Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Live

Re: IE 9 Update

Just a quick tip I stumbled upon: You can adjust the size of the address bar vs. the tabs by clicking right between the two, and dragging to your desired setup:

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Re: IE 9 Download

I have updated the OP's thread with important file size information and properties, as well as mirror links and beta software warning.
 
Re: IE 9 Update

I had no problems with being remembered on the forum , from the moment I transfered from IE 8 too 9 . I logged out and had no problems logging in and ticking the remember me box .
I may have been lucky ?
 
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Screenshots

Here are some screen shots showcasing Internet Explorer 9:
 

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Re: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Screenshots

Showcasing Mikes post using IE 9.PNG I am impressed with this browser . It has the same beta performance that , Windows 7 had . I mean it works even in beta with so far no problems at all :)
 
Re: IE 9 Download

Here are some new features that are quite important for Internet Explorer 9.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML5): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS 3): http://www.css3.info/
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG 1.1): http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/
JavaScript Rendering Engine w/Hardware Acceleration
Compact User Interface Improvements
Drastic Speed Improvement over previous versions
Smoother scrolling through integrated hardware acceleration
Smoother video through Flash and HTML5 integration

Internet Explorer 9 must run on Windows 7 or Windows Vista and is not compatible with Windows XP.
 
Re: IE 9 Download

Adobe has also released a Link Removed - Invalid URL version which contains enhanced support for IE9.

Download: Link Removed - Invalid URL
 
IE 9 puts Microsoft back into the browser game

Internet Explorer has been a distant third-string player to Firefox and Chrome for so long, we thought it could never catch up.

But with a slick new interface and enhanced Windows 7 features, IE 9 — now in public beta — just might put Microsoft back at the top of the browser game.

For the past four years, I've sung the praises of Firefox, going so far as recommending it in all of my books. I've used Firefox and, more recently, Google's Chrome almost exclusively. But last week, a friend of mine started shouting online, "Ya gotta see this! Microsoft's come up with some great new stuff!" My reply? "Yeah, sure."

A few months ago, I played with an early beta version of Internet Explorer 9. It left me cold — more of the same old IE stuff, piled higher and deeper. Meh.

Microsoft released the public beta (Link Removed due to 404 Error) of IE 9 last week, complete with a heavily rejiggered user interface and a number of much-hyped enhancements. And after trying it for a few days, I have to admit that I was impressed — so impressed that I've continued to use it, from time to time, even when I don't have to.

I'm not going to bore you with a recitation of the IE 9's list of new features. Microsoft's patented marketing machine has churned out more info than you'll ever want or need. Instead, let me point out what I think shines in IE 9 — and what still leaves me cold.

Oh, and by the way: it's true that Internet Explorer 9 will not run on Windows XP.

Tab dancing with the new IE interface

Although Microsoft touts it as one of IE 9's greatest inventions, I'm ambivalent about the browser's new tab interface. I think it's cool — but in a limited way.

Let's start with tear-away tabs. Firefox and Chrome have had them for ages. When you click on a tab and drag it, the tab blossoms into its own browser window. Drag the new standalone tab back to its original window, and the tabs go back to their previous location. In Version 9, Internet Explorer finally does this, too. But IE 9 has an additional trick up its sleeve.

If you drag the favicon — the tiny icon to the left of the Web address — onto the Windows desktop, Windows creates a shortcut to the Web site. You knew that already, yes? Double-click on the shortcut, and Windows fires up your browser and takes you to the site. Windows has done that forever, with all the major browsers.

New to IE 9 — and currently unique to IE 9 — is the ability to drag a tab to the Windows 7 taskbar. When you drop a tab onto the taskbar, you pin the site to the taskbar (as with the Dummies site shown in Figure 1), just as you would pin programs. (Currently, you can drag a Web site in the browser's search/URL address bar — but not a tab — and pin it to your default browser's taskbar icon.) This new feature makes launching sites you go to everyday, such as windowssecrets.com, just a little faster.

W20100923-TS-Pin.jpg

Figure 1. You can pin individual Web sites to the Windows 7 taskbar.

When you click on the newly created icon in the taskbar, IE 9 appears with the site's icon on the left side (note "Mr. Dummy" to the left of the left-pointing arrow in Figure 1); the forward-and-back arrows take on the color of the icon. If you click on the site's icon, you're returned to the site, just as when clicking on the IE 9 Home icon.

I wouldn't call that a breakthrough innovation, but it does show some ingenuity. Chrome 6 has, for a long time, had a similar feature called Application Shortcuts (click the Tools icon, choose Tools, Create Application Shortcuts), but it doesn't work as well.

