Microsoft shows off Internet Explorer 9: says 'yes' to HTML5, 'no' to Windows XP

Microsoft is having a good old time at MIX10, showing off all sorts of new things. New things like... Internet Explorer 9, which has just been previewed at the developer event, and here's what we've gleaned about it so far. First off, as expected it will support HTML5 video, boast a new Microsoft JavaScript engine which is codenamed "Chakra," and it'll support new-fangled web technologies like CSS3 and SVG2. Microsoft says one of its main goals with IE9 is to provide a faster browsing experience -- always good news -- though they don't have things cranked quite as high as the competition just yet (remember, this is still early). Preliminary ACID3 tests on the preview show the IE9 scores a 55/100, up from IE8's dismal 20/100 -- a huge leap forward no doubt, but still a far cry from the Chrome, Opera, and Safari scores of 100. In both PCMag's and ZDNet's SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test, the preview performed competitively as well. Microsoft has also confirmed that IE9 will not support Windows XP, but the preview Microsoft is showing off plays nice with Vista SP2 and higher, meaning the shipping version will probably do the same. No shockers there, really. Microsoft's also made the first developer preview of Internet Explorer 9 available for download today -- hit the source link to check that out. Full press release is after the break.

Update: Chrome, Opera, and Safari do indeed score 100/100 in ACID3 testing, not "nearly" as previously stated. Thanks commenters for pointing out the obvious.

Show full PR text

Microsoft Announces Hardware-Accelerated HTML5, Pushes Boundaries on Web and Cloud Development
Microsoft releases first platform preview for Windows Internet Explorer 9, highlights commitments to jQuery and OData.

LAS VEGAS - March 16, 2010 - Industry standards and innovation took center stage at MIX10, as Microsoft Corp. made a series of announcements that underscore the company's commitment to interoperability and performance on the Web. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer at Microsoft, unveiled the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview including expanded support for HTML5, hardware-accelerated graphics and text, and a new JavaScript engine. Together these allow developers to use the same markup and deliver graphically and functionally rich Web applications that take advantage of modern PC hardware through a modern operating system.

Microsoft also announced that it will contribute to the development of new features and enhancements in the jQuery JavaScript Library and shared the release of new software development kits (SDKs) for the Open Data Protocol (OData) that make it easier for developers to access data from the cloud to create more compelling cross-platform Web applications.

Raising Developer Expectations With Hardware Acceleration, Increased Interoperability

As part of its commitment to interoperability, Microsoft detailed its support for a number of HTML5 specifications, including CSS3, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XHTML parsing, and the video and audio tags using industry-standard (H.264/MPEG4 and MP3/AAC) codecs, among others. In addition, Microsoft demonstrated a new JavaScript engine that uses the multiple cores of today's modern chips to effectively manage computing resources and improve Web performance. By combining increased interoperability with a new JavaScript engine and Direct 2D technology, Internet Explorer 9 enables Web developers to provide users with richer experiences that render more quickly and consistently.

"I am very happy with Microsoft's commitment to the HTML Working Group and to HTML5," said Philippe Le Hegaret, W3C, Domain Leader.

"Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser to take standard Web patterns that developers use and run them better on modern PCs through Windows," Hachamovitch said.

Starting at MIX10, developers also will be able to track Microsoft's progress and provide direct feedback on the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview by evaluating new code refreshes approximately every eight weeks leading up to the beta release. Developers can download the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview at http://www.IETestDrive.com.

"Internet Explorer 9 enabling GPU-accelerated HTML5 is a milestone for visual computing," said Drew Henry, general manager of GeForce and ION GPU business unit at NVIDIA Corp. "By harnessing the power of NVIDIA GPUs, Internet Explorer 9 removes the glass ceiling for Web developers, enabling them to build graphically rich, high-performing Web applications."

Increased Support of Client Development Through the jQuery JavaScript Library

As part of Microsoft's broad engagement with open source communities, Corporate Vice President Scott Guthrie today announced that Microsoft is investing resources to contribute to the development of the jQuery JavaScript Library to help improve the development process of standards-based Web applications. Microsoft will also work to provide better interoperability between ASP.NET and the jQuery JavaScript Library by enhancing ASP.NET so .NET developers can better incorporate jQuery capabilities. In addition, Microsoft will actively promote and distribute versions of the jQuery JavaScript Library by packaging it with popular products such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET MVC 2. As a first step, Microsoft will contribute a templating engine to the jQuery JavaScript Library Team to simplify Web applications.

Creating Compelling User Experiences, Powered by the Cloud

To enable developers to build immersive, cross-platform Web and mobile applications that use data delivered from the cloud, Microsoft also released SDKs for OData, an HTTP and Atom-based approach to data portability, for a number of languages and platforms including .NET, Java, PHP, Objective-C (iPhone and Mac) and JavaScript. In addition, Microsoft announced the second Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Microsoft code-named "Dallas," an information marketplace powered by the Windows Azure platform, which provides developers with access to third-party datasets that can be consumed by Web and mobile applications. By making content and data available with an OData feed via "Dallas," developers can access and monetize their data under their terms and pricing, which can be can built into applications to deliver unique user experiences.

