Microsoft Previews Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft is previewing its forthcoming Internet Explorer 9 platform at the MIX show. IE9’s new features include support for a number of HTML5 specifications, including CSS3, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XHTML parsing, and the video and audio tags using industry-standard (H.264/MPEG4 and MP3/AAC) codecs, among others.

In addition, Microsoft demonstrated a new JavaScript engine that leverages the multiple cores of modern processors to manage computing resources and improve Web performance. By combining increased interoperability with a new JavaScript engine and Direct 2D technology, Microsoft says IE9 enables Web developers to provide users with richer experiences that render more quickly and consistently.

The IE9 browser takes standard Web development patterns and runs them directly on Windows. Microsoft is positioning IE9 as a significant step forward for developers, as the platform’s enablement of GPU-accelerated HTML5 allows the development of graphically rich, high-performing Web applications on a PC.

At MIX this week, Microsoft also announced new software development kits (SDKs) for OData, an HTTP and Atom-based approach to data portability, for a number of languages and platforms including .NET, Java, PHP, Objective-C (iPhone and Mac) and JavaScript. In addition, Microsoft announced the second Community Technology Preview (CTP) of "Dallas," its code name for the pilot of an information marketplace powered by the Windows Azure platform, which provides developers with access to third-party datasets that can be consumed by Web and mobile applications. Both of these developments allow developers to build immersive, cross-platform Web and mobile applications that use data delivered from the cloud.

Furthermore, Microsoft is investing resources to contribute to the development of the jQuery JavaScript Library to help improve the development process of standards-based Web applications.

Microsoft’s series of major announcements at MIX demonstrates that the company is not content to sit on its laurels as the world’s leading technology provider. In recent months, competitors including Google and IBM have launched attacks on Microsoft’s dominance in browsers and business computing, among other areas. MIX should serve as notice Microsoft will not surrender without a fight.