The IE9 beta has launched - and along with their new beta browser, Microsoft has a new domain name for the download:

BeautyOfTheWeb.com [beautyoftheweb.com]

^ that can't be the correct URL tedster.


edit: what in the world.... its correct now but it was going to some funky page selling clothes a few mins ago.

I can't find the answer anywhere: Anybody happen to know if this is a stand-alone beta or does it completely replace IE8?

Cant download it on xp, dangit

Here's a permalink to the specific IE9 post and discussion...

Putting sites at the center of the browsing experience, using the whole PC: IE9 Beta Available for Download
[blogs.msdn.com...]

I noticed that one of the taglines on the download site is: "Modern standards enable the same markup across browsers"... and I've got to confess that my original reaction was "ha, ha, ha, ha, ha."

Too late to be believed, too good to be true?

Cant download it on xp, dangit

Ah, then I don't have to worry about it being stand-alone or not.

Beta for how long?

I want to look, I really do. I just feel dirty downloading IE. There must be support groups for people like me....standing in a large circle with everyone egging me on to "open myself up to ActiveX, do it!". Could be fun.

I have been on sick leave for the last two months, this has prompted me to wonder if my employer has got around to upgrading from IE6 yet.

ChanandlerBong - you are not alone, when I saw my girlfriend use IE to check her webmail last week it seriously shocked me. How could anybody even think of doing that when Firefox was available?

I do like the layout and the general usability. Most of the often used features are readily available with better screen real estate usage in my opinion.

A couple of odd things did have me uninstall it already... no search bar on top and something strange with my fonts rendering them in what seems out of aspect or wider than is correct for my screen making them slightly blurry.

A couple of odd things did have me uninstall it already... no search bar on top and something strange with my fonts rendering them in what seems out of aspect or wider than is correct for my screen making them slightly blurry.

The search bar is there, its just the same bar as the URL bar now.

As for the fonts, some seem a little blurry but i'm not sure what it is.. looks great on most sites. I see similar font issues in apps like Tweetdeck :)

IE9 is fast though.. and i mean FAST. Chrome & Opera still have faster java engines by benchmark standards but rendering in IE9 is noticeably faster.

>>The search bar is there, its just the same bar as the URL bar now.

I saw that I could search from the URL area however I was looking for the dropdown with various search providers. This is a super handy feature... if I don't get the results I want with a partucular SE I try a different one.

When I tried downloading it:

"Since you're running Windows XP, you won't be able to install Internet Explorer 9 unless you upgrade to a more recent version of Windows."

Well, I must say what do you expect? Introduced 10 years ago is the OS you run with?

Should I download this to replace FF and Opera? Nah, If it's not broken... Windows XP wasn't broken either.

I saw that I could search from the URL area however I was looking for the dropdown with various search providers. This is a super handy feature... if I don't get the results I want with a partucular SE I try a different one.

When you're typing in the search bar, you should see the auto suggest feature as well as the search provider icons in the search bar drop down and there is an add button to add more providers. If i'm not mistaken you may be able to hotkey them or tab.. dunno for sure, don't really change 'em :)

Should I download this to replace FF and Opera? Nah, If it's not broken... Windows XP wasn't broken either.

I feel the same.

Making IE9 win7 dependent could prove to be the worse decision Microsoft has ever made. They are simply, willingly, handing over power to Chrome, FF and Opera which have no problem whatsoever running on XP.

A very stupid decision which Microsoft are going to regret (and Google are probably going to LOVE).

people, xp is going on 10 years old... give it up already. ((win7 is only $109))

were you crying about losing windows 95 support in 2000? ((only 5 years old))

and its NOT WIN7 dependent, it will install on vista as well.

They are simply, willingly, handing over power to Chrome, FF and Opera which have no problem whatsoever running on XP.

sure they will, slow and not as fast as IE9.

I'm a pretty big fan of Chrome and have been using it since it's release, but IE9 is definitely fast! The UI is weird... I don't know how I like the address bar and tabs being on the same level, but it is still just a beta. I'll likely still be sticking with Chrome just because I'm a big Google user, but I am glad that IE will finally be caught up to the others with IE9. Will be interesting to see if Microsoft updates IE9 often or if they let it get behind again...

