Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Microsoft’s Bing, Internet Explorer 9 Making Quiet Advancements
Thursday, June 24, 2010 by Matt Hymel
As the iPhone 4 makes its consumer debut, companies like Apple
and Google have been heavily publicized of late for their latest
product launches or updates. While these two companies have
profited from the spotlight, Microsoft has been steadfast in
updating two of their most exciting, relevant consumer services -
Bing and Internet Explorer 9.
Microsoft has adopted a new strategy for releasing code to
developers. Back in March, they released the first "platform
preview" of IE9 and since then have been releasing new versions
every eight weeks. More information from a CNET.com article sheds light on the new changes to IE9 that were
critical in HTML5 standards support. "IE9 will support the
Canvas graphics technology and the video and audio tags specified
as part of the still-developing HTML5 standard," as quoted by
senior director for IE, Ryan Gavin.
IE9 has made some beneficial upgrades, specifically in speed. An
HTML5 speed test was conducted by Sebastian Anthony over at
Downloadsquad.com where the video shows a solid victory for IE9 over
Chrome 6 in hardware-accelerated canvas rendering. More noticeable
statistics showed "IE9 about 30% slower than Chrome 6 in SubSpider
JavaScript benchmark" and "Opera was a lot faster than both Chrome
and Firefox (testing the FishIE canvas program)."
In an article from PCworld.com, Harry McCracken
wonders if Microsoft's ambitious efforts to make IE9 the fastest
HTML5 browser have a "Catch 22 effect" - If this browser is set
above the rest, why would web companies build for it if average
users will experience the slower version via slower browsers?
While McCracken calls out the beginning of "hardware
acceleration wars" in his article title, he goes on to explain that
hardware acceleration "isn't the only route to take, although it's
certainly a promising one... if every browser does great
JavaScript, it might be time to divert resources to speeding up
other aspects of the Web."
Although IE9 is turning developer's heads, Microsoft's
developments with Bing have certainly drawn some interest as well.
In an effort to pressure Google users into switching search
engine loyalty, Bing unveiled new features to their page,
"significantly beefing up the handling of entertainment-related
queries, an area that draws a lot of interest from users."
Needing to make a move against Google, Microsoft relied on its
own search engine innovation to counter that of Google's noticeable
standard. Dan Olds, an analyst from Gabriel Consulting Group,
believes the new features will benefit Bing's effort in "chipping
away at some of Google's substantial market lead."
Of course, when all is said and done, both products (IE 9 and
Bing) experiencing major innovations means great things for
potential users. Pretty soon, the spotlight will be aimed more
toward Microsoft. Until then, they will continue to release preview
platforms for IE9 and enhance their search engine.
Until Next Time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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