Internet Explorer 9 to be the Fastest and Safest Web Browser

HTML5, Modernized: Fourth IE9 Platform Preview Available for Developers

95/100 Acid3 score, beats Safari 5.0 and Firefox 4.0 beta 2 at SunSpider, trounces Chrome at HTML5 rendering speeds via hardware acceleration.

 

Looking awesome, also note that the 95/100 is a virtual 100/100 as the debate about removing old/non-used technology from acid3 continues.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/...latform-preview-available-for-developers.aspx

 

And Microsoft has risen the bar again. I like it, but I dont. To many Mom and Pops stores are going to be hard pressed to keep up, and to me, that kills cometition which drives the market. Here comes the 70s again.

 

Hello Dave,
What do you think ?

"Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner has made a bold statement, saying that Internet Explorer 9 will not only be the safest and most secure browser, but also, the fastest web browser in the market."

Well he would say this - does`nt the guy work for MS ?

I suspect that any browser`s performance is a variable, limited by the performance and efficiency of each individual computer.

To compare like with like, one must subject all the selected test browsers to exactly the same conditions imposed by a computer that is of clinical standard and the test preferably carried out by an independent authority with no strings attached.

John B

 

Hello John, to be honest mate I don't care how fast it is as long as it works properly. I uninstalled my old AV (McAfee) yesterday & replaced it with MSE. It has made a lot of difference to the speed of IE8 on my laptop. However, I prefer Chrome & Firefox, I tend to use Chrome the most but Firefox is still very useful. I hardly ever use IE. The day after I bought my computer I downloaded Firefox 2, it's kinda spoiled me as I realised there was an alternative to IE.

Compared to IE7 Firefox was a revelation & ever since I have always liked the Gecko engine & browsers that use it. If IE9 has a decent download manager, a decent bookmark manager & some of the extension compatibilities that Fx & Chrome have it might be worth a look. IE8 is probably quite safe anyway, I can't see IE9 being much of an improvement & I feel much safer in Chrome (with the JS whitelist & its partial sandboxing) or Firefox (with NoScript). I also think IE is ugly! That's just a personal aesthetic thing though, beauty being in the eye of the beholder & the like LOL.

I believe you can uninstall IE in Win Seven, I can't really see the point in that as there are still sites that can only really be rendered in IE. All I can say is that the much vaunted IE8 was a bit of an anticlimax for me. I gave it a fortnight to impress me & it didn't. IE9 will have to be something special to drag me away from Chrome & Firefox.

 

Yeah, could be. But they sure need to do something.....

 

Maybe print up some T-shirts?

 

Haha... Couldn't hurt.

 

Really?

Once upon a time Firefox looked like it was poised to be the Next Big Thing. It's not anymore, while Apple fell to the Dark Side, and Microsoft is now building a standards-compliant browser and clawing back at Google with Bing.

Change and progress is a good thing. You sound worried because you seem to think we've hit the limit for advancing our technology. Rest assured we're nowhere close to that yet, not by a long, long shot.

 

@Daveski17

Dave, your post is as good as all ours put together. You`ve answered your own thread.

When I first got a PC, I had IE6 as a browser and was a fanatic about it.
So much so, that when a thread came up about Firefox I called it "crap" and got a reprimand from the Mods. Quite rightly so. My devotion went to IE8.

Then I thought "OK lets have a try with FF" and since that day have never looked back. It was like swapping my Model T Ford for a Bugatti.

Nowadays, IE is just an icon on my desktop that I dust once every month just to see it. I will never go back to IE no matter what that guy from MS says. He works for them and has to earn his bucks, I don`t.

I did try Google Chrome, but found it like a Dragster with all the frills missing. I prefer a limousine with all the trappings and extra`s of luxury.

So, bottom line - IE can say what they like, but without actual proof from an independent source, I will not budge from Firefox. I am not into propaganda.

Good luck MS with your IE9, but not with my support.

John B

 

Sounds like all you did was switch your blind allegiance from A to B, and failed to learn all the important lessons you could have from your little escapade.

 

@John Bull

To be honest John I originally started this thread as a bit of ironic humour, I forgot that excessive irony is a bit of a British trait. I did intend for it to debate IE9 but I just find all of the hype a bit funny &, quite frankly, overkill.

Like most people, for years I just used to press the blue Explorer 'Internet' button without thinking about alternative browsing software. When I bought this computer a mate of mine recommended Firefox. It was free so I thought I had nothing to lose. As for Chrome, I have used SRWare Iron for about a year & when I was using Mcbloaty McAfee the slimmed down Chromium/WebKit Iron was ideal. Now I have MSE so Fx seems much faster.

