Microsoft modernizes Web ambitions with IE9
For those who doubted that Microsoft was serious in its effort to re-engage with the Web, it's time to put the skepticism aside.
At its Mix conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Microsoft gave programmers, Web developers, and the world at large a taste of things to come with its Web browser. Specifically, Microsoft released what it's calling the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, a prototype that's designed to show off the company's effort to improve how the browser deals with the Web as it exists today and, just as important, to add support for new Web technologies that are coming right now.
The new software is only a framework, raw enough that it's still missing a "back" button. But with "a few" updated preview versions set to arrive at eight-week intervals, the project will develop into a beta, a release candidate, and eventually the full-fledged product IE9, said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer and the executive who'll describe the project at Mix.
Coming in the new version is support for new Web standards including plug-in-free video; better performance with graphics, text, and JavaSript by taking advantage of modern computing hardware; and a new effort at gathering and responding to feedback from those using the prototype software, Hachamovitch said.
Dean Hachamovitch, IE general manager
IE9 is months from release, but already it holds the potential to alter the browser market. Not only could it reinvigorate competition with a host of new rivals, it could help usher in the cloud computing era that some of those rivals are eager to embrace. In that era, the Web transforms from a foundation for static documents and Web sites into a foundation for interactive programs.
IE6, released in 2001 when Microsoft had won the browser wars of the 1990s, still is widely used today. It's loathed among Web developers who want to use more modern Web technologies, and despite the release of IE8 a year ago, Microsoft is still saddled with a reputation as a company behind the browser curve. Mozilla's Firefox now accounts for nearly a quarter of usage, Google's Chrome has burst onto the scene and now is in third place, while Internet Explorer continues to gradually lose its share of usage.
With IE9, though, Microsoft is trying to rebuild the browser for the Web that's to come through new standards such as HTML5 and CSS3, updates to Hypertext Markup Language for describing Web pages and Cascading Style Sheets for formatting.
The software caught the attention of Microsoft's biggest browser rival. "IE9 looks great, very glad to see it. Congrats to the IE team!" said Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Firefox backer Mozilla, in a tweet.
New Web standards
"We saw that HTML5 will enable a new class of applications. Those applications are going to stress the browser runtime in ways today's Web sites don't," Hachamovitch said in an interview. "We realized very quickly that doing HTML5 right was much more about designing all our browser subsystems around what the new apps will need than it was about a particular feature checklist. It's understanding where the apps are going to go and building the platform that will get them there."
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With IE8, Microsoft put a priority on complying with existing standards, a dramatic turnaround from an earlier attitude that resentful Web developers saw as "Standard? IE is the standard." With IE9 Microsoft is moving its standards religion into the future.
The company signaled its heightened interest in Web standards through new engagement in developing HTML5 and SVG, the Scalable Vector Graphics standard that the company shunned for years despite its possibilities for better rendering of graphics such as logos. IE9, those standards arriving as an actual product.
IE9 has "HTML5 through and through," Hachamovitch said, as well as support for CSS3 and for showing SVG 1.1 imagery inline. Hachamovitch's demo shows H.264-encoded HTML5 video, and he said that graphics such as maps are vastly more sophisticated with SVG support.
When Microsoft showed IE9 technology in November, it didn't shy away from IE's poor showing on the Acid3 test of compliance with various standards and technologies. IE8 scores 20 out of 100, the November IE technology reached 32, but the IE9 Platform Preview makes it up to 55. Microsoft also dings the test as imperfect, adding in a blog post, "A key part of our approach to Web standards is the development of an industry standard test suite. Today, Microsoft has submitted over 100 additional tests of HTML5, CSS3, DOM [Document Object Model, the structure of a Web page], and SVG, to the W3C," the World Wide Web Consortium that oversees HTML and various other Web standards.
New JavaScript Engine
Another headline element for IE9 is a new JavaScript engine. When it comes to these engines for running Web-based programs, Chrome has V8, Opera 10.5 has Carakan, Safari has Nitro, and Firefox has the new JaegerMonkey.
