Yes, IE9 Is Very Close to RTW / Release

Yes, Internet Explorer 9 is extremely close to Release to Web (RTW), a milestone which marks the global availability deadline.

I have seen reports today indicating that the development process for IE9 is moving forward, and of course, to say that this is true would be nothing more than stating the obvious.

Unfortunately, I cannot share details with the public at this point in time, nor will I be able to until the Redmond company gives me green light to do so.

But what I can say, what they’ll let me say, is that users, developers, partners, etc. should get ready, because IE9 is extremely close.

In all fairness, I have already said so almost a month ago, just a few days after IE9 Release Candidate was launched, and after I had a chat with some members of the IE team. Closer than many expect, in fact.

How to get ready? Well, if you’re an end user download IE9 RC today and start leveraging for your daily browser.

Developers can also grab IE9 RC as well as IE9 Platform Preview 8 (PP8) and start building web projects taking advantage of modern web standards – as of the RC HTML5 geolocation is also a valid option for devs.

Microsoft is fine tuning IE9, getting it ready for the final release, so there will be no major changes from the RC to RTW.

Certainly, there will be no new features, with Tracking Protection being introduced to IE9 last with the advent of RC.

Those running IE9 RC are in fact using the feature complete release of Internet Explorer 9, and the experience is bound to be extremely similar to what the RTW will look and feel like, minus the very few rough corners that the Redmond company still has to soften.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Release Candidate (RC) and Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 8 (PP8) are available for download here.