Around the world, more people have jumped ship from Microsoft’s web browser to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Now Microsoft is trying to get you to jump back with its latest release.
The new browser is only available to Windows Vista and Windows 7 users (sorry XP!) and has been rewritten to make the browser easier to understand and use.
Internet Explorer 9’s new cleaner look.
Tabs are now working properly and features the search box as part of the address bar, allowing less browser to be shown and more of the web page. In fact, the entire Internet Explorer 9 interface has a minimalist look so you can see more web and less browser.
More security has been added this time around, complete with a new feature called a “tracking protection list” which works to stop various websites from tracking what you do around the web.
One new feature that looks particularly impressive allows you to pin a website to your taskbar, basically turning it into it’s own little web application (above). For instance, if you pin Facebook, the icon on your taskbar will tell you how many notifications you have.
Another feature being pushed by Microsoft is Internet Explorer 9’s ability to take advantage of the high-speed graphics processors found in computers today. Using this part of the computer, modern browsers (such as Internet Explorer 9,Apple Safari 5, and Google Chrome) can make multimedia-rich web applications dance.
Internet Explorer 9’s “pinning” feature can make your favourite websites an easy-to-find shortcut application on your Windows taskbar.
Will IE9 claw back some of the users lost to Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox? Only time will tell, but at least it looks like Microsoft is taking a step in the right direction here.
