If you are something like me list of things to do as soon as we get a new PC: Uninstall every piece of crapware, change the desktop wallpaper, and fire up Internet Explorer to download a new browser like Firefox or Chrome. Without fail, we've repeated that last step . 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 and then there are the smaller items, like the fact that it lacks a download manager or uses more RAM than the competition.
Internet Explorer 9 could be a pivotal release for Microsoft. The Microsoft browser has been bleeding market share to rivals for a number of years: in January 2009 Internet Explorer boasted a worldwide market share of 70%, according to Net Applications; last month that share had fallen to 57%.
Whereas Firefox used to be Microsoft's main threat, Google Chrome has now emerged as the most serious threat to Internet Explorer's crown. Although still a distant third in the browser wars, Chrome's market share has doubled over the past year to 10%.
Internet Explorer 9 which is now available for download as a public beta will try and mend all those issues. There are some 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?
Design and User Interface
"Unlocking the beauty of the Web." That's Microsoft's new tag line for Internet Explorer 9.The company's finally realized that, you know, web surfers want to see more web and less browser and toolbars. Actually, Microsoft claims with the new design more of a web page can be seen than in Firefox even if it's only by a few centimeters. It appears that Chrome actually allows you to see a bit more of a page, but honestly the difference in space really seems insignificant.
The menu bar has been removed and the address bar are now at the forefront. It looks a lot like Chrome . The compatibility view, refresh and stop buttons have been just latched on to the address bar and there are dedicated favorite and tools buttons on the far right side.
Pinned Sites
With Pinned Sites, you can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open the Internet Explorer first. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box, the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page and drag it to the taskbar. That's it. Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate fromInternet Explorer. Now all it takes is one click to get to your favorite website.
Finally IE9 adds a real download manager that lets you see what you've recently downloaded as well as see the progress of a current download. It also has a SmartScreen Filter, as it's been dubbed, that alerts you to security issues. Alerts appear within the browser window now rather than as a pop-up.
Enhanced Tabs
Tabs aren't new to Internet Explorer, but Microsoft's added a few new tricks. They're really easy to snap out of place now, and even if you're doing something like playing a video in YouTube, detaching it doesn't lose your place as content is continuously rendered. Like Chrome, there's now the ability to just shut down one tab when a website starts to hang.Instead of having to shut down the entire browser, you can go into the task manager and just kill that particular tab. The new tab page shows frequently visited sites along with a meter of how actively you visit them.
Search in address bar:
When you search from the address bar, you'll have the option of opening a search results page or the top search result (if your search engine supports the feature). You can also get optional search suggestions in the address bar—but they are off by default, in case you don't want to share what you type with a search provider.
Add-on Performance Advisor
Add-ons, such as toolbars, can enhance your browsing experience, but they can also slow it down. Add-on Performance Advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browser performance, and then allow you to disable or remove it.
Tabs aren't new to Internet Explorer, but Microsoft's added a few new tricks. They're really easy to snap out of place now, and even if you're doing something like playing a video in YouTube, detaching it doesn't lose your place as content is continuously rendered. Like Chrome, there's now the ability to just shut down one tab when a website starts to hang.Instead of having to shut down the entire browser, you can go into the task manager and just kill that particular tab. The new tab page shows frequently visited sites along with a meter of how actively you visit them.
Search in address bar:
You can now search directly from the address bar. If you enter a website's address, you'll go directly to the website. If you enter a search term or incomplete address, you will launch a search using the currently selected search engine. Click the address bar to select your search engine from the listed icons or to add new ones.
Add-on Performance Advisor
Add-ons, such as toolbars, can enhance your browsing experience, but they can also slow it down. Add-on Performance Advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browser performance, and then allow you to disable or remove it.
With all this information the question still remains:do we still need to replace IE with Firefox and Chrome ? It's certainly not mandatory anymore, or at least it shouldn't be by the time IE9 is ready to ship with new PCs. The interface is attractive and clean, the new features robust and the speed greatly improved. Microsoft has sped up and cleaned up Internet Explorer 9 to a point where it's not only usable, but actually a real pleasure to use.
source: www.engadget.com
2 comments:
Dear Microsoft,
Your already pretty late in the race... Do you have anything new in IE which chrome or Firefox doesn't have? If No than stop wasting time of people around the world..
Viral IE still has the major share of the market.They are making changes and IE 9 is impressive
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