RELEASE: Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0

Posted by: kurtsh | March 15, 2011

RELEASE: Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0

UPDATE 3/15/11:
This was too good not to post. Geekwire wrote a great post/interview about/with Jason Weber, Lead Program Manager for Internet Explorer 9.0 Performance.

POST: Inside IE9: How Microsoft rewrote it’s browser from scratch
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/geeks-guide-to-ie9

Jason actually breaks down and explains in English all the major changes in performance. It’s not anything that hasn’t been discussed before but it’s so concisely put together and well formatted that for anyone that hasn’t been following IE9’s development, this is a fantastic review of the dramatic changes that were made to make IE9 the browser performance champion that it is.

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ORIGINAL POST:
Three words: Faster. Than. Chrome.

http://www.microsoft.com:80/presspass/silverlightApps/videoplayer3/standalone.aspx?contentID=YearOfIE9&src=/presspass/presskits/internetexplorer/channel.xml

Yes. It’s finished! Microsoft’s greatest – and fastest – browser release… ever! And it’s available for download today!

THE LAUNCH
The launch of Internet Explorer 9 was recorded on video here:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/internetexplorer/videogallery.aspx?contentID=YearOfIE9

THE SURPRISE
We’ve released two new features not available in the original Release Candidate with the RTM of Internet Explorer 9.

ACTIVEX CONTROL TRACKING PROTECTION
(a.k.a. Flash Cookie blocking)
You read that right – this is HUGE. If you have a Flash object that tries to store one of those infamous “flash cookies” that most find difficult to eradicate, unlike traditional Internet cookies, IE9 will first check it’s Tracking Protection Lists to see if the 3rd party site that the cookie is associated with should be black listed and if so … NO COOKIE FOR YOU! This applies to all ActiveX controls including Java, Silverlight, .COM objects, etc. No action other than “enabling TPL support” is necessary.
“DO NOT TRACK” HEADER SUPPORT
The browser can now overtly state on behalf of the user that you do not wish to be tracked directly within the header of the browser identifier. This is a complimentary solution to Tracking Protection Lists and can signal legitimate web sites that you are not interested in persistently being tracked and is automatically enabled when you enable Tracking Protection.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS
Here’s some things you may not have known about Internet Explorer 9.

IE9 is the fastest adopted beta in IE browser history. With over 40M downloads and a usage share on Windows 7 well over 2% globally, IE9 adoption has more than surpassed expectations.
IE9 is enterprise ready. IE9 has the highest LOB compatibility pass rate of any product in MSIT dogfood history – 99% – coupled with one of the lowest IE helpdesk contact rates (number of helpdesk calls/number of installs) to date. And for our customers, IE9 is ready to go with their Windows 7 deployments.
IE9 has the fastest JavaScript engine in the industry. Script is one of many factors in performance. On a commonly used micro-benchmark, IE9’s improved JavaScript performance now holds the top spot in the industry, an improvement of almost 18 times from IE8.
IE9 is the only fully hardware-accelerated browser. All graphics, video and text in IE9 are hardware-accelerated. We re-architected IE9 to take full advantage of the Windows PC. IE9 was the first to introduce this concept and other browsers have been scrambling to catch-up. See the difference for yourself.
IE9 treats your favorite sites like apps. The site is the center of attention in IE9’s new frame. When you pin a site to the taskbar, your experience is even better. Over 250 of the world’s top sites have already taken advantage of Jump Lists, notifications, and thumbnail previews to make their sites more app-like. Web site publishers are seeing close to a 50% increase in engagement from their IE9 customers through pinned sites.
IE9 protects against 99% of socially-engineered malware. Malware is the #1 threat on the internet today. With Microsoft SmartScreen and the new SmartScreen application reputation feature in IE9, no other browser comes close in protecting consumers from these real-world threats. IE9 is 33 times better than Chrome and over 5 times better than Firefox.
IE9 is the only browser with integrated online tracking protection for consumers. Microsoft changed the browser and industry landscape with the introduction of IE9’s Tracking Protection, providing the only built-in browser solution protecting consumers today.
IE9 is leading with site-ready HTML5 support. IE9 is all in when it comes to delivering developers new standards-based capabilities with HTML5. Microsoft co-chairs the W3C HTML5 working group and during the IE9 release has contributed almost 6000 test cases to the W3C and international standards bodies. Currently, IE9 has the best conformance with W3C HTML5.
IE9 has had the strongest press in IE history: Here is a small sample of what reviewers are saying: