Microsoft launch Internet Explorer 9 beta

If you’ve got a Windows 7 PC or laptop and are feeling brave then Internet Explorer 9 is available in Beta to download this evening. Launched with a fanfare from cult band the Gorrilaz, IE9 promises faster browsing, better tab management, a streamlined design with search from the address bar (very reminiscent of Google Chrome’s cut down controls) and pinned sites which you can access directly from a Windows 7 desktop.

Although Windows 7 will get the best from IE9 it’s possible to install it on a Windows Vista machine with DirectX 2D installed, although all the features may not be available. If you’re still on Windows XP then you’re out of luck as it’s not supported, and lack of IE9 support probably sounds the death knell for this operating system.

If you’re a techie and want to know why you should upgrade to IE9 it’s stuff like support for HTML5 video and audio tags and the Web Open Font Format, support for all CSS 3 selectors, border-radius CSS 3 property, faster JavaScript, as well as embedded ICC v2 or v4 color profiles. IE9 also features hardware-accelerated graphics rendering using Direct2D, hardware accelerated text rendering using DirectWrite, hardware accelerated video rendering using Media Foundation (Should be good for HD video), imaging support provided by Windows Imaging Component, and high fidelity printing powered by the XPS print pipeline.

Now if you’re a buyer on eBay with a Windows 7 PC I’d say give IE9 beta a whirl, but if you’re a seller then hold off and let someone else do the testing. IE underpins many eBay tools and the last thing you want is for an app like Turbolister to stop working, your courier site to be incompatible, or browser add ons like Aimco Packing Partner to bite the bullet.

There’s a lot in IE9 to like, but then there’s still Firefox, Google Chrome or of course IE8 to choose from until IE9 proves to be stable and eBay tool friendly. One thing not to like is tighter integration with Microsoft’s search engine Bing – personally I much prefer Google search and Bing just doesn’t cut it for me.

If you’ve read this and still want to give IE9 a try then you can download it from the IE9 Beauty of the Web site (it must have cost Microsoft a small fortune in focus groups and PR companies to dream up that name)!