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Internet Explorer falls below 50 percent global marketshare, Chrome usage triples
Oh, IE, it pains us to do this to you. You who once so mightily won in the battle against Netscape Navigator now seem to be losing your war against a battalion of upstarts, relatively fresh faces like Firefox and Chrome. According to StatCounter, IE's global usage stats have fallen to 49.87 percent, a fraction of a tick beneath half. Firefox makes up the lion share of the rest, at 31.5 percent, while Chrome usage tripled since last year, up to 11.54 percent. Two years ago IE had two thirds of the global market locked down, and even if Internet Explorer 9 is the best thing since ActiveX, well, we just don't see the tide of this battle turning without MS calling in some serious reinforcements. Update: If you needed more proof of Chrome's increasing popularity, we got a tip on this report from Softpedia confirming that Chrome is the fastest growing browser of the moment. Firefox is more or less flat and, well, you know all about how IE is faring.
Everything you wanted to know about the Internet Explorer logo but were afraid to ask
Apple may have gotten a bit of attention by radically redesigning the iTunes icon, but it's not the only desktop mainstay that's undergone a change -- Microsoft also revised the Internet Explorer logo once again for its latest release, and it's now taken the opportunity to offer a bit of insight into its design process. As explained on its Internet Explorer blog, the original blue "e" was designed to represent a globe, with the "orbiter" intended to depict speed and exploration. For Internet Explorer 9 both elements were updated, with the "e" getting a slightly more modern treatment, while the orbiter was given a fuller, more continuous connection and the appearance of an even faster orbit. That's just scratching the surface, though -- hit up the source link below for a detailed look at the making of the new logo, and a look back at its evolution over the past 15 years.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta review
(function() { var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js'; s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1); })(); Digg If you're anything like us, as soon as you get a new PC there's a laundry list of things you do: uninstall every piece of crapware, change the desktop wallpaper, and fire up Internet Explorer 8 to download a new browser like Firefox or Chrome. Without fail, we've repeated that last step on every Windows laptop we've reviewed in the last year. Why is it that we almost instantly replace IE with another option? There are lots of reasons, but to name a few... the browser usually comes plastered with toolbars, which makes it painfully slow to load even just a simple news site. And even when those are uninstalled it feels sluggish in comparison to Firefox and Chrome. Also, it's just not as attractive or intuitive as the others. Oh, and then there are the smaller items, like the fact that it lacks a download manager or uses more RAM than the competition. That's no short list of complaints, but you can't say Microsoft hasn't been listening. It's been saying for months that Internet Explorer 9 -- which is now available for download as a public beta -- will mend all those issues and then some. A lot of the improvements come in speed -- Redmond's been talking about hardware acceleration since November of last year -- but there are some other interesting features such as "Pinned Sites" and "One Box" that Microsoft's been less vocal about. So, does IE9 live up to the hype and will it finally give us a preloaded browser that's fast enough to run with the others? Should you run along and download it right now? We've spent the last week using it as our primary browser on a number of different laptops to find out. We'll meet again in our full review after the break. %Gallery-102354%
Internet Explorer 9 Beta seeing public release later today (update: it's out!)
