Internet Explorer 9 Beta Takes Off

From PC World: The Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) beta was downloaded more than two million times in the first 48 hours it was available--a significantly faster rate than the Internet Explorer 8 beta. The launch event and hoopla around the launch of the IE9 beta make it seem more like an official release than a beta, and the initial demand demonstrates that users are ready to embrace the next-generation browser from Microsoft.

Roger Capriotti notes in an Exploring IE blog post, "In first two days, over 2 million people worldwide downloaded IE9 Beta. By comparison, when Internet Explorer 8 Beta launched in August 2008, we had 1.3 million downloads over the first five days," adding "We've seen 9 million visits and over 26 million page views to the Beauty of the Web site since its release last week, and our developer-focused IE Test Drive Site has had 4 million page views since last Wednesday."

IE9 contains a variety of innovations that set the bar for next-generation Web browsers. Microsoft worked to move the focus from the browser to the sites, and to enable developers and users to treat sites as apps on the system.

A Time article by Harry McCracken points out the specific ways that IE9 capitalizes on the features of Windows 7 to enhance the browsing experience. "IE9 is compatible with Vista, but it's most at home in Windows 7. Drag a browser tab out of the browser and onto the Windows 7 taskbar, for instance, and the site it contains gets pinned there, letting you launch it with one click thereafter. Proprietors of major Web destinations such as Amazon.com, eBay and the Wall Street Journal already support Jump Lists, a Windows 7 feature that lets you hop directly from a pinned icon to a specific subsection of the site in question, such as your Amazon shopping cart."

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