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On October 28th, we released Internet Explorer Platform Preview 6. Today, we are announcing Internet Explorer Platform Preview 7 which is focused on real-world performance improvements across sites on the web. We first demonstrated the power of a fully hardware accelerated HTML 5 browser taking advantage of the full power of the hardware through Windows just 8 months ago. We now couple that with dramatic performance gains in Chakra, Microsoft’s JavaScript engine. As a side effect of our focus on real-world performance, Internet Explorer 9 performance in JavaScript micro-benchmarks has also improved and Internet Explorer is now the leading performing browser in WebKit SunSpider. Since we first demonstrated Chakra at PDC in 2009, Internet Explorer has increased JavaScript performance by 345% according to WebKit SunSpider.
Equally important, we continue to see broad developer excitement and rapid user adoption of Internet Explorer Beta. Since the beta launch, we have already had over 13 million downloads of Internet Explorer 9 beta and it continues to be our fastest adopted browser to date.
Our recent blog series on performance talked about the approach we have taken to performance. With IE9 our focus has been on real-world performance and giving the browser access to the full power of the PC. The video below has more information on what it means to focus on real-world performance.
One of the browser subsystems that drives performance is the JavaScript engine. We have seen continuous gains in real-world performance since we first announced Chakra, Microsoft’s new JavaScript engine. Chakra delivers new innovations in how JavaScript is handled with performance gains of as much as 100x on some coding patterns. Dean talks more about the work we’ve done on the IE engineering blog. The video below shows how these performance improvements translate into new types of experiences that can be delivered:
As a side effect of the real-world performance improvements in Internet Explorer 9, we also see improvements in micro-benchmarks. One of the most commonly cited micro-benchmarks for JavaScript is WebKit SunSpider. Since Chakra was first announces at PDC 09, IE has improved JavaScript performance on this test by 345%. With Platform Preview 7, IE9 is the fastest browser according to WebKit SunSpider.
However, measuring the performance of a browser by looking at small parts of individual subsystem is inherently flawed because it’s not how actual sites work and it doesn’t reflect how subsystems perform together. Instead you will find demos on the Internet Explorer Test Drive like Galactic, HTML5 Sudoku and Shakespeare’s Tag Cloud to be better benchmarks as they represent real coding patterns and engage multiple subsystems at once. The performance difference in these demos is striking and shows what it means to optimize for end-to-end performance rather than a single subsystem.
The momentum around Internet Explorer 9 continues to build. Since the beta launch, we have already had over 13 million downloads of Internet Explorer 9 beta and it continues to be our fastest adopted browser to date. Download IE9 Beta today and see first-hand what a browser built for real-world performance can enable.
For developers, IE9 now couples industry-leading JavaScript performance with industry-leading innovation in full hardware acceleration. The performance gains combined with HTML5 support and pinned sites provides new opportunities to reimagine web experiences. If you haven’t already, visit the Internet Explorer Test Drive, download Internet Explorer Platform Preview 7 and get your sites ready for Internet Explorer 9.
Stay tuned for more information on the Exploring IE blog about meeting the Chakra team who are excited to field your questions about JavaScript, performance and Internet Explorer 9. UPDATE: see here for details on the Twitter Live Chat.
Unfortunately I can't accept the results of the SunSpider benchmark unless verified by an unbiased third party. and I would encourage others not to do so as well.
tech.slashdot.org/.../Internet-Explorer-9-Caught-Cheating-In-SunSpider
It's not 100% certain IE9 cheats in SunSpider, but cheating or a bug, the IE team should fix IE so the benchmark produces numbers that reflect real-world performance (as much as that benchmark can or is designed to do).
Congratulations for reaching this performance milestone. Re: prevous commentor's reference...nothing against the commentor but I'm sure we'll be hearing all sorts of claims by anti-Microsoft crowd. They can't stand the idea of IE claiming the top performance spot. From my perspective, minus IE9 Beta UI inconsistencies/pinned site shortcomings, IE9 is shaping up to be one of the very best browsers.
But you are not supporting 60% of your customers when the competition is. And the competition is delivering competitive performance on Windows XP! So it's unlikely I would be using IE9 even on Windows 7. Your approach is flawed. Windows XP is the most popular and dominant OS which you sadly choose not to support to drive Windows 7 sales (while you claim it's because of Direct2D). How do Opera or Chrome manage to deliver competitive performance on Windows XP without Direct2D and DirectWrite? Windows XP support is a must.
I should have said "very best performing browsers". I'll be more general in my praise when IE9 UI overhaul is fully baked & consistent and pinned sites can preview webslices or rss headlines.
@7flavor, If you don't plan to upgrade or get a new PC any time soon then you should be fine with those other options you mentioned. Fyi, you can get Windows 7 Home Premium - 3 PC Family Pack Upgrade from Dell for $119.
We need tabs on top, password sync and "load urls as you type"!
