

IE9 Public Beta Release Today - moserware
http://www.fastcompany.com/1689097/microsoft-brings-apps-to-windows-7-with-internet-explorer-9

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cpr
It's interesting to watch the tension at Microsoft.

The IE team has to embrace standards (HTML5/JS/CSS) as much as possible to be
thought of as a serious competitor in the browser wars. (Since the browser is
the new OS.)

The rest of MS has to push Silverlight as the way to build applications, or
else Windows itself is endangered, if there's nothing Windows-specific about
future app development. (Hoping the browser _isn't_ the new OS.)

Seems like both Microsoft and Apple are trying to figure out where to go in
the post-PC era. Apple's clearly betting on mobile (which is a good bet), but
MS is tied to their Windows/Office/Exchange legacy, and falling behind
horribly in mobile. (We'll see if Windows Phone 7 does anything for them.)

~~~
contextfree
The IE team is part of the Windows division, Silverlight is part of Server &
Tools. If anything IE is more about selling Windows than Silverlight is.
Silverlight is cross-platform (Mac, Nokia) and is about selling ... servers
and tools.

~~~
cpr
Then the tension is even more poignant, since making IE better makes Windows
less relevant.

~~~
goatforce5
Not if they're aiming for "The best/fastest/most awesome browsing experience
is IE9 on Windows! Buy Windows now!"

~~~
cpr
That would be a nice fate for Windows--"the best operating system for web
browsing." ;-)

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DavidBishop
I'm a Microsoft developer who has switched to Mac at home and is running
Chrome at work. I really don't care about IE9.

Someone please enlighten me (this is not sarcasm... I'm asking): what is the
value of IE9 over everything else on the market?

~~~
eru
It will eventually ship with Windows?

It's probably better than IE8, and if you just use a standard Windows PC then
Microsoft Update will perhaps give you IE9 automatically? (Sorry, I don't use
Windows enough to know whether browser updates are automatic.) So the common
non-computer savvy user will benefit.

~~~
Timmy_C
Browser updates from Microsoft have ALWAYS been opt-in and that is the reason
you don't see the same adoption rates like with other browser manufacturers.

As a web developer, it's my biggest gripe with Microsoft.

~~~
halo
Microsoft ships IE as a critical Windows update. It's as "opt-in" as _any_
critical Windows update.

~~~
Timmy_C
If you have Windows set to automatically update then "critical" updates will
be install without prompting the user. However, when it attempts to install IE
it will always as for the user's permission. I feel that it's a bit different
than a regular hotfix.

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stuaxo
Pinning to the taskbar is sneaky as I guess that'll always launch IE.. and
people will be even less aware of the browser than they already are.

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lovskogen
Live stream over @
[http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/presskits/internetexplore...](http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/presskits/internetexplorer/liveEvent.aspx)

Needs Silverlight to watch. Kinda blows they didn't do it in HTML5, or even
YouTube's live stream hip stuff.

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Timmy_C
Pinning these "immersive app-like experiences" to the task bar sounds like one
step back in terms of UI innovation. Having different webpages available from
the task bar looks exactly like what I had with IE6 and multiple windows.

~~~
rlivsey
If it's anything like Fluid.app [1] on the Mac then I'm a big fan.

I have numerous web-apps setup as dedicated applications using Fluid and find
it much nicer than having them as tabs in the same browser, or in their own
browser windows. It means I can launch them with Spotlight easily, they have
their own icon in the dock and start up without the address-bar or any other
chrome.

At any one time I'd say around 75% of the apps I'm running are Fluid.app
instances.

[1] <http://fluidapp.com/>

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joshuacc
While interesting, the article perpetuates the myth that any cool new browser
feature is somehow due to HTML5. Pinning apps to the taskbar is nice, but not
related to HTML5 in any meaningful way.

~~~
caryme
Neither is SVG support, which is touted in this release.

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lovskogen
Anyone want to join my IE9 beta launch party à
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyas7BrbUFY> ?

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zaatar
The action begins at 10.30 AM Pacific guys - definitely, keep an eye out for
<http://blogs.msdn.com/ie>

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hotmind
You can download ie9 preview here: <http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/>

~~~
caryme
The 'platform preview' is not a real beta. It doesn't have any components of
the new UI, just a frame that renders a page with the new IE.

~~~
hotmind
My mistake. It's here: <http://www.beautyoftheweb.com>

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joshfinnie
Is it available for linux?

~~~
niyazpk
No. It is not even available for Windows XP.

~~~
robryan
Weird, it feels like they are missing out on such a large market not
supporting XP when all their competitors still do. Seems like for the purposes
of better integrating a few features they have decided to ignore the many
improvements they could provide to someone on XP currently using IE8.

It just becomes another reason for people to make the switch, and I doubt they
will win them back when they finally do decide to upgrade to windows7.

~~~
fname
XP is dead and I'm not sure how Microsoft can make that any more clear than
completely avoiding releasing products on it any more. Upgrade or lose out on
the newer features available in later OS releases.

~~~
weego
XP is being supported officially until 2014. Why would any company consider
that dead?

~~~
fname
Yes.. they support it until 2014. My 'dead' comment was really that from a
feature set point of view. I'm supporting, but I'm not adding any new
features. As a software company aren't you wanting your customers to upgrade
to the latest and greatest?

~~~
robryan
They may want people to but it is happening very slowly. One big problem is
that XP has all the features most users need and a big price tag on windows 7
doesn't help. Every windows before XP ended up having large game breaking
issues which meant the customer base would switch quiet fast to the new one
when it came out. Sure windows 7 is a nice addition on top of XP but in terms
of day to day usage most people would easily be able to get by on XP.