I changed to Chrome when Google changed their tracking policy somewhat. Chrome is a little bit more stable than Iron which has always seemed to suffer from small bugs. I still keep Iron as a back up, plus it has an internal adblocker which allows me to watch some Channel 4 programs without ads! I used to use SeaMonkey a lot, unfortunately it seems to be breaking pages these days too often. If you like Firefox you will probably like SeaMonkey as they are related. In fact, I believe that Fx was originally developed as a stand-alone browser from the SeaMonkey suite. The irony here being that Fx is now heavier than SeaMonkey! They both use the same Gecko rendering engine. I actually prefer SeaMonkey for a variety of reasons, although since I have ditched McFatty McAfee Firefox seems as fast as it was when I used it regularly. Before McMoby Dick McAfee I got Norton from BT. Talk about the heaviest AV suites that you can have! I don't know why I didn't use a lighter AV earlier. Full kudos to MS for making MSE freeware. Norton was a constant headache, but to be honest, the only thing I didn't like about McHuge McAfee was its size. Uninstalling Norton was like having root canal work but McBlubber uninstalled relatively easily (both have an uninstallation tool you have to download & run). There are even some tools on it I miss.

With Firefox & Chrome I can go almost anywhere on the Net, especially with IE Tab (Chrome). IE9 will probably be about the same as IE8. That's OK, I just don't want to use it often.

 

You should also leave a bit of criticism room for the chance that you like IE9.

 

Well, I just hope eventually the upgrade goes smoothly as I have some extensions on IE8 (*Messenger toolbar, WOT, Simple Adblock & ieSpell).

I may be pleasantly surprised by IE9. It may be an anticlimax (again). I am interested to see how it compares with Fx4.




*I ticked the toolbar box inadvertently (doh!) when I activated the messenger but I thought I'd keep it anyway.

 

Ya, this is the focus. They are Norwegian, they think in a very rational but rigid way " Opera is a very good browser - true ! - people must only see it and they like it " . FF instead is trendly, friendly, teen-shaped with hundreds of extensions and all bla bla bla...

 

It isn't very rational to, you know, not advertise your browser when you are a browser developer. Sort of goes against rational, don't you think? "Opera is a very good browser-true!" doesn't tell a potential user a thing. WHY is Opera a good browser? What does it HAVE that others DON'T HAVE? What does it NOT have that others have? Don't throw speed charts at me, don't worship it, give me actual data to digest. THAT is how you get people to use your browser...and it helps if you, you know, possibly get the word out beyond specialty forums like Wilders and the occasional every 3 months "also ran" coverage Opera gets in the never-ending browser war articles.

Speaking of how to get people to use a browser...you just did a WONDERFUL job of getting an average user to take a look at Firefox. Congratulations on a very much failed PR move (please don't take that as a personal insult, it isn't meant that way).

 

I only know one Norwegian, & I only know her online, she loves Firefox but doesn't like Opera!

At least Norway makes a browser, the English (Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee) invented the World Wide Web & the first browser yet we don't have any companies releasing a browser (there may have been one based on Trident at one time).

I honestly think that it is the lack of extensions & Opera's habit of breaking pages that is its real enemy.

 

"dw" & "Dave"

What rational views so well integrated with expertise and sound advice you both put forward on this Forum. I adore Common Sense simply because no University can include it in their curriculum - there are no qualified Lecturers available on Planet Earth.

Lots of users use lots of browsers which satisfy their own particular fetish.
No good arguing, it bounces off like water on a duck`s back - it is akin to Religion with tram-lined thinkers. But to discuss Browsers amongst neutral and unbiased contortionists of the keyboard, THEN you get some proper dialogue.

John B

Opera ? Is it allowed on the World stage of discussion at 2.5% market share ? Never liked Opera myself, made my ears hurt - JOKE !

AND ! PS - Our wonderful and most tolerant Moderators don`t like Browser discussions in general, they always cause a fracas and end up in meaningless chaos.

 

Yeah, I've always wondered why people get so argumentative predominantly about freeware, I mean I could understand it maybe if you had invested a lot of money in the browsers you use! Maybe not. LOL

A bloke on the Opera ASA forums once trolled me up & down the boards trying to convince me Spybot & MBAM were better than SUPERAntiSpyware. I just happen to prefer SAS. In my opinion Spybot is past its sell-by date & Tea-Timer (which I once inadvertently activated) is virtually malware in itself!

MBAM is pretty good but after about six false-positives & some problems with the updating mirrors I uninstalled that as well. I have never had a problem with SAS & when I mentioned this once on the SAS forums an MBAM 'fan' trolled me about it & the thread was eventually closed. A similar thing almost happened here on Wilders. It's personal experience & preference, if you are happy with your set-up & platform that should be fine.

I used to be similarly trolled or attacked for admitting to using McAfee AV. I don't think it's actually that bad, it's just far too heavy for a lot of computers.

I'm not sure why people get fanatical about a browsing application program to the point where they get abusive. Unless they're about 12 or 13 years old or something.

I've tried a few browsers in my time, everything from Sleipner & K-Meleon to Flock & Safari. They all have their individual peculiarities & good & bad points & features.