Pinning a site on the Win7 taskbar is neat, but it doesn't hold a candle to the revolutionary new Tab Candy, er, Panorama feature that's evolving in the Firefox 4 betas. Panorama lets you group tabs together, stick them out of the way, and bring them back as a group. It's a slick way to combine related tabs in a set and switch sets as you change tasks or topics. There's a good overview of Panorama on Aza Raskin's Link Removed due to 404 Error. I'll have a more thorough review in a forthcoming Top Story, after the final feature set has shaken out in Firefox 4.

Quicker graphics, faster Java — and HTML5

Every browser claims to be the fastest, and every browser manufacturer can whip out studies (possibly bought and paid for) that prove theirs runs rings around the competition. Performance numbers for beta software can never be trusted; that said, IE 9 really does feel fast.

A new, faster JScript engine called Chakra and hardware-based graphics acceleration probably account for the browser's improved speed — especially the latter, which uses your PC's graphics processing unit's (GPU) oomph to offload work by the system's main CPU. At this point, IE 9 and Firefox are both showing some impressive results with GPU acceleration.

Google doesn't have much acceleration built into Chrome 6. But whoa Nelly, watch out for Chrome 7! In a Chromium Link Removed due to 404 Error, Chrome's engineers claim they have a fancy 2D canvas acceleration feature that will make Chrome 7 run 60 times faster than Chrome 6 in some benchmark tests. Makes one wonder whether version 7 is that much faster or 6 is that much slower.

HTML5 may add another component to IE 9's quickness. A new (and still-emerging) standard, HTML5 allows Web designers to bring animation to their sites without relying on Adobe Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight. With properly constructed HTML5 tags, plus a browser that can translate those tags into commands run directly by your PC's graphics card, HTML5 should make graphics-intensive Web browsing fast indeed.

Microsoft's way behind the pack on adopting HTML5; Firefox and Chrome have been adding HTML5 features for several versions. (There's a good HTML5-compatibility comparison on the "When can I use …"Link Removed due to 404 Error.) Still, I give Microsoft two thumbs up (if I could grow another hand, I'd make it three) for embracing HTML5 at the expense of both Flash and Silverlight. Some day — maybe not in the next year or two, but some day — those almost-weekly Flash patches and hidden Flash cookies (described in my August 5Link Removed due to 404 Error) will become a thing of the past.

Comparison tests for IE 9, Firefox, and Chrome

You can download beta versions of the three most popular Web browsers from their respective sites:Link Removed due to 404 Error, Firefox 4, and the somewhat-less-stable Chrome 7 Canary build. On its "Exploring IE" blog, Microsoft claims it dished out two million copies of IE 9 in the first two days.

However, before you download and install these betas, keep in mind that they might not work with most current browser add-ons. I recommend you do your testing on a second, nonproduction machine.

If you want to run side-by-side tests, I suggest this regimen:

Start with a quick and automatic browser/HTML5 compatibility test at Niels Leenheer's Link Removed due to 404 Error. When I tested the IE 9 public beta, it came up with a raspberry-generating 101 points out of 300 (including bonus points). Firefox 4, beta 6, pegged 213; Chrome 7 Canary build rang in with 253 points. (Browser manufacturers will give a million reasons to justify their lagging scores — some of which, no doubt, are valid.)

Then try Google's HTML5 showoff Link Removed due to 404 Error, "HTML5rocks." Look at the samples in the Studio section with all three browsers. I bet you'll find that some samples work in IE 9 and Firefox and some don't — but (ooooh! aaaaah!) they all work in Chrome 6 — and most work in Chrome 7 Canary.

Next, give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and run the "Test Drive" speed tests on the Internet Explorer 9 Beta Link Removed due to 404 Error. Of course, it will demonstrate that IE 9 runs rings around Firefox and Chrome. You expected different? Still, the specific test and demos are impressive.

Finally, turn to Microsoft's IE 9 "Beauty of the Web Experience" Link Removed due to 404 Error and click through to see some fabulous HTML5-based sites.

Living with Internet Explorer 9's foibles

IE 9, in its current beta form, has a couple of user-interface characteristics that bother me.

I understand that Microsoft wanted to reduce the browser's overall clutter — to let the Web sites shine through while the browser fades into the background (in other words, to make IE look more like Chrome). But even after working with it for a while, I still don't understand why MS put the address bar on the same line as the tabs. If you get more than a handful of tabs, the address bar shrinks to the point where it's unusable.

What's more, the address bar is now the Search bar, too — and I frequently find myself wondering exactly what key words I was searching on, when the search string gets long. Perhaps it's just a senior moment, but Firefox and Chrome both leave me plenty of room for refining a search. I bet MS changes that before IE 9 ships.