I have to say that I'm impressed. My expectations weren't high about IE 9 but now I have to admit Microsoft did a great job. Can't wait to download the final version.
JohnCz, I would have happily upgraded had they not removed features of XP in Win7. See http://bit.ly/2oxjnx and http://bit.ly/ajAjH7. They aren't removed and broken stuff in SP1 which hampers my file management productivity. 60% users use XP. IE9 should be made for it. Old is obsolete without any objective reason provided is meaningless. It's their own supported product.
I'm just wondering, will there ever be support for CSS text-shadow?
@7Flavor lmao, are you serious? who cares, my productivity actually raised with windows 7.
@The MAZZTer
The SunSpider test is open for anyone to run on their computer. Hardware, OS and what else you have installed (e.g. toolbars) will all affect the scores. These results are from WebKit SunSpider running on a Dell Optiplex with a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo Intel processor, 4GB RAM, Intel Integrated Video with a clean install of Windows 7.
The IE Engineering Blog has been updated to explain how Chakra takes advantage of dead code elimination to drive performance which relates to your link. blogs.msdn.com/.../html5-and-real-world-site-performance-seventh-ie9-platform-preview-available-for-developers.aspx
These and many other code optimizations will be shared as the Chakra team blogs about what went into designing the new JavaScript engine.
@JohnCz, @Spindel, @Andreas -
Good feedback. Make sure your voice is heard by submitting the feedback either through Microsoft Connect or directly through your browser Alt-X, Send feedback. The team is looking at all the feedback that comes in.
@7flavor - There are real trade-offs in supporting multiple operating systems with a browser. Most browsers have only taken advantage of a small fraction of the computing power of their PC <10%. Taking better and deeper advantage of a modern OS and hardware has enabled Internet Explorer to innovate in performance (e.g. full hardware acceleration and JavaScript) and experiences (site pinning). There is even more that can be done.
Btw, when will you release Beta #2?
:D I can't wait for this to be done!
Ha ha, this is great news. I'm especially glad that you have ditched the pathetic, fugly and unusable XP. XP has only 45% market share according to Wikipedia. Windows 7/Vista has 46% market share. So, XP is becoming completely obsolete except among Luddites.
Your SunSpider numbers for Firefox Beta 7 is WRONG:
www.computerworld.com/.../Firefox_4_regains_speed_mojo
http://www.arewefastyet.com/
Firefox 4 Beta 7 WILL NEVER be behind Chrome 7, Opera 10.63 or Chrome 8 Beta. NEVER. Perhaps behind Opera 11 Alpha and IE 9 PP7. Only them.
@paulo freitas - Thanks for your comment. The article you link to is older than the tests we ran. The tests we ran were done in a lab environment on the hardware specified earlier in this thread.
However, performance depends on which hardware, OS and other software is running on your computer. I couldn't find a description of what the Firefox tests were run on and didn't see IE in their charts. As an example, if they are running the tests on Windows XP rather than Windows 7 the results would obviously be very different.
@Ziad Ismail -
I've tried, but I can't leave feedback for some reason. It keeps telling me I don't have the Windows Live Sign-in assistant installed, but I do, and it's linked to my Windows 7 and Windows Live account. So, is there anywhere else I can suggest this feature?
I feel so dumb right now. I completely skipped over the part you wrote about Microsoft Connect. I'll try that.
Thanks!
@Andreas - You may be running into a known bug that's described on this page: social.answers.microsoft.com/.../11554b00-f34c-4418-85af-2e26d3542745
okay this is all very nice, there's been two platform preview updates recently, 5 and 6, would be nice if you could finally deliver an update to the actual browser build, beta from September 15. It's getting old, it's bugged and i'm sure either a beta 2 or an RC would be welcome by most of us. Thanks.
correction to my last post: mistyped preview builds, I meant 6 and 7 of course.
1. Tabbed browsing is an integral part of Web-browsing and Without tab management IE is not good for tabbed Browsing
Opera recently implemented Tabstacking in their v 11 beta .. its a good feature .. I think it would be great if IE implemented it too albeit with some improvements like colored stacks etc...
2. Also please provide some sort of visual feed back to show if the page has loaded or not .... please .... this is a must in 3rd world countries where the net connections are not so stable
Please look into these matters and thanks for showing the transfer rate in the download manager :)
@Zaid Ismail
Imo, despite of Opera's Tabstacking you guys can take advantage of your very live-tiles concept when grouping the tabs on about:Tabs page < connect.microsoft.com/.../possible-aesthetic-improvements >
Also, please consider the users' opinion about IE9's address-bar, a little something might help you guys to take second thoughts about it < connect.microsoft.com/.../suggestion-for-ie9s-addressbar-and-title-of-the-webpage >
Could the rounded corners issue be fixed? Please I am trying to contact MS in every way about this and I don't think it is getting through at all... here is a screenshot to demonstrate what I mean. http://imgur.com/I7ZRs.png
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