Internet Explorer 9 Beta now available

[wrldwzrd89]

I have tried IE9, and to say it is a massive improvement over IE8 is a serious understatement. Mind you, IE8 wasn't as bad as IE7, 6, or 5 (and 5.5)... but IE9 blows them all out of the water, even in its beta state.

Hated the cluttered UI of IE7 and 8? Rejoice - it's gone. In its place is a much more compact UI that takes up a lot less space, and is more functional at the same time. Tabs are located to the right of the address bar, a place I've never seen tabs before in a browser. Like previous versions of IE, the menu bar is hidden by default, but can easily be brought back if it is needed.

Microsoft has also posted a bunch of interesting demos of new functionality in IE9, and their demo page got a big update with today's IE9 beta release. My favorite is Psychedelic Browsing. Note that Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome don't handle this demo very well - at least the stable versions of those browsers. I tried the September 14th nightly build of Safari (called WebKit) with the demo, and had near-identical results to stable Safari. I have NOT tried Chrome 7 beta, though, and I can't seem to find the Opera beta on Opera's site.

Note that the beta, like the Platform Previews before it, requires Windows Vista (SP2, with a few post-SP2 updates also installed) or Windows 7 (a few updates are required here too - these will be installed during the IE9 install process).

 

[SkyBell]

I have tried IE9, and to say it is a massive improvement over IE8 is a serious understatement. Mind you, IE8 wasn't as bad as IE7, 6, or 5 (and 5.5)... but IE9 blows them all out of the water, even in its beta state.

Hated the cluttered UI of IE7 and 8? Rejoice - it's gone. In its place is a much more compact UI that takes up a lot less space, and is more functional at the same time. Tabs are located to the right of the address bar, a place I've never seen tabs before in a browser. Like previous versions of IE, the menu bar is hidden by default, but can easily be brought back if it is needed.

Microsoft has also posted a bunch of interesting demos of new functionality in IE9, and their demo page got a big update with today's IE9 beta release. My favorite is Psychedelic Browsing. Note that Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome don't handle this demo very well - at least the stable versions of those browsers. I tried the September 14th nightly build of Safari (called WebKit) with the demo, and had near-identical results to stable Safari. I have NOT tried Chrome 7 beta, though, and I can't seem to find the Opera beta on Opera's site.

Note that the beta, like the Platform Previews before it, requires Windows Vista (SP2, with a few post-SP2 updates also installed) or Windows 7 (a few updates are required here too - these will be installed during the IE9 install process).

Interesting - too bad I can't try it out due to only having XP. But it feels to me like Microsoft comes out with a new version of IE really fast, a lot faster than any of the other browsers. Just seems like they shouldn't automatically move to the next whole number with very few updates from the previous version. But it sounds like this one is an actual decent update from 8, so I suppose I'm just complaining.

 

[Melrose]

Someday Redmond is going to have to admit the Mac market is worth building for. 'Til then, it's still a sucky browser to develop for.

I'm glad they don't let it stagnate like they did in the Glory Days of browser wars, and push proprietary stuff right and left...

 

[Cabbit]

Interesting - too bad I can't try it out due to only having XP. But it feels to me like Microsoft comes out with a new version of IE really fast, a lot faster than any of the other browsers. Just seems like they shouldn't automatically move to the next whole number with very few updates from the previous version. But it sounds like this one is an actual decent update from 8, so I suppose I'm just complaining.

It's better than Google, they have went from version 1 to 6 in under two years. But its really up to the company to decide how to version there software.

 

[SkyBell]

It's better than Google, they have went from version 1 to 6 in under two years. But its really up to the company to decide how to version there software.

Seriously? I think I still have version 2 on my netbook. Wow, I guess I'm just used to the somewhat slower pace of Firefox development then.

 

[PerfSeeker]

Even if IE 9 is the bee's knees, why should I switch from Chrome/Firefox? I'm tired of trying new browsers!

 

[macfan881]

I haven't touched IE since Fire Fox was in beta and I don't miss it at all.

 

[Ttownbeast]

What's the new feature? Do windows users have the choice to uninstall it if they wish? Or will the security updates keep bugging them to keep it or else?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

What's the new feature? Do windows users have the choice to uninstall it if they wish? Or will the security updates keep bugging them to keep it or else?

There are several new features in IE9, such as Chakra - the JIT dynamic JavaScript compiler, which is an order of magnitude faster than IE8, and significantly faster than Safari 5 and Firefox 3.6 (Chrome 6 and Opera 10.6 are faster than IE); a fully GPU-accelerated rendering engine, and features protecting users from malware, both from ads and downloads. Internet Explorer 9 also (finally) has a download manager.

IE9 can be uninstalled, which reverts your system to IE8.

