Internet Explorer 9 is here

ie9

For some of us the past year of releases around Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) has seen huge leaps forward in our browser, from the first Platform Preview to the latest release candidate to todays RTW (release to web) version changes have been felt in every corner of the browser.  Be it in speed which saw strong improvements early on with hardware acceleration and later at release candidate with the Chakra JavaScript engine that delivers lightening fast performance.  Be in the user interface that became apparent at beta and were sharpened up in the RC with extra clean square cornered tabs and other touches.  Be it in the privacy and security controls that we started to see in RC with SmartScreen for application reputation and Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) or be it in the standards driven by the likes of HTML, CSS3 and the like all the ratified elements of which IE9 supports.  We’re all pretty proud of this baby.

What does that mean for you?  Well this is a very good browser first and foremost.  It’s caused a flutter in the world of benchmarking around speed and opened up the debate on how ineffective benchmarks are whilst flying past the competition.  It’s caused argument around the most effective privacy protection technology in the browser business and frankly it’s done the same with the standards debate essentially drawing the debate to the point of trying to decide between the performance of a red car and a blue car.

Secondly it’s now time for people to do something with it, you need to start giving it to your people.  It’s time to install and assess the final version and time to build it into your rollout plans or not* 

Step 1 you need to understand what you already have deployed – use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) toolkit 5.5 for that.

Step 2 you need to try IE9

Step 3 you need to understand if you have any application compatibility issues – Use the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) for that.

Step 4 you need to customise IE9 with the IEAK and build IE9 into your rollout plan.  Already rolling out Windows 7 and near to the end – carry on, then rollout IE9.  Not yet started – build IE9 into your gold image or apply it as a post install task with MDT or System Center.

Step 5 Walk around your company being a hero, bask in the glory of your good work and feel the love.

Those aren’t the official steps, but they will help as signposts to the tech you’ll need, go to the IE9 TechCenter on Springboard for the official best way to do your rollout.  Do step 5 though it’s fun!

*so you don’t want to deploy the best browser since sliced bread.  We have you covered, use this to stop Windows Update installing it and leave your users in the dark ages, using their iPodroid to try to view websites.

Oh yeah, you’d probably like a list of sites that support IE9 and it’s features…sorry but there are too many to list them all so try these:

British Fashion Council, ESPN Europe Cricket Info, Film4 On Demand , National Rail Enquiries, Sky News, Tesco Real Food, Gorillaz, BBC iPlayer, eBay, Wall Street Journal (European), Rough Guides, oh yes and  Hotmail, Bing