Today, developers can take advantage of more than 30 datasets from content providers, including NAVTEQ, Pitney Bowes Business Insight, Weather Central and Zillow.com, available on the "Dallas" information marketplace. Developers can access the OData SDK at http://www.odata.org and download "Dallas" CTP2 at http://www.Microsoft.com/Dallas.

The latest news from MIX10 is available at http://live.visitmix.com/press.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Share

Share
Send Email
Subscribe to Feed
URL for Email or IM
Close URL Copy
Copy URL to your clipboard.
[Digg This] Digg This
[Post to Facebook] Post to Facebook
[Add to StumbleUpon] Add to StumbleUpon
[Post to Twitter] Post to Twitter

Press Resources
Contact

* Rapid Response Team
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
[phone]

Related Items
Microsoft Resources:

MIX10 Virtual Presskit

MIX10 Web site

IE9 Platform Preview

"Dallas" CTP2
Feature Stories:

Windows Phone 7 Series Developer Tools Roll Out at MIX10 – March 15, 2010
Press Releases:

Microsoft Outlines New Opportunities at MIX10 for Developers to Create Compelling Experiences – March 15, 2010
Speech Transcripts:

Scott Guthrie and Joe Belfiore: MIX10 – March 15, 2010

[inu Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:38PM]

And who cares about IE?

[WixosTrix Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:39PM]

@(Unverified)

Peoeple who like it *gasp*

[WixosTrix Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:39PM]

@(Unverified)

People who like it *gasp*

[brr404 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:39PM]

@(Unverified)
Microsoft.

[TMC Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:40PM]

@(Unverified)
Quite a lot actually...
http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

[inu Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:40PM]

@(Unverified) Sorry MS, IE9 is still sounds far from being up to date or at the same level as the competitors.

[Bolo Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:48PM]

@(Unverified)
I do care. The faster IE9 is on the market, the faster I'll stop coding pages for the damned IE6. I had ENOUGH!

[tdogdfw Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:49PM]

@(Unverified) I'm a very happy IE8 user... so are most companies.

[geekthree Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:53PM]

@TMC I work in tech support, the average user I speak to doesn't actually know what the term "web browser" means, I usually give up and say "ok, cab you open the internet"...

IE stats are high, but if a browser called "crappy turd explorer" was the default, then they'd use it.

[geekthree Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:54PM]

@tdogdfw I loled

[nwhat Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:57PM]

@(Unverified)

My thoughts exactly...ill keep XP and run Firefox.

[treats Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:57PM]

I REALLY hope MS adds basic things like spell check, being able to right click an image and copy it's URL, and the other 30 things IE8 is missing that Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera all have.

I have wanted to fire the IE product Manger for a few years.

[J1024 Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:06PM]

@TMC What was that again.... something about a Windows 7 E version.... why was there that version again?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10262630-56.html?tag=mncol;txt

"Microsoft was using its market dominance in bundling IE into the Windows"CNET

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10144602-75.html?tag=mncol;txt

AKA, we'll use what we give you to boost our users. I only ever use IE when I need to, but I bet I'm still counted as an 'IE user'

[d889 Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:24PM]

@(Unverified)
at NBC to get the news on the air every day we use XP... and IE6

it might not be pretty but it gets the job done... kind of....

[ALBGunner04 Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:38PM]

@d889 I was watching CNN Situation Room and I can't remember who was talking, but it was a correspondent and her computer desktop was behind her, and I could see she was running XP and IE6. I don't understand why everyone is so lazy to upgrade... Hell, my school upgraded to IE 7

[Hmm Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:42PM]

Why do Engadget articles always lack some information? Opera scores 100 for ACID3 http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2008/03/26/opera-and-the-acid3-test :)

[d889 Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:46PM]

@ALBGunner04
haha yeah its a pain using sites like youtube, you never know if its going to work right.

the problem is there are just TOO many computers, and when they update one thing it just breaks something else turning everything into a clusterfuck...

such a shame i wish i could get admin rights just to do a damn windows update

[Taylor Yes Taylor Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:13PM]

@Hmm
Chrome also scores 100 on Acid3, not "nearly 100", as Engadget said.
Unless my copy of Chrome is magical!
Silly Engadget.
-Taylor

[Jimbojones Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:26PM]

@Taylor Yes Taylor it's funny that some browsers score 100 and yet they don't show web pages exactly the same way

[Galley Posted Mar 16th 2010 10:20PM]

@Hmm Safari 4 also scores 100 on Acid3.

[Colrath Posted Mar 16th 2010 10:36PM]

@Galley Safari Mobile also scores 100/100. But of I remember correctly, it's not a true 100/100.

[PaulH Posted Mar 17th 2010 1:12AM]

@Unverified User People who have to use it every day at work 'cause IT has to put everything through the committee process. We finally got upgraded to I.E.7 this summer. ;(

[noirsoft Posted Mar 17th 2010 3:11AM]

@treats "being able to right click an image and copy it's URL"
right click on an image and choose "copy shortcut" -- I wonder how many other "missing features" you cite are actually there, just you never bothered to actually try?