Now Internet Explorer has its own new name for a JavaScript Engine: Chakra. On Microsoft's test on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, IE9 Platform Preview is a tad faster than Firefox (using the older TraceMonkey engine) and a tad slower than Safari, Chrome, and Opera.
IE9 is competitive with rivals on the SunSpider JavaScript speed test.
(Credit: Microsoft)The finer points of exactly where IE shows up in the rankings are less important than the comparison to IE8 and earlier versions, which by comparison crawl through JavaScript.
One big change in the JavaScript engine that Hachamovitch is proud of is its multicore support. As soon as a Web page is loaded, Chakra assigns a processing core to the task of compiling JavaScript in the background into fast code written in the native language of the computer's processor.
Hachamovitch distinguishes this from the just-in-time compilation approach of other browsers, which he criticizes as a difficult balance of optimizing code well without slowing down the arrival of Web pages.
There are other efforts to make JavaScript a richer programming foundation, including the Web Workers standard to let JavaScript perform background processing tasks. Microsoft, though, wants to improve the Web as much as possible without requiring new programming approaches.
With the Chakra approach, "developers don't have to change their markup. The Web page didn't have to change. Essentially, dual- and quad-core machines get put to good use," Hachamovitch said.
Microsoft already showed off IE9's use of Direct2D and DirectWrite, interfaces in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that can accelerate graphics and text. At Mix, Hachamovitch's demonstration shows the technology works to speed up SVG graphics as well.
Feedback time
The IE9 Platform Preview itself is a change, too. Previously, Microsoft delivered a more finished product to the world. Now it's trying to get feedback at an earlier stage of development. And it's explicitly seeking comment on a wide range of elements:
"The main technologies to call out here broadly are HTML5, CSS3, DOM, and SVG," Hachamovitch said in a blog post. "The IE9 test drive site has more specifics and samples. At this time, we're looking for developer feedback on our implementation of HTML5's parsing rules, Selection APIs, XHTML support, and inline SVG. Within CSS3, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9's support for Selectors, Namespaces, Colors, Values, Backgrounds and Borders, and Fonts. Within DOM, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9's support for Core, Events, Style, and Range."
Alphabet soup, to be sure. But when it comes to building a modern Web, those letters all reflect important standards. Microsoft's embrace is all the more significant given that, with its Windows and Office businesses, has the most to lose from the migration of applications from the PC to the cloud.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank, or contact him through Google Buzz. 
Uh oh, I liked what I was reading until I got to this point. All the other major browsers score over 90% now. I hope they're not saying that they cannot get to that point because the tests are wrong. That sounds suspiciously like their gross misinterpretation of the box model in IE6. Stop making excuses, MS, and follow the existing standards!
No, then it's too late. MS needs to hear the message that we need a fully working browser before it is considered complete and ready for release. I don't care if it has the best HTML 5 support and fastest hardware acceleration if its HTML4/CSS2 model is still broken.
Why should he wait for the final product to complain? I for one decided that Avatar was a horrible movie with bad special effects several years ago when it was just actors performing in front of a green screen. And I was right. Practically nobody saw or liked Avatar. Right?
Isn't the point of a preview / test version to allow you to complain before it goes live?
Your statement blows my mind. There's really only two ways to take it: sarcastically or literally. If you take it sarcastically, are you suggesting that we wait until it's too late? On the other hand, if you are serious, how can you be so out of touch with people's opinion and the numbers behind Avatar?
You're absolutely right. We should all be able to complain about something we have incomplete or insufficient information on. It's only fair- people are slamming the iPad as being inferior to a netbook even though it's not out yet.
Of course, those people who DO complain look like complete and utter morons, but that is their choice to do so.
You're giving undue importance to Acid3 again. It's a suite of 100 obscure test cases -- hardly a representative sample out of the 10,000+ you would need to verify standards compliance. What data do the Acid3 authors use to conclude that these 100 test cases are more important than the rest of the test suite?
