The company is developing IE9

Jan 6, 2010 10:50 GMT  ·  By

While it is hard at work building the next iteration of Internet Explorer, Microsoft has jumped on the W3C SVG bandwagon. Essentially, the Redmond company wants to be intimately involved in the evolution of XML graphics for the web. This is precisely why the software giant submitted a request to be accepted as one of the members of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The move was a “part of Microsoft’s continued commitment to interoperability and standards support,” revealed Patrick Dengler, senior program manager Internet Explorer Team. “We’re excited to take part in ensuring future versions of the SVG spec will meet the needs of developers and end users.”

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) designed to act as an international community which works in close collaboration with members (third-party companies and organizations), as well as the public, in order to catalyze the development and evolution of Web standards. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a format supported by W3C, with the SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile Profiles web standards being W3C recommendations.

“We recognize that vector graphics are an important component of the next generation Web platform. As evidenced by our ongoing involvement in W3C working groups, we are committed to participating in the standards process to help ensure a healthy future for the Web. Our involvement with the SVG working group builds on that commitment,” Dengler added.

In mid-November 2009, Microsoft offered a sneak peek at the future of IE, via a demonstration of Internet Explorer 9 in a very early stage of the development process. Along with the IE9 demo, the Redmond company made sure to emphasize its strong and continued commitment to embracing modern web standards and offering advanced support compared to IE8.

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RTW is available for download here (for 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008).