 

[roadbloc]

No XP support. Bahh...

 

[Ttownbeast]

There are several new features in IE9, such as Chakra - the JIT dynamic JavaScript compiler, which is an order of magnitude faster than IE8, and significantly faster than Safari 5 and Firefox 3.6 (Chrome 6 and Opera 10.6 are faster than IE); a fully GPU-accelerated rendering engine, and features protecting users from malware, both from ads and downloads. Internet Explorer 9 also (finally) has a download manager.

IE9 can be uninstalled, which reverts your system to IE8.

So then either way you are still stuck with IE on your hard drive and you have no choice.

 

[Ttownbeast]

I haven't touched IE since Fire Fox was in beta and I don't miss it at all.

You can't miss it! It is still in your apps if you use windows--IE is kinda like the retarded child I have to keep chained up in my basement because it came with the house....... it is still in the house even if I ignore it--and it's just so hard to kill it and dispose of the body without breaking the rental agreement.

 

[roadbloc]

So then either way you are still stuck with IE on your hard drive and you have no choice.

Not at all. If you uninstall 8 it reverts to 7. Uninstall that and you've got 6. Uninstall that you've got 5. After a day of restarting and uninstalling, you will reach version 0.1b which is small enough to ignore.

 

[tkermit]

Judging by the screenshots, it's a huge step in the right direction. I hope the UI improvements aren't just skin-deep

May have to try it out using bootcamp one of these days...

 

[Winni]

Someday Redmond is going to have to admit the Mac market is worth building for. 'Til then, it's still a sucky browser to develop for.

Yeah, sure. And the reason for your statement probably is that IE9 is the first Microsoft browser that conforms with common web standards, passes the ACID test with a score of 95 and even implements HTML5.

 

[Winni]

No XP support. Bahh...

Try installing Safari 5 on OS X Panther or Tiger...

 

[roadbloc]

Try installing Safari 5 on OS X Panther or Tiger...

I was under the impression Microsoft would be supporting XP until 2014 though...

Oh well. I can live without the latest version of IE on my gaming partition.

 

[steviem]

You can't miss it! It is still in your apps if you use windows--IE is kinda like the retarded child I have to keep chained up in my basement because it came with the house....... it is still in the house even if I ignore it--and it's just so hard to kill it and dispose of the body without breaking the rental agreement.

Thats because Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are nearly the same thing. It was brilliant /s design from Microsoft...

 

[maccompaq]

Just how long will it be before the hackers make IE9 dangerous to use?

 

[maflynn]

Someday Redmond is going to have to admit the Mac market is worth building for. 'Til then, it's still a sucky browser to develop for.

Given the brand loyalty that Mac owners exhibit, do you really think that people will embrace IE for the mac if MS were to resurrect it? I think not, I believe most Mac users will use safari, followed by FireFox and then few other browsers floating around for the mac.

Try installing Safari 5 on OS X Panther or Tiger...

Or worse, try using the windows flavor of safari. It's buggy/bloated and slow

 

[elppa]

Given the brand loyalty that Mac owners exhibit, do you really think that people will embrace IE for the mac if MS were to resurrect it? I think not, I believe most Mac users will use safari, followed by FireFox and then few other browsers floating around for the mac.



Or worse, try using the windows flavor of safari. It's buggy/bloated and slow

Er, not it's not, it is fine.

 

[Melrose]

Yeah, sure. And the reason for your statement probably is that IE9 is the first Microsoft browser that conforms with common web standards, passes the ACID test with a score of 95 and even implements HTML5.

It even implements HTML5? No way! Somehow it's too little too late methinks. Competition has been supporting these technologies longer than IE, and if Microsoft says it's "The most successful" version of IE ever, it's only because it's pre-installed on every new Windows machine they ship; And we know how they like to twist the numbers.

"Microsoft’s marketing department wants the public to believe that IE and Windows are profoundly innovative. Thus efforts to catch up to the typographic legibility and beauty of Mac OS X and Webkit browsers are presented ... as leading-edge innovations. link

Or worse, try using the windows flavor of safari. It's buggy/bloated and slow

I've had Safari on every Windows machine I owned since Safari was released for Windows and it's always been faster and more stable than IE.


/rant.

 

[maccompaq]

Safari works pretty good on my Windows machines, my Macs and my Hackintosh computers, but it does crash once in awhile.

Firefox is my favorite and most stable browser on all platforms. Chrome is my fastest browser.

 

[roadbloc]

IE9 is no big deal. IE9 being potentially good is no big deal either, as Microsoft appear to be shaping up. This however, is very interesting.

 

[Cabbit]

The Gorillaz demo was pretty cool and glad to see it worked just as well on Safari as it did on IE9.