"Practically nobody saw or liked Avatar. Right?" Just like no one saw or liked Gone With the Wind, the original Star Wars, or Titanic either...."
HAHAHAHA I didnt see it nor do i care too. Gone With the Wind is the only one i saw all of these so much for logic a? :/
Anyways these days people use what they like , nit everyone follows the trend. Trends can be a bad when prodcuts are over hypered m,y otehr browers other then IE. OMH people these days do think for themselves without following every loser off the cliff to their pit of death of narrow minded thinking :/ Get Real not everyone believe half the BS on Cnet these days. Go push your views on theose that blieves everything written on the internet by simple minded kids.
About the store analogy: It's like owning one HUGE store in town, where people have to shop, whether they like it or not (e.g. because of Windows-only software or hardware).
At least in the EU we haven't quite fallen for the "the market will take care of everything" daydream.
@Fellow
I wish they would stick to the same platform. That would be great for me as a web designer/developer. This would cut time and development costs. However, MS needs a game changer. Granted, they are still in the lead by a significant margin, I still believe they're only one Vista short of losing that lead to their competition.
To jumpstart this, they're going to have to come up with something that renders sites as developers would expect, but also provide a unique experience. I can tell you personally, I will not go back to IE unless it offers a BETTER experience than Chrome, not just something "on par". It's really a costs vs. market share argument which I'm sure they analyzed and decided going back to the drawing board was they best option.
@ade
I'd say given the current (current being the key word) state of Window Vista, declining market share of IE, and almost boycott-like opposition from developers for WinMo, it's not a stretch at all for someone to think they're smarter than a MS exec. That sounds like a game show...
And it's not a dumb question at all to way ROI and time and development cost. I would hope for anyone who might work for you that you're not an owner/manager.
You sound like a left-wing politician.
As a shareholder of Microsoft, I see that they are spending considerable financial and personnel resources to build IE9. Their demonstrations of the current state show a browser that's pretty much what you'd expect out of a browser, nothing surprising or innovative, but it's still in development. BUT, when asked about what will be new and radical in IE9, they are talking HTML5 support, support for SVG and the video tag, improved JavaScript performance, and compliance CSS and DOM standards.
So, why make a browser who's revolutionary feature is to provide the features that other browsers are supporting? Even if you wanted to add features, why not forgo the effort of the core development of the HTML renderer, DOM, and JavaScript engine and use what's already freely available as a starting point and move on from there? I seems like a very large expense without necessity or justification. Surely Microsoft doesn't have to prove its software development acumen by coding up a new browser just to show that it can.
It is unlikely they are simply trying to create a product for its own sake. It's probably a strategic move aimed at having code ready so that they can play their game of making subtle nonstandard changes to standards when they feel ready to do so. The next step is to encourage devs to write nonstandard code that only works with MS products, and eventually making sure customers are forced to use MS products. It's the reason IE6 is still around. It's a cycle everybody has seen before. Your investment in MS is safe.
you're there talking, have you seen the Day 2 keynote of IE9. SVG is done better than in Chrome, HTML5 video are done better than in Chrome, Javascript performane is almost on par with Chrome and is even better than FF3.6
check out in your Chrome browser: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/01FlyingImages/Default.html
and see how many frames persecond you get. I don't have Chrome installed, but IE9 preview gives 65fps.
also check this in Chrome: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/40PulsatingBubbles/Default.xhtml
thats some SVG going on, in IE9 its smooth as silk.
"while Internet Explorer continues to gradually lose its share of suage."
"Microsoft is trying to rebuilt the browser"
"dual- and quad-core machiens get put to good use"
An apostrophe DOES NOT MEAN "here comes an S". Kindly learn that before you try the grammar-nazi routine again, douchington.
"Today, Microsoft has submitted over 100 additional tests of HTML5, CSS3, DOM [Document Object Model, the structure of a Web page], and SVG, to the W3C," the World Wide Web Consortium that oversees HTML and various other Web standards. "
They're saying lets flush out all the grey space and get real about standards.