The new download manager may be skimpy — but it's sure a lot better than nothing (which is what we've had through eight versions of IE). I just wish there were a way to change priorities when downloading more than one file, so I can have IE 9 devote more bandwidth to the file that I want first. I also had trouble with grayed-out Pause buttons, but that might just be the beta blues.

Based on my look at IE 9 beta, I believe this will put Microsoft back into the browser game after a long time playing catch-up. But it won't take on a commanding lead. Firefox's Panorama looks like a groundbreaking new feature. Chrome's updating so quickly, it's likely that IE will go back to eating dust not long after it sees the light of day. Know what I like the most about IE 9? It's going to make Firefox and Chrome (and possibly Opera) better, too. That's good for everybody.

Source: .Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
IE9 Beta Downloaded 2 Million Times in 2 Days

Despite the fact that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) won't be available to Windows XP users, IE9 is off to a fast start. Released on the 15th of September, it's estimated that Internet Explorer 9 was downloaded two million times in just two days.

It's an incredible adoption rate for the Internet Explorer 9 beta, particularly considering the fact that Microsoft hasn't widely advertised the new browser. Users won't get access by simply waiting for an update, but must intentionally download the beta edition.
Internet Explorer 9 Receives over 9 Million Visitors

The IE9 beta site itself has received more than nine million visitors. By contrast, only 1.3 million users downloaded Internet Explorer 8 in its first two days of availability. (Source: afterdawn.com)

Microsoft is obviously encouraged by the popularity of the new beta edition, which may indicate that users are willing to return to Internet Explorer after the company saw its domination of the browser market whittled away by competition from Mozilla (Firefox), Google (Chrome) and others like Safari and Opera.

"All in all, we are encouraged about the very early response to the IE9 release this past week," noted Roger Capriotti, Microsoft's product manager. (Source: tgdaily.com)
Big Specs Bring Big Fuss

So, what's behind the sudden popularity of a browser whose specs are too advanced for Windows XP?

There may be a couple reasons. For one, customer satisfaction with Windows 7 has brought respect back to Microsoft products, which took a hit with the 2007 Vista debacle.

Second, any time a web browser is too demanding for an old operating system, users are going to wonder what the fuss is all about.

In the end, Microsoft hasn't got much choice in the matter. Sure, we can get upset that our old XP systems won't run the new, more secure version of Internet Explorer, but for a company that has seen its piece of the pie eaten up by competitors, it may be time for a miracle.

Source: http://www.infopackets.com/news/business/microsoft/2010/20100924_ie9_beta_downloaded_2_million_times_in_2_days.htm
 
Re: IE9 Beta Downloaded 2 Million Times in 2 Days

Had to laugh at this
but for a company that has seen its piece of the pie eaten up by competitors, it may be time for a miracle.
Really? I wonder whose piece of pie is being eaten by whom? Anyone remember Netscape (Navigator). I really can't muster up much sympathy for Microsoft, just because people (apparently quite a few) prefer alternative browsers to their offering. I like IE9, heck I even liked IE8, and probably used it as much as Chrome, or FireFox. But I think the Browser Wars are likely to continue well into the future as it seems their almost cult like in their adoptiion, sort of like Mac vs. PC and Linux vs. Windows, true believers all. Could I have another glass of the Koolaid please.
 
Re: IE 9 Update

Decided I would give it a look see.
Overall the interface seems a bit Chrome like.
One strange thing that I noticed is that the back button does not always go back with a refresh. Especially on this site, haven't spent much time investigating other sites. But after clicking the back button I seem to often have to F5 it or click the refresh button in order to see the page updated.
Have you guys noticed anything similar?

I also noticed that the back button does not refresh on some sites. I also noticed that when I go to post to my blog it won't allow me to add pictures or link to where I found the article. I am sure all that will get worked out in time. For now I just use firefox for posting on my blog. As for the blog it could be blogspot having troubles. Not sure.
 
Re: IE 9 Update

Thanks Sonny, I thought it was just me, I miss the site being automatically refreshed when I go back to a page, because I'm used to seeing the Bold Type Face, being replaced with standard type, indicating that I have already read the latest post in that particular thread. I have tried changing the settings in Internet Properties, General Tab, Browsing history, Setting Button, where you can change the parameters for "Check for newer version of stored pages:" but nothing works, changed it to Every time and back to Automatic and back again, still doesnt do it. Ie8 just refreshed automagically everytime I clicked the back button, very handy. I hope you're right and as the product evolves some minor things like this will probably be resolved.
 
Re: IE 9 Update

Don't forget that it's still in beta.. :) Also have you considered sending this feedback to MS? If anyone would like to contribute then checkout the bottom of the page found here: Internet Explorer Feedback Program | Microsoft Connect

You can also send feedback via a drop down menu shown in the screenshot. You will probably have to install the 'Windows Live ID sign-in helper' of which you'll be linked to..
 
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