Precisely a week ago, on the 10th of February, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft announced that it put out IE9 RC (Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate). At the time Microsoft was glad to announce that while IE9 was in Beta, it registered more than 25 million downloads.
Yesterday, the 16th of February, Microsoft was glad to announce that since the launch of IE9 RC, which by the way is distributed via Windows Update to IE9 Beta users, it registered more than 2 million IE9 RC downloads. Microsoft emphasized the fact that it registered the 2 million IE9 RC downloads before it started pushing IE9 RC via Windows Update.
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“Just a few days after its public availability, customers have already downloaded Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate two million times and taken it for a spin,” said Roger Capriotti, Director, Internet Explorer Product Marketing. “current IE9 Beta users will be prompted to download RC via Windows Update this month. However, even as these prompts are starting to kick into gear, we have had two million user-initiated downloads of IE9 RC. We continue to be humbled by the enthusiasm and uptake of IE9.”
What does IE9 RC have to offer? Here’s what’s new, in brief:
A fresh new UI (user interface) that, as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch said, is meant to put the focus on the site, not the browser.
Pin websites to the Windows 7 taskbar.
The New Tab Page displays the sites you visit most often (like Opera's Speed Dial).
All notifications are displayed at the bottom of the page.
Tear-off tabs feature that allows you to snap pages side-by-side using Windows Aero Snap.
Tabs that are related are color coded.
Add-on Performance Advisor identifies add-ons that may be slowing down your browser.
New, faster JavaScript engine.
Support for HTML5.
Tracking Protection Lists – a do not track feature that works much like the “Do Not Call” telephone registry and enables users to control how their information is shared
ActiveX filtering – feature that allows the user to block all ActiveX content and then selectively activate it on a per-site basis.
If you would like to get IE9 RC, you can grab it from the Beauty of the Web site, which Microsoft set up to tout the browser’s capabilities, or you can get it in your native language here.