[uhh Posted Mar 17th 2010 3:37AM]

@(Unverified) Just so you know I care a lot about IE 9. How else am I going to download Firefox?

[Drago Posted Mar 17th 2010 2:49PM]

This is the end of flash as we know it.

With IE aboard the HTML 5 bandwagon, flash is doomed.

[fortunzfavor Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:40PM]

This would be tragic for me as an XP user if I'd used IE for anything other than Windows update in the past 15 years.

[Pies Posted Mar 17th 2010 6:42AM]

@fortunzfavor The fact that you're still using XP is no less tragic :)

[Mjmar17 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:40PM]

Hopefully HTML5 will gain some traction with this. I want to be able to view all the videos on the web with my iphone, and we know there's never gonna be flash on it.

[EGOvoruhk Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:49PM]

@Mjmar17

Unfortunately without support for XP, it wont be gaining as much traction as it should

[NikkoTheGreeko Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:10PM]

@EGOvoruhk
XP is old technology. Put it away and step into the new decade. Seriously. That's like someone still using Mac OS 9.

[EGOvoruhk Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:12PM]

@NikkoTheGreeko

Except it's not. XP is still fully capable, and runs 99.9% of the apps released today. How many apps are still coming out that are compatible with OS 9?..

[loismustdie Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:17PM]

More like using OS 10.4
same structure, less features.

[NikkoTheGreeko Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:18PM]

@EGOvoruhk
Have you even tried Windows 7? I feel like I step back into a slow buggy time machine when I use XP.

[fortunzfavor Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:09PM]

@NikkoTheGreeko I've got nothing against Win7, but I've yet to be confronted with anything in it that I need. When the new decade can earn its keep, I'll pay for it. Until then, I'm good.

[tsurugi Posted Mar 17th 2010 7:29AM]

@fortunzfavor Same here. 7's good (after considerable butchering of useless eye-candy and hand-holding features) but despite MS's efforts to kill XP there still isn't a single feature in 7 that I actually NEED and a new IE isn't changing that.

[allston232 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:40PM]

Watch and MS will sabotage Java again.

[Bengal34 Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:07PM]

@allston232

Nope, faster than firefox now

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2010/03/16/mix-10-some-early-ie-9-platform-preview-shots.aspx

[coolbho3000 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:41PM]

I think Microsoft should abandon Trident and simply switch to Webkit. It would make for a much better IE. Google did it (though they didn't have their own rendering engine in the first place).

Of course, they have to stick to Trident because they've already invested so much money into it...

[geekthree Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:51PM]

@coolbho3000 Yea, I don't even think the newer ie's are quite as much of a problem, but they need to find better ways of killing off the older versions, microsoft are holding back the Internet

[coolbho3000 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:58PM]

@geekthree I'm not saying Trident is terrible - Webkit is just a lot better.

[doubleyewdee Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:59PM]

@coolbho3000 I'd just like to point out that the W3C will require *3* released, conforming implementations of HTML5 in order to ratify the standard. Folks clamoring for everyone to get behind a single rendering engine often forget that if everyone used WebKit, HTML5 could never even be ratified as standard (it's not a standard yet, another thing people don't understand) under the W3C's rules.

This really needs to stop, people who don't understand the standardization process should really stop commenting on it (hint, Engadget). ACID3 continues to test *proposals* and *draft standards* and is not even an official test from the W3C point of view!

[jonwil Posted Mar 16th 2010 11:13PM]

@coolbho3000 Microsoft cant replace Trident because so many applications (HTML Help, various games and game browser tools, Windows Help And Support, Windows Explorer, MSDN library and many others including all kinds of custom-written software) embed the IE widget to render HTML.

[TheSunman89 Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:42PM]

I am going to stick with firefox...

[Whoppinberg Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:55PM]

@TheSunman89
Same.

[tmfair Posted Mar 16th 2010 8:02PM]

@TheSunman89 Funny you say that because this preliminary build of IE9 is beating firefox in many areas. If anything use Chrome or Safari. Firefox is behind.

[cloud858rk Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:12PM]

@tmfair But does it have the same add-on selection as Firefox?

[BLEH is my middle name Posted Mar 16th 2010 10:18PM]

@tmfair That's what I've been saying since Chrome came out. Firefox was good in its heyday but now Chrome is faster and cleaner.

[ipodman715 Posted May 3rd 2010 8:52PM]

@BLEH is my middle name yep

[Dale P Posted Mar 16th 2010 7:43PM]

I noticed they were essentially boasting about a 55/100 score on ACID3. Even mobile versions of rival browsers have whipped that score.

[Bengal34 Posted Mar 16th 2010 10:10PM]

@Dale P

At least the number is going up. It seems they completely re-wrote their javascript engine, so (hopefully) they'll be able to deveote all their IE resources to improving standards compliency. If that gets better then the hardware acceleration and js engine 'should' provide a really noticeable difference between v8 and v9.

I'm interested in what they are going to do to the UI for it. Since, it seems they are redoing that since it's absent in the screens for it so far at MIX. I hope that they don't ruin it because that's what has been keeping me using ie8 over the competitors. Chrome is really close second in that reguard.