14 DAY TRIAL // One of the insatiable obsessions that have become inherently associated with browser comparisons is related to performance. And not even performance as a whole, but especially in relation to JavaScript, and, according to the results of the WebKit SunSpider test, while all browser makers, Microsoft included, are now playing the JS game per the SunSpider rules, fact is that they’re doing it more for the marketing impact, and less for the actual benefit of end users.
This is a race that can shame all photo-finishes without even trying, simply because the differences between browsers are measured in milliseconds. Case in point: Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 2 is almost 20% faster than Preview 1 released in mid-March 2010. Now, while a 20% boost in performance might sound like a big deal, fact is that Platform Preview 2 is only 117 milliseconds faster than Preview 1 when it comes down to wrapping up the SunSpider test. Do you think any of the 1+ million people that downloaded IE9 Platform Preview 1 noticed a speed improvement of 117 milliseconds, courtesy of the new Chakra JS engine?
Well, just hold on to your horses, because Microsoft will shave even more milliseconds of the time it takes IE9 to complete the SunSpider test from start to finish. The Redmond company has so far not introduced any optimizations in IE9 to specifically speed up the browser for SunSpider. And yet, IE9 PDC 2009 Demo completed the test in 832 ms, a number that dropped to just 590 ms for IE9 Platform Preview #1, and that further went down to 473 ms for IE9 Platform Preview #2. And rival browsers are not that far ahead, as you will be able to see from Microsoft’s data.
“WebKit SunSpider is one test to measure a browser’s JavaScript execution performance. Here’s how the latest Internet Explorer Platform Preview compares to other browsers. The WebKit SunSpider test regularly changes which impacts a browsers score. SunSpider was updated to version 0.9.1 in April 2010, so all browsers were tested with version 0.9.1 in these charts. These results were from a Dell Optiplex with a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo Intel processor, 4GB RAM, Intel Integrated Video, running Windows 7,” Microsoft revealed.
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 2 Build 1.9.7766.6000 is available for download here.
