14 DAY TRIAL // A new development milestone of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is now available for download from Microsoft. The Redmond company has pushed IE9 all the way to Platform Preview 4, delivering a consistent evolution over the previous Build, Platform Preview 3. Early adopters will also notice that the software giant has delivered Platform Preview 4 two weeks earlier than the deadline announced initially, which was eight weeks after the release of Platform Preview 3. This only means that Microsoft is making headway with the development process of Internet Explorer 9, and that it is right on track to get the IE9 Beta launched next month, in September 2010.
“The fourth Platform Preview of Internet Explorer 9, available now, shows the opportunity of fully hardware-accelerated HTML5. You can run new test drive samples that show modern SVG and native JavaScript integration in action. In March, we promised to deliver platform preview releases approximately every eight weeks. With this installment, you will find more performance and more support for same markup. You’ll also find many fixed to issues reported in previous Platform Previews,” revealed Dean Hachamovitch, IE General Manager.
With IE9 Platform Preview 4 developers can benefit from fully hardware-accelerated HTML5. This means that various aspects of HTML5 are accelerated, including text, graphics, and media (audio and video). Microsoft has even set up a range of new tests on its IE Test Drive Center designed to allow early adopters to try the new fully hardware-accelerated capabilities for HTML5. Make sure to check out: Hamster Dance Revolution, IE Beatz, MSNBC Video and Psychedelic Browsing.
In addition, the Redmond company has kicked up a notch support for SVG. “With Platform Preview 4, we’re excited to show highly-interactive and integrated, or modern, SVG. Typically, developers think of SVG as the graphics format for static engineering diagrams and images. With HTML5 and hardware acceleration, SVG is an excellent choice for a new class of interactive, animated scenarios,” Hachamovitch said.
Work has also been focused on integrating native JavaScript into Internet Explorer 9. As of Platform Preview 4, IE9’s new JavaScript engine, codenamed Chakra, is now part of the browser’s core. Essentially, IE9 now integrates the JavaScript engine natively, and is the first the first browser to feature a shared DOM between the browser and the script engine. According to Microsoft, the single DOM that governs all browser subsystems including JS is based on ECMAScript5 (ES5).
Developers and early adopters should download Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 4 and take the release out for a spin. They will be able to discover that the latest Build deliver enhanced performance, with a new best score in the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, and better web standards support, scoring a high of 95 out of 100 in the Acid3Test.
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Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 4 is available for download here.
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