

Internet Explorer 11 Developer Preview for Windows 7 - yread
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39677

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lux
It's kind of funny that their description of IE11-DP and IE10 further down the
page are exactly the same:

> "Internet Explorer 11 Developer Preview is fast and fluid, and lets your
> websites shine and perform just like native applications on your PC."

> "Internet Explorer 10 is fast and fluid, and lets your websites shine and
> perform just like native apps on your PC."

Just like native apps? I didn't realize MS had already leap-frogged things
like NaCl and ASM.js in IE10... :P

Aside from the hyperbole on that page, what is actually new in IE11?

~~~
lux
Okay, this is just utter BS:

> "Windows Internet Explorer 9 lets your websites shine and perform just like
> native applications on your PC."

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bunkat
I'm always surprised with just how much traction IE has lost in the
developer/tech community. Across the couple of open source projects I
maintain, only 62 of 4,847 visits have been from IE (mostly 9 and 10). I think
everyone knows that most in this community don't use IE - but only 1% usage?
That's crazy. Curious if this trend will ever change or if too many bridges
have already been burned.

~~~
azakai
It will be hard, but I think IE can do it.

1\. With WebGL support and the other new features in IE11, they are close to
finally being comparable to Chrome and Firefox in terms of being a modern
browser. Yes, bridges were burnt, but IE11 and things like TypeScript are
making Microsoft cool in the web space again.

2\. Previews appear to show IE11 is also competitive in terms of speed with
other modern browsers. (IE was already fast at 2D canvas, but not much else.)

3\. The tech community was disturbed by the NSA spying scandals (that involve
most major browser vendors), which led to some movement to switch to
alternative browsers and search engines. Even if people don't switch entirely
away, they might choose to put less eggs in one basket, so prefer to not do
Chrome+google.com or IE+bing. Of the other combinations of those options
(there are others of course, but just considering those), IE+google.com seems
more likely than Chrome+bing, so IE might gain a little there.

~~~
rtfeldman
This is what IE advocates have been saying since IE9, and it is no more true
with IE11 than it was then.

Inertia means IE needs to be _significantly better_ than the alternatives to
catch up. It takes time and energy to switch, so the payoff has to make it
worth one's while.

When Firefox came out, it offered substantial improvements over IE6. When
Chrome came out, it offered substantial improvements over Firefox.

IE11 continues the "hey, we're almost caught up!" tradition that has seen IE's
market spiral downward for years. Until a version of IE comes out that earns
the reaction "whoa, this is _much_ better than Chrome or Firefox!", the
downward spiral will continue.

~~~
dstorey
Even if IE11 has only “almost caught up”, that means, as you point out, that
inertia to change will mean existing users will be less likely to switch away
from IE, as alternative browsers will no longer be significantly better. Just
that will help to halt any downward spiral.

Note that on Akamai[0] (who have many of the world‘s largest sites as their
customers) IE’s share is relatively static. On NetMarketShare[1], IE’s share
is increasing. It seems any such downward spirals has already halted. At least
on two of the major analytics sites that release public data.

[0]
[http://www.akamai.com/html/io/io_dataset.html#stat=browser&t...](http://www.akamai.com/html/io/io_dataset.html#stat=browser&top=5&type=line&start=20130401&end=20130731&net=both)
[1] [http://www.netmarketshare.com](http://www.netmarketshare.com)

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ScottWhigham
Better link - download a VM with it:

[http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-
tools#downloads](http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads)

They just updated to include IE11 preview

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ripter
Wow that's awesome. Although most of my IE users are still on IE8.

I'm sure this will be great when IE14 is out and my users have moved on to
IE11.

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wluu
Glad they finally gave the Dev tools an update in IE11.

It's a welcome thing for those that still need to support users running IE.

~~~
harrytuttle
I'm using IE11 on windows 8.1 to prep our product for it.

The developer tools are a piece of shit still. The JavaScript debugger is
hideous, it's clunky as hell and actually changes the page behaviour resulting
in all sorts of impossible heisenbugs.

~~~
k3n
I haven't used the IE11 version yet (still on IE9 for work development), but
IE9's are pretty solid. Perhaps I'm suffering from a sort of perverted
Stockholm syndrome, but they work well for me. They're not without annoyances
(like having to refresh once you enable debugging), but once you get past
those it works as expected.

Chrome's are also very nice, but at the same time, often overblown for my
needs. For what it's worth, I mainly debug minor performance issues (99.9%
relating to abusing the DOM) and the odd bugs in our own software. So, while
the GPU and heap profiling and whatnot are grand, for my job YAGNI at all.

And I'll probably get drawn & quartered for this, but Firebug just plain
sucked the last time I tried to use it (a month or 2 ago). I can only guess
that it's because it's still an add-on, and not native, but it just felt slow
and clunky, and like it was all held together with bailing wire and duct tape
(which, considering it's an add-on, might not be far from the truth). It's
ironic because I was an early-adopter of Firebug back when it was first
introduced, and it set the early standard of just how awesome in-browser
debugging tools could be, but now I avoid it. I do have big hopes for
Mozilla's remake of the native dev tools though, I feel it's been a long time
coming.

~~~
Shorel
Opera's Dragonfly is still one of the best for JS debugging.

It's sad it's going to die with Presto.

------
ZiadHilal
Directly beneath the announcement is a list of the most popular IE downloads:

#1 - IE 8

#3 - IE 10

#4 - IE 7...

#5 - IE 9

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Jackpax
I do have IE on my computer (because it came with it), but I haven't used it
in so long. I'm always open to going back if the browser improves. But right
now chrome based seems to be the way to go from regular chrome to opera or
torch browser, it's a better overall platform.

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rhengles
Why is it only available for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 but not Windows 8 RTM?

~~~
wluu
Because 8.1 is intended as a (free) update to 8 rtm.

So kinda like what they used to call a "service pack".

~~~
yuhong
Except it ignores the original release of Windows Server 2012.

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melling
WebGL is now a real option, or at least by this time next year.

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joshbaptiste
I never understood why IE had to place every downloaded item into C:\TEMP and
then move the item into the darn drive I preferred in the first place.

~~~
gizmo686
Its probably to avoid having partially downloaded files look like completly
downloaded files. A much better solution would be something like saving it as
a *.download (or similar), on the drive it actually gets saved to. Saving it
to C: regardless is just a stupid solution to this problem.

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fargolime
I see it still has the blue colors at the top, uglifying every site viewed in
it. Why not be neutral, like Chrome?

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rhokstar
I'm tired of Micro$oft's shenanigans and the IE 6/7/8/9 saga I still endure
today. Never again.

~~~
untog
Top tip: don't use "Micro$oft" if you want people to take you seriously.