Also, while I agree it's time for XP to die, they should have still made a version for XP that doesn't include the extra speed from GPU rendering. Maybe call it IE 8.5 or something since I'm sure they want "IE9" to be used for marketing their speedy new browser. Of course most businesses still using XP also probably have software that will require IE6 or IE8 and wouldn't upgrade anyway.

people, xp is going on 10 years old... give it up already. ((win7 is only $109))

Absolutely nothing to do with how much win 7 cost. XP works just fine. Why do i need to change? when it is not broken !?....and what about all my customers which still run XP fine (many businesses included). Do they need to change to XP too, on dozens of systems just for the fun of it?

Stupid decision Microsoft!...most users will probably hang on to XP and use the latest or upcoming equivalent (if not better) versions of chrome and FF.

IE9 loads sites fast. And this font display rocks.
I just do not really get why the whole program works so weird on my Win7.
Chrome feels lighter when I change tabs or minimize the browse to tray.

The GUI is a TOTAL disaster, I posted on the IE blog and not to troll or anything.

It's not available on XP: lame. XP is way better for my production environment while Vista and 7 are total complete nightmares. If a product is 10 years is better then a one and four year old product then what does that say about a company?

MS is only getting standards compliance right as well as GPU computing. Besides that they are so lost and it's not that I want to see them fail however they are forcing themselves in to fail with this GUI.

Oh and 7 still sucks. *hugs his not-arthritis inducing copy of XP*

- John

XP is stable and more or less does the job it needs to do. For everything else there is FreeBSD. I guess I'll never see the great power of IE9. Such a shame...

people, xp is going on 10 years old... give it up already. ((win7 is only $109))

I have a 41 year old Camaro that I love as is too. I like Windows XP and everything I need runs well with it. I understand Microsoft needs new things to sell but I don't feel like I want or need the new offerings, in fact I know I don't need them, until they make them mandatory like they are now and thats what irks me. Its MY $109 that I shouldn't HAVE to hand over ya know?

I'd MUCH prefer it if they made the new stuff better and more secure in some way that made me WANT to get it but that's not the case here. Announcement, we finished a new product so open up your wallets now, we're going to break your old stuff = bad business.

Microsoft is going after the bells the whistles, rather than a functional OS. They are trying to be Apple and trying to impress the masses with "look how cute is this system". IE9 is not different.

What really p*sses me off is, as hardware get more powerful, they release a stupid OS that sends it 5 years back.

I'm sticking with XP, Mac OS and Ubuntu for various purposes.

Microsoft is going after the bells the whistles, rather than a functional OS. They are trying to be Apple and trying to impress the masses with "look how cute is this system". IE9 is not different.

Windows 7 offers many improvements over XP. The WDDM driver model alone made siginificant leaps and bounds for hardware and device support to remain consistent and available. The interface, streamline in performance and updated gui are all nice as well.

There is absolutely NO reason to hinder Windows Vista and Windows 7 users by fragmenting their future web browser to support a de-supported 10+ year old OS anymore.

I'm pretty sure Firefox 3 will be the last firefox to run officially on XP. Chrome 7 may not support XP. Webkit is going to try and compete against IE9 in which case the WDDM driver system of Vista or 7 will be a requirement.

The web & Microsoft are moving beyond what was acceptable 10 years ago in an OS.. you can chose to stay behind, but please.. please.. please stop blaiming MS, Vista or Windows 7 for problems it does not have :)

Windows 7 is a HUGE upgrade over XP and a streamline of what they attempted to do with Vista. The kernel is better, Multi Core support is better, Multi GPU support is better, the UI is cleaner & more consistent, the deployment, upgrade & support functionality is so much better, the WDDM driver system is easier to develop for, less reboots are necessary, no problems with the UAC alerts like before so on and so forth.

Newegg has upgrade for 79 bucks (oem), MS sells the family pack again for 3 upgradeable licenses for 120-140 or so and there are many other options available as well. (The option to not even run XP or IE9)

Flash has also released flash player "square" for both Windows 64 and 32 bit systems that takes advantage of the streamlined multi core & GPU support in IE9.

Native x64 support across many platforms

[labs.adobe.com...]

you can chose to stay behind, but please.. please.. please stop blaiming MS, Vista or Windows 7 for problems it does not have :)

More then to 80% of PC users world wide still use XP. Do you really think users will want to upgrade their operating system and most of their programs just so they can use a new browser?...not to mention the huge costs involved for businesses.

Microsoft WILL HAVE to come up with a striped down IE9 version for XP, sooner then later. The IE browser will be losing its market share much faster otherwise, it is that simple.

I wonder where did you get that 80% number from?