We all knew today was the day, but just in case you've been zoned out in Kauai the past few weeks, Microsoft's getting set to release its refreshed build of Internet Explorer to the general public today. IE9 Beta is said to be a beta that's essentially done, so you shouldn't have too much to fear when the download links go live later today. The crew at Redmond claims that it's far more compliant with HTML5, CSS3 and SVG2 standards, and that it's the only game in town with full hardware acceleration. Keep an eye on that source link for a shot at downloading your copy later today, and if you're terrified of offending your existing Firefox or Chrome installation, we'll do you one better -- our own in-depth review will be going live in a matter of hours. Update: It's out! Check out our review if you're still feeling antsy.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta sees video demo, hits 95/100 on Acid3 test
Looks as if the Internet Explorer 9 Beta has now leaked on video, and -- surprise, surprise -- it looks exactly like Internet Explorer! If you were out hoping for a major overhaul, it looks as if you'll need to pick a new wish to cross your fingers for. Design wise, the IE9 beta shown in the video past the break is no drastic departure from IE8, though the internals should obviously be revamped quite a bit. The rest of the world is still awaiting that September 15th launch date, but you and your impatient soul can watch an early build peak at 95/100 (so close!) on the Acid3 test with just a couple of clicks. Enjoy! [Thanks, pradeep]
Internet Explorer 9 makes cameo appearance on Microsoft Russia site
Microsoft's gotten a little carried away with its Internet Explorer 9 excitement and posted an early screenshot of the browser up on its Russian site. The post and the image have since been diligently pulled, but not before Mary-Jo Foley managed to snag the pictorial evidence. What's new to see? A resoundingly minimal interface, that's what. The Chrome comparisons should be raining down thick and heavy if this snapshot is anything to go by, as Microsoft has done a fine job of ridding its browser from pesky menus, consolidated its controls into a few icons in the top right, and combined the search and address bars into one. Of course, given the earlier leak of screenshots, those menus could still just be hiding somewhere nearby, ready to spring at us. Another similarity to Chrome (and Firefox and Safari) is the new ability to "tear off" tabs from one window and reposition them independently. We'll see how closely the Beta aligns to what we see here when it debuts for real on September. 15.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta launching September 15th, might enter a beauty pageant
Once again, the whispers were true. Microsoft has proudly announced on this fine day that September 15th will mark the official launch of the Internet Explorer 9 Beta, but details beyond that are scant. We do know that the Big M will hold a gala in San Francisco to celebrate "The Beauty of the Web," and once it hits the tubes, you'll need either Vista or Windows 7 to use it (sorry, XP loyalists). 'Course, it remains to be seen if IE can catch up to Chrome and Firefox in the technical department, but at least you can start preparing your existing squeeze for somewhat of a letdown next month. Let 'em down easy, okay?
WSJ reports Microsoft diluted IE8's privacy features to appease advertisers inside and outside the company
The Wall Street Journal has a rather extensive and well-sourced expose on some behind-the-curtain stuff that went on during Internet Explorer 8's development. It all centers around Microsoft's InPrivate Filtering technology, which keeps track of "beacons" around the web that track your movement, often with the help of cookies. The story goes that the IE team's original plan was to enable InPrivate Filtering by default, blocking any third party content embedded on a page you were browsing if it showed up more than ten times in your day to day activity. When some certain executives at Microsoft caught wind of this, they weren't too pleased. Microsoft had just bought aQuantive for $6 billion in 2007, and blocking the ability of advertisers to track users effectively would be a disruption of the online advertising industry in a major way. To that effect, Microsoft actually brought in representatives from the outside advertising organizations to weigh in, and the end result is of course plain to see: IE8's InPrivate Filtering isn't on by default, and even if you turn it on it doesn't stay on; you have to turn it on each browsing session. Of course, we'd be much more up in arms about this whole "users vs. advertisers" decision making process if InPrivate Filtering wasn't such a wild proposal to begin with. As some ad organizations argued, it would block some legitimate functionality and ads in addition to the more nefarious tracking beacons, and then there's the fact that even knowledgeable, competent users don't typically enact this sort of privacy, despite extensions that make it possible. In a way we all make the sort of decision that Microsoft made in 2008: do we value the functionality and content enabled and funded by invasive marketing techniques over our privacy? Of course, most Engadget readers are also familiar with another decision that makes most of this article's hand wringing moot: we don't use Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta expected in September, screenshots leak now
If for whatever reason the holy trifecta of Chrome, Firefox and Safari just can't satisfy your browsing needs, you'll be relieved to hear that Microsoft is on track to release a public Beta version of its latest browser as soon as a month from now. A great many hopes and enhancements are folded into this next Internet Explorer, but for the moment all we've got are pictures of its download manager and a familiar "most popular sites" starting page. You won't find many shocks in either, they're pretty much par for the modern browser course, with the former allowing you to search your download library and the latter sorting your favorite web addresses by the number of times you've visited them. Microsoft's clearly keeping up with the Chromeses here, but what we really want to see is some more innovation and adventure in its designs -- let's hope the Beta lets us play with more fresh stuff than just an ever so slightly different IE icon (don't worry, it's still cornflower blue).
Swype spotted swiftly slinging fingers across Windows 7 screens?
