Microsoft to release Internet Explorer 9 beta in September

by Steven Mostyn - Aug 16 2010, 10:42

Last week saw a flurry of activity in the hotly contested browser arena, with both Google and Mozilla launching improved beta builds of their respective Chrome and Firefox platforms.

Getting in on the action a little later than its rivals – but with a considerably more weighty announcement – American software titan and market leader Microsoft has officially slapped a release date on the first beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

According to Redmond-based Microsoft, the beta code for IE9 will be open for download on September 15, at which point the platform should include a simple and streamlined UI (user interface), a core element that’s been thus far unavailable to developers sampling the four prior preview builds.

Sadly however, the prospect of putting IE9 through its paces will leave Windows XP users somewhat flatfooted, not least because Microsoft is only opening the beta to users of Windows Vista or Windows 7 – shutting out almost 70 percent of its customer base in the process (nice move, Redmond).

The official IE9 beta will arrive as the most complete Web-standards browser ever released by Microsoft, and will also include the all-new ‘Chakra’ JavaScript engine, hardware acceleration powered by graphics processing, and support for HTML5.

Current final build launch speculation is swinging between as early as mid-April of next year, which would synch with Microsoft’s annual MIX web conference, and as late as September of 2011, which would coincide with the full year it took Microsoft to release the finished IE8 browser after unveiling its first beta.

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