Microsoft Previews Speedy Hardware-Accelerated Internet Explorer 9

From DailyTech: In our series on browsers, we looked extensively at the latest versions (including test versions) of the top 5 mainstream browsers -- Opera 10.0, Firefox 3.6 (a1 at the time), Safari 4, Internet Explorer 8, and Google Chrome 4 (this series had four entries which you can find here 1, 2, 3, and 4). We found that Microsoft Internet Explorer had some compelling strengths, such as its security, but overall used too much memory, CPU, and was too slow.

Microsoft is aware of these concerns and it has been racing to develop a successor to IE 8 -- Internet Explorer 9. IE 9 looks to be everything IE 8 wasn't -- fast and lean. With the forthcoming release, Microsoft looks to give Internet Explorer a makeover akin to the Windows Vista to Windows 7 transition.

The foundation of this effort was discussed in depth at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles by Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky. At the core of the changes is hardware acceleration of text and graphics. Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, said the technology will be akin to Google's Native Client, used by Chrome to better utilize the processor's power, and Mozilla's WebGL, used by Firefox to provide hardware acceleration for 3D graphics.

The browser will use Direct2D, rather than the previously used GDI (Graphical Device Interface). The hardware-acceleration will provide support for technologies such as sub-pixel positioning, which smooths text, reducing eyestrain. The acceleration also allows the browser to keep up with displaying rich graphics, such as interactive online maps. In side-by-side testing, Microsoft reports that an online mapping utility runs in IE 9 at 40 to 60 fps with low processor usage, while running at only 5 to 10 fps and 50 to 60 percent CPU usage in IE 8.

Mr. Hachamovitch describes the night and day comparison, stating, "It's a remarkably different level of performance. It's like the difference between watching Pixar or an Xbox vs. watching an old PC chug along."

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