My least favourite of all was Flock, although Gecko engined, it gave me a lot of problems & just uninstalling it was problematical. I'm not sure of my favourite. Chrome & SeaMonkey are definitely contenders though. At one time I was really smitten by K-Meleon & I actually had Opera as my default browser for about a year. It was Firefox though which first made me realise that IE was a bit of a slacker.

I always thought Safari (especially on a Mac) was a beautifully elegant GUI. My Firefox has Frank Lion's 'Metal Lion' theme which makes Firefox look like Safari! I bet you won't be able to do that with IE9.

 

Dave, people will get that way with browsers, security schemes, an OS, you name it. You'll always run into those, here too...in case you haven't figured that out by now, lol. Honestly, unless we're talking fact-based data on functionality (notice I didn't say features, features are mostly personal preferences) and security, nobody should give a crap who uses what and shouldn't treat anyone else like they are lower or less intelligent for not using someones particular choice. Good luck getting that to happen though.

I'm certainly going to TRY IE9. My expectations are fairly low, so if I end up disappointed, no big deal, I have Firefox. If it pleasantly surprises me, so be it and I'll see where I go from there.

 

I am going to try it too..they have done a good job with MSE so maybe this ones good too..lets wait and see.
I agree with you..just because its from microsoft doesnt make it a bad browser.I love IE 8,Opera equally .

 

I don't share the vision that Opera is incompetent with their Opera desktop browser in any way.

Let me point the obvious:

The true history is that Opera desktop browser really entered lately on a market that was already "dominated" by Netscape, and then massificated and truly dominated by Microsoft - by adding IE to the Win 95 PC experience for free. Also, Opera, like Netscape, was initially paid, and remained this way for a long time, unlike Netscape. There is more: Opera initial version only ran on Windows.

As for Firefox: I think that the biggest reason behind Firefox success was being 100% free (no trial!) and its link with Netscape being announced on many popular download websites, in USA and beyond. Then, it got massive help from the Microsoft failure to release a new IE version after many years of the v6 release (and all the problems associated with this release). Oh, and Google also used to market Firefox as well.

So, all in all, the market share of all popular browsers is built upon previous success from their companies/devs:

- IE 60%: big market share is a direct result of Windows big market share.
- Firefox 24%: good public reception came as a result of Netscape's previous success and being 100% free. Arguably boosted by Google marketing and Microsoft incompetence.
- Safari 5%: its market share is dependant on the market share of MacOS.
- Chrome 7%: is made by Google. Needless to say more.

~~~

- Opera 3%: this market share came from Opera desktop browser own competence. Was a paid product for a big period of time. Got no aggresive marketing by the biggest internet search engine and ads company. Got no previous product success to relie on.


Note 1:

The browser market share changes over time, but the majority of people isn't downloading and testing a new browser everyday. That's why things remain pretty much static for months and even years on the usage share of web browsers. It's important to note that the company statistics from which came the market share numbers I used on this post (NetApplications) may not reflect the reality like another company, OneStat, which is more global and has a better methodology, although its last report on browser market shares is somewhat old.

Note 2:

Please, don't confuse me with any Opera fanboy, as I don't even use Opera as my main browser - I'm an IE 8 user and I believe that Microsoft restored its competence on building browers with the IE 8 release. The v9 will confirm this even more. On this post, I only tried to state some historical facts that truly explain the present.

 

Your full post makes sense, but, the past is the past. Now, Opera STILL has no marketing except for the exceptions I laid out in previous posts. I don't think anyone said Opera devs were incompetent, their marketing department maybe, but not the guys and gals in the trenches doing the "dirty work". Anyway, enough of Opera before we start attracting the fanboys and haters to start going back and forth in here. I can smell them lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce. I'm ready to see if all this hype about IE9 is yet another "whatever" moment in the history of IE releases.

 

Won't it be virtually an automatic update with Microsoft? I mean we have no real alternative but to try it. As I said earlier, if the upgrade goes smoothly I'll give it a test drive. I predict that it won't seem hugely different from IE8 to the average user, whatever improvements have been made. I'm sure it will come in useful at times. Will it stop me using Chrome & Firefox with a 'road to Damascus' type conversion? I just doubt it. I prefer the WebKit & Gecko engine too much. Probably because I am just more familiar with them. I feel 'at home' & comfortable with Firefox/SeaMonkey & I like the simplicity of Chrome/Iron. IE has always seemed a bit user unfriendly to me. The 'glass half full kinda bloke' in me wants to be pleasantly surprised but the 'glass half empty kinda bloke' keeps whispering in my ear. I am pleasantly surprised by Microsoft Security Essentials though, so there may be hope for Microsoft yet!

 

Dave, if it was a collaborative venture of a large number of "English", it maybe appropriate to write, "the English".

On the other hand, if poor Sir Tim struggled all alone (and perhaps was even ridiculed when he visited the local), it maybe better to just leave it as, "an Englishman".