That's not your grandpappy's touchscreen panel, nor his standard Windows 7 input method of choice, oh no -- unless our eyes deceive us, we're looking at a 3M M2256PW ten-finger multitouch display, and on it, a genuine Swype keyboard. Though we've heard nothing about a partnership between Microsoft and Swype and we see nary a mention on the internet at large, there's no denying the idea -- spotted during last week's Internet Explorer demo at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference -- is an attractive one. The question is when and how Redmond might deliver such functionality to the existing OS... and if we might possibly see the same on the company's upcoming phones as well. See it in action at the source link, and fast forward to 2:58:30 for the goods. Trust us and skip ahead -- we've got a feeling you won't want to hear Microsoft kick this party off. [Thanks, Abed R.]
Chrome overtakes Safari for number three browser spot in the US sez StatCounter
StatCounter's issued a press release today which reports that Google's Chrome browser has overtaken Safari for third place in the United States on a weekly basis for the first time ever. Chrome nabbed the spot with an 8.97 percent share, following behind Internet Explorer with 52 percent and Firefox with 28.5 percent. Safari ranked fourth according to their stats with 8.88 percent. Globally Chrome has been in third place for some time, but this is the first time it's surpassed Safari in the United States. The statistics were compiled using data for the week of June 21st to June 27th. Full pr is below.
HTML5 speed test finds IE9, Firefox 3.7 lead the pack in Windows, Chrome a distant last
Curious to see how the latest preview release of Internet Explorer 9 stacks up against the competition when it comes to HTML5 performance in Windows? So was Download Squad, and it's now revealed its findings in some vivid, if not entirely scientific tests. The end result is that Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 3.7 were well ahead of the pack in the 1,000-fish stress test (with Firefox about 5 or 10 percent ahead of IE), while Opera was stuck somewhere in the middle, and Chrome placed a distant last (and maxed out the CPU) -- all with hardware acceleration enabled, of course, although that had to be done via command line switches in the case of Chrome. Head on past the break to check out the four-way showdown for yourself, as well as an earlier test with just IE9 and Chrome.
Mozilla bundles WebM support into nightly Firefox builds
Google's new web video standard seems to be gathering a bit of momentum, as today Firefox is following in the ultrafast steps of Chrome by offering built-in support for WebM video. Bugs are still being worked out, but the fundamentals are there, and we'll hopefully see all kinks ironed out in time for the release of Firefox 4 Beta, which is expected to land later this month. This is now the third big browser to announce compatibility, with Microsoft already promising it for IE 9, provided users download the necessary VP8 codec first. The HTML5-obsessed Apple hasn't yet decided which way it's going with the standard while Opera is presumably busy figuring out how to parody the whole thing in video form.
Microsoft responds to Google moving away from Windows, calls it ironic
Google made some waves earlier this week by reportedly moving employees off of Windows and onto Mac OS X and Linux machines -- although the company wouldn't confirm the switch, the move was said to be precipitated by security issues after Chinese hackers attacked the search giant back in January. Now, that wasn't the only reason mentioned in the report -- Google apparently also wants employees to use home-grown products like Chrome OS, and it's sort of weird for Google to buy tons of software licenses from a major competitor -- but the implication that Windows isn't secure enough for Google seems to have raised Microsoft's hackles: a new post on the Windows Team Blog says the irony of the move is "hard to overlook" as Gmail and Google Docs have privacy and security issues of their own, offers a point-by-point breakdown of all the ways Windows 7 is more secure than the competition, and goes on to suggest that a recent piece of shady Mac OS X malware is "a future sign of things to come for Apple and security." Meow. Now, we honestly think the real story is as simple as Google not wanting to write Microsoft a really big check, but we're not going to say no to a little fight here -- Eric, Steve, you have anything to say?
Internet Explorer market share falls below 60 percent for first time, according to NetApplications
NetApplications has just released its browser market share stats for the month of April, and there is something notable here: Internet Explorer has fallen to a "historic low" of 59.95 percent market share, losing about 0.69 points since last month. Google's Chrome continues its assault on Safari, reaching a 6.73 percent share (while Safari nabbed 4.72). Of course, Internet Explorer is still so far ahead of the rest of the pack it's hard to make these losses -- however significant -- into a tragedy of epic proportions story for Microsoft, so we're not going to do that. Keep in mind, as well, that NetApplications is not the only measurement of market share -- and StatCounter, by comparison, currently estimates IE's share at about 51.42 percent. Hit up the source link for the full battery of data.
