

Internet Explorer 9 could come with a brand new unicorn for free with each download and I still wouldn't use it.

And another thing, Hotmail, quit telling me that my browser isn't up to date just because I use Chrome. It's like seeing an ex with your new girlfriend and your ex being snotty to your new girl. It's childish Hotmail, I don't care if you like my new browser or not.

If they can offer the proper security, features, and speed that I expect from a browser, I will try it out. I keep a copy of IE8 on my PCs as a backup browser anyhow, so I might as well update them to IE9.

Despite Microsoft's poor track record with IE, they've had a great track record overall, especially in recent years (in my opinion). I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of overhaul they bring to IE9. They've set the bar as low as it can go with previous versions of IE, so we may be pleasantly surprised with the next rendition.

Good! They are not wasting any time.
IE really needs performance improvements. It's the slowest browser on my system.

I will give it a try if its fast enough, but for now I will stick with Chrome!
And firefox is getting pretty slow! yes

I wish IE would permently disapear... I'v never liked ie, always been bloted and crashed.

if the new ie is fast and more secure then i wud surely give it a try!
but as of now i m stickin to opera 10.5!
i have always hated ie! ( though i dunno y? )
first i used chrome but it used to hang a lot!
so shifted to opera!
never used firefox!

They are making smart move with implementing such a future like that JavaScript is compile separate in the background with another core of CPU. I think that they just need a little push up with real developers. They need to work more on security issues.

Oh man that whole thing made me laugh . Although I have to ask: why hotmail....ewwww

But I agree, won't touch IE 9 with a 10ft stick. I'll stick with my FF.

Definitely trying to be more chrome and firefox like

At first I thought it was just the pre-release, but this Cnet article suggests the final version won't work with XP either -- mind you it will be a ~10-year old operating system by then. IE 9 is still a long way off so we'll see.

If they allowed/support Ad-Block it wouldn't be as bad of a browser. Just to many viruses/pop-ups with out it.

hello ...

as long as we have choices & good adversity, OK for me i shall use all for different purposes, like I've always been doing. Chrome for most stuffs requiring some gotcha thingy, My Firefox overloaded with plugins & a bookmark bar that goes way down the road for my favorite video games trailers & blog & IE6 (yes i didn't upgrade) on 1 windows & IE8 on another for usual simple stuff on some specific sites.

it's all the best in all worlds

cheers!

Maybe they will make it more secure then the previous version (IE 8)...which means new internet explorer=new internet explorer threats!

There are alot of IE haters here , but I am looking forward to the full release because I think it's a pretty good browser over all, and lately with IE 8 really good so lets just wait and see it could be the W7 of Microsoft's IE meaning it could change everything for IE popularity.

First and foremost, I have never liked IE, no matter what release! MS likes to bundle it so you really have no control over it. IE has been and always will be a piece of crap!!! IE9 will probably be the same with more "crap" added on.. I believe real "Techies" use browser/mail clients "they" install on "their" equipment. Personally, I use Firefox & Thunderbird and disable as much of IE as possible. Unfortunately, some valued sites require one to use IE....

I'm really into the idea of the JavaScripts running on another core, resource hungry java is like the cookie monster comes to computerland