14 DAY TRIAL // Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will come with cool new features, beyond what the four Platform Preview releases of the browser have offered early adopters.
While Microsoft is completely mum on the feature set for the next major iteration of Internet Explorer, fact is that the company has already decided on the goodies that the successor of IE8 will bring to the table.
Moreover, the software giant has also been sharing details related to the new features in Internet Explorer 9 internally, according to Jon Box, an Architect Evangelist in Microsoft Developer & Platform Evangelism.
This should of course, come as no surprise, especially since Microsoft is well known for dogfooding its own software (eating its own dog food, namely testing products internally).
“I was at an internal training session a couple of weeks back. And I saw lots of cool WP7 demo’s. But, I also witnessed some cool IE9 features,” Box revealed at the end of the past week.
Microsoft has not confirmed officially any features for IE9, but according to Box, the wait will certainly be worth it.
With the last Platform Preview of IE9 already available, Microsoft is now focusing on wrapping up the first Beta development milestone of the browser.
As I’ve said before, IE9 Beta will be a fully-fledged browser, and judging by the information shared by Box, will also feature some of the new features planned by the software giant.
“Those guys had been holding back on us. Yes, performance is looking great – but they’ve got more up their sleeves. So, I’m looking forward to the unveiling of the beta,” Box added.
Microsoft has already sent out the Beta invites to the Beauty of the Web event in San Francisco on September 15th, 2010, for the launch of IE9 Beta.
Still, the Beauty of the Web site offers no clues as to what IE9 Beta will bring to the table, acting only as an R.S.V.P. destination for those invited.
“In the meantime, check out the announcement from James Pratt on the Exploring IE blog. The post is titled Announcing the Beauty of the Web event for IE9 Beta Launch,” Box noted.
“While waiting for the launch, check out the IE9 Platform Preview 4 post and download it today. There are some really cool / rich pages on the test site. Will your site run it today?” he asked.
The only clues related to new IE9 features came from leaked screenshots of an early Beta Build, which sported additions such as a download manager.
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 4 is available for download here.
Update (8-26-2010): Read about Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) New User Interface (UI) and Features here!