Microsoft weighs in: 'the future of the web is HTML5'
Where Steve Jobs leads, Microsoft follows -- how's that for shaking up the hornet's nest? It's said in jest, of course, but we've just come across a post from the General Manager for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch, and the perspective expressed by him on the subject of web content delivery broadly agrees with the essay penned by Jobs yesterday on the very same subject. Echoing the Apple CEO's words, Hachamovitch describes HTML5 as "the future of the web," praising it for allowing content to be played without the need for plug-ins and with native hardware acceleration (in both Windows 7 and Mac OS X). He goes on to identify H.264 as the best video codec for the job -- so much so that it'll be the only one supported in IE9's HTML5 implementation -- before turning to the dreaded subject of Flash. This is where it gets good, because he literally repeats one of Jobs' six pillars of Flash hate: "reliability, security, and performance" are not as good as Microsoft would like them. Where Hachamovitch diverges from Apple's messiah, however, is in describing Flash as an important part of "a good consumer experience on today's web," primarily because it's difficult for the typical consumer to access Flash-free content. Still, it's got to be depressing for Adobe's crew when the best thing either of the two biggest players in tech has to say about your wares is that they're ubiquitous. Wonder how Shantanu Narayen is gonna try and spin this one. P.S. : it's notable that in multiple paragraphs of discussing "the future," Microsoft's IE general fails to once mention the fabled Silverlight, itself a rich media browser plug-in. Given Silverlight's featured role in the Windows Phone 7 infrastructure and other things like Netflix, we doubt it's on the outs, but there are sure to be some sour faces greeting Hachamovitch this morning. [Thanks, KnifeX4]
Internet Explorer 9 going all Metro, according to allegedly leaked screenshots? (update: nope)
Well goodness gracious, consider the books well and truly turned up. The above, purportedly bona fide, IE9 screenshot shows a bold and radical redesign of the browser everyone loves to hate. Borrowing liberally from the Metro UI design philosophy -- first espoused in the Zune HD and then paraded to great acclaim in the Windows Phone 7 OS -- this distinctly minimalist new look has us experiencing uncomfortable and unfamiliar emotions toward Microsoft's browser. We kinda, sorta wanna use it now. According to the rough translation, the bar up top alternates, depending on your use, between displaying the page title, status, address bar or search box, thereby trimming the aesthetic fat to the very limit. Slide past the break for another image, but remember: these could just as easily be mere mockups done by passionate Microsoft fans. In either case, we're pretty sure this is the direction this browser, and all others, need to be headed. [Thanks, Kiran] Update: And, as it turned out, the screenshots were indeed an exercise in some April-inspired tomfoolery by the guys over at LiveSino. We still think they're gorgeous, we'll just brush up on our Chinese for next time.
IE9 demoed on Ion-based Eee PC with full GPU acceleration
Although we were a little more focused on Windows Phone 7 Series when we went to MIX 10, Microsoft's other big announcement at the conference was Internet Explorer 9, which offers HTML5 support and support for GPU acceleration throughout the browsing experience. We saw a few demos of the system in action at MIX, but this video from NVIDIA does a little better job showing how helpful that extra GPU boost can be -- IE9 running on the Ion 2-based Eee PC 1201PN smokes a regular Atom-based netbook across a suite of tests. What that's going to mean for battery life is up in the air, especially since the GPU on an Optimus system like the 1201PN kicks in automatically, but it's pretty cool to see a netbook browsing the web at almost desktop-like speeds. Check the video after the break.
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.
Microsoft tells IE faithful on Windows XP to avoid F1 key
Still hanging around on Windows XP? Perfectly acceptable. Still using Internet Explorer to browse the world wide web? Just a wee bit less forgivable, but we understand that some of you simply can't get around it. If we just rung your bell, you might want to rip the F1 key right off of your keyboard (at least temporarily), as a recently discovered vulnerability in VBScript -- which can only bother Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 -- could allow malicious code to weasel its way right into your life with a single keystroke. As the story goes, some ill-willed web sites are encouraging users to smash the F1 key in order to access a Microsoft Help file, and when said key is depressed, "arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user." Microsoft has promised to fully investigate and resolve the issue in due time, but 'til then, we'd highly suggest avoiding your F1 key like the plague switching to Firefox.