For those of you who don't know what the standards are, you should probably shut your mouth in stead of blasting off half baked commments.
Ah. Perhaps you expect MS to advertise that they're trying to undermine standards? You think MS is trying to get real about standards? Historically MS have tried to subvert standards to lock customers into MS software, not "get real" about them. Any sudden MS interest in a standard should be suspected to be a smokescreen designed to destroy standards. Even if they're not doing it already, given MS history I think it's much more likely they're simply positioning themselves so they CAN control standards in the future.
I don't think arguing based on clear historical patterns is "blasting off half baked comments". Blindly defending MS, on the other hand, is.
Or maybe improve them?
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I guess it does depend on your perspective, but as the old saying goes "those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it".
I guess I should look at it as job security.
I'm sure there are numerous technical reasons, but would be interested to hear.
@mrmuppet: It's like pulling teeth to get my company to explore updated version of products so just getting IE going is a process in itself. We have played around with Firefox but as far as keeping it up to date with patches...it causes a few more headaches then just running the IE patches through our patching system for the rest of Windows. We have a few users out there (mainly in the IT department) that use it myself as I prefer it but I have a little more leadway when it comes to installing it. As I am "testing" it. :)
That little punk at geek squad is going to get his MCSE and pwn you soon.
ROTFL! Are you kidding? It's not the actual roll-out that's going to eat all that time.
Your geek-squad MCSE, in his naivete, will make that request, then get to put up with the following:
* getting justification/permission for upgrade ("You moron! We spent $n millions on these custom web apps, and our vendor said they won't support IE7/8/9! We haven't even hit the 50% amortization mark yet!")
* testing for compatibility, keeping in mind that the majority of your users each use their own little apps in different ways.
* the grand political minefield of being held up because some powerful employee (a VP's secretary/exec. assistant) can't get her little homebuilt ASP-based lash-up app to work in IE 7/8/9
* opposition from your own department because, quite frankly, few people in your corp's developer pool knows/wants/needs the latest .NET code/tools/skills, and can't be arsed to learn on short notice (they'll only do it to polish their resume with).
- we could go on, but I suspect that our erstwhile geek squad buddy and his shiny new MCSE will have been thoroughly beaten down and/or shown the door by this point :)
I use Mac OS X, so even if I wanted to (which I don't) I couldn't use IE anyway.
tsk, tsk.. always there with the lies and the fud.
"As a matter of fact, it's the only thing that HAS worked properly without issues since I upgraded to W7 on the 2 PCs I have."
>> That, is a lie.
IE9 is shaping up to be a really good browser, using the dev preview now and renders really nice. haven't met any problems or bugs yet. but I'm seriously trying to break it.
in IE9 does better HTML5 videa better than chrome among other things.
I can't tell if you're being honest or sarcastic here.
However, it is a WEB browser first, and as such, development should focus on implementing standards other browsers have been supporting for years.
Competition is really working wonders. A year or two ago, they were deeming SVG support not important enough and pushing people towards Silvernight. Things are quite different today.
Oh that is so true. Really dumb aren't they?
*THEREFORE* since I have zero information to base my opinion, I am ideally qualified to give my judgement and say that IE9 is a complete and utter failure, not worth the paper the code is printed on, useless and inferior in every way to FireFox, Chrome, or one of those never heard of before browsers that the EU is forcing end users to choose from.
(It's important to give full disclosure, after all)
IE has always been behind the curve and I seriously doubt IE9 can do HTML 5 video better than Chrome currently. Of course Safari does HTML 5 video really well (just check out Apple's website) with Safari!
Good to see IE9 finally embracing real web standards (versus the proprietary standards of old).
People just need to chill out here. This is a preview and not the final product.
- by A41202813 March 16, 2010 12:15 PM PDT
- The Real War Among Browsers Is The Diversity Of ADDONS Available.
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