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Internet Explorer 9 = Simple, fast, beautiful...
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Internet Explorer 9 Beta was launched a little over two weeks ago, on September 15, and in the first two days from launch it had an amazing success, by being downloaded 2 million times.
The customers and partners of the newly released browser looked pretty pleased with the product, but the best way to measure success is to simply take a look at the figures and Microsoft estimated the success of IE9, thanks to the users that have chosen the newest company products.
Several data are available and you can have a good idea of the overall impact of the IE9:
A report from Net Applications’ browser usage share was released today and it shows IE9 Beta usage share at 0.25% for the two weeks after launch.
The blogs crazy for technology also saw an increase in the IE9 activity: LiveSide reported that 25% of their readers used IE9 Beta, at DownloadSquad IE6 users were surpassed by IE9 users , and 47% of people intend to try IE9 Beta, according to Network World reported poll results.
A More Beautiful Web – IE9 Beta Gets 6 Million Downloads - Softpedia
Not everyone would agree on that be advised. Some have had their grievances with the beta release.
So far I've been bouncing back and forth between IE 8 and the IE 9 beta to make some comparisons. As somewhat expected I'm not seeing the usual prompts to update all the addons like Adobe, Java, and others. It's been running smoothly other then that however not seeing any unusual slowdowns or errors so far.
As for the numbers that can easily be explained by one word alone. "Curiosity"! Everyone wants to see what will be different about the upcoming version of IE now available in beta form. That certainly would include the support for HTLM5 and utilizing hardware over software rendering.
I am using Chrome now after trying the IE9 beta for the past two weeks. Chrome's speed cannot be matched by IE9 at the moment and hope IE team will iron out all those bugs when they release the final version.
We may have to wait and see how the IE team will respond to customers' views.
From what I've seen with any beta release going back to IE 7 is that the beta will tend to be problematic at times as well as not near as responsive as a finished version when first compared.
For once however the beta for IE 9 didn't crash when installed as had been seen for the older XP versions of IE7 and IE 8 beta for Vista and XP when previously dual booting with the two older versions there.
In fact the IE 7 beta was the problem seeing a repair install of XP when first tried back in 2006. The beta for IE 8 went better afterwards on those two both XP and Vista showing an improvement in that area. I suspect the finished IE 9 however will be noticable when you go to make the comparison at that time. Be patient!
The only thing I've always disliked when using IE is not having a spell checker, but having to download it manually. Furthermore ieSpell doesn't always work in IE9. I really do have hopes for a spell checker in the final version.
Other than that, 6 mil downloads is impressive, it says a lot about the popularity of IE overall. Not everything is "people don't know how/don't want to bother downloading a different browser hence the marketshare if IE"
It's not always the fans or marketshare but with the EU decision for IE 8 people no longer seeing IE included but only an option plus the new hardware rendering that is drawing the crowds. Since 7 is a success people want whatever can be found for it as well.
It would however be a great plus to have spell checking built-in or at least a regular option available besides only ieSpell. There is one called IE7Pro Spell Check which according to some was compatible with the IE 8 beta at the time. The page for that is at IE7Pro Spell Check - Free Spell Checker addons for Internet Explorer
UPDATE: When giving that a run on IE 8 for a start a new IE window would open instead of moving from one page to another when clicking on any item on the Favorites bar. It ended being removed fast ruling this one out.
Last edited by Night Hawk; 04 Oct 2010 at 22:40. Reason: Update on IE addon
Typically you won't see everything right from the start with any beta. Beta is still beta in that sense not the finished version. The new version of IE is still in development seeing all the last minute changes before the final release comes out.