If you are among the 26% of Internet Explorer users, then Microsoft is giving you a good reason to smile. Microsoft has released a new version of Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), that promises to be 30% faster than the number one browser, Chrome. The preview of the new Microsoft browser for Windows 7 that can be downloaded from here is said to optimize performance of Javascript offering 10% faster speed than the previous IE10.
The new speeds is achieved in part by processing some tasks at GPU thereby leveraging the CPU load. For instance decoding JPEG images is by using the computing muscle of a PC’s graphics processor, so it doesn’t tax the main processor. Microsoft also says that you can comfortably do multi-tab browsing to hundreds of tabs without compromising the overall feel of the browser’s performance.
Developers have also been given advanced tools to make it easier to diagnose and optimize web apps used within the Internet Explorer. The WebGL has been incorporated for GPU-accelerated 2D and 3D content in the browser, an improved file picker for faster access to files in a complex Web project, and an updated F12 tool that now identifies what operations were performed on allocated data between memory snapshots.
For video experience, the users can now customize how captions appear in the browser by being enabled to override the default styles provided by the video source. “This customization further advances IE11 as the best browser for professional-quality online video without plugins,” said Microsoft.
Although IE11 is said to debut on Windows 7 with Windows 8 users required to upgrade to Windows 8.1 in order to be able to download the new browser, IE11 supports Pointer Events, a Microsoft-backed standard for handling touch input in the browser. This seems awkward as Windows 7 users mainly do not use touch screens. IE11 will also bring in the ability to sync tabs between devices, similar to Google’s Chrome Sync option. Unfortunately, Microsoft is not building this support into the Windows 7 version. “We use the Microsoft Accounts to sync those settings, there’s no Microsoft Account on Windows 7,” explains Microsoft’s senior director of IE marketing, Roger Capriotti, in an interview with The Verge. “It’s something that’s an interesting thing to think about, and it’s definitely something I’d love to see in the product but right now there’s no plan to put that in the product.”
IE11 is expected to be fully available in October given the timeline of availability of Windows 8.1.With promises of improved performance and speed, IE11 might just be what Microsoft needs to take back its lost market share in Internet browsers market.
