Internet Explorer 9

Mozilla’s latest Firefox 4 browser is sweepingly outpacing Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 even though there is still time before the open source company will introduce an automatic update to its aging Firefox 3.5 browser. Mozilla's Asa Dotzler reported that early this month Firefox 4's usage began to show a sharp increase while IE9 continued on a much more gradual climb.

Microsoft announced this week that the final version of Internet Explorer 9 comes March 14. This is not another platform preview or release candidate, it is a complete pack. Users will be able to download the app starting 9 p.m. Pacific.

Since launching the IE9 beta in September, Microsoft has added even more features based on user feedback, including ActiveX filtering and tracking protection.

Microsoft this week launched a release candidate of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) which is now complete. The final build is expected to come in a short time.

IE9 RC sports better and faster performance while requiring less memory. It also supports additional Web standards and the opt-in Tracking Protection that Microsoft has touted as its answer to calls for a Do Not Track feature in all browsers.

Internet users will soon be able to stop certain websites from collecting their personal information as Microsoft is planning to launch a new feature for its latest web browser in a move to please both the federal online privacy legislation and its advertisers.

The new opt-in feature dubbed “tracking protection” builds on technology developed for Microsoft's current browser. It was downplayed as the world's largest software company tried to balance consumers' demands for privacy with advertisers' desire to gather data about users.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 was ranked as the top browser that passed the HTML5 conformance tests. The Worldwide Web Consortium has released the results of its first tests which showed the IE9 as the browser that most closely adheres to the latest set of web standards.

While the HTML5 specification is yet to be finalized and these tests cover only a portion of the spec, still the top position of the IE9 is a sign of a big job made by Microsoft.

Some screenshots of a new Internet Explorer 9 interface were found on the Internet but later the images were removed from the initial source. As revealed by Mary-Jo Foley who posted her findings on ZDNet, the next IE will have a back button, a combined URL and search box at the top while it removes "Favorites, "Suggested Sites," and "Get More Add-Ons" items.

Users of Windows XP will have to upgrade their operating systems to Windows 7 if they want to use new web browser by Microsoft. Internet Explorer 9 that comes next year would not support the ten years old platform.

Microsoft is on the threshold of announcing its new and unprecedented version of Internet Explorer 9 browser. The company itself provided no confirmation of the move but many experts and observers are anticipating that the new browser will be supporting open web standards after all.

For a long time Microsoft has been criticized for declining to fully support open web standards. Many critics believe that the shift towards open standards will yield high returns for the software giant.