Microsoft is having a good old time at MIX10, showing off all sorts of new things. New things like... Internet Explorer 9, which has just been previewed at the developer event, and here's what we've gleaned about it so far. First off, as expected it will support HTML5 video, boast a new Microsoft JavaScript engine which is codenamed "Chakra," and it'll support new-fangled web technologies like CSS3 and SVG2. Microsoft says one of its main goals with IE9 is to provide a faster browsing experience -- always good news -- though they don't have things cranked quite as high as the competition just yet (remember, this is still early). Preliminary ACID3 tests on the preview show the IE9 scores a 55/100 up from IE8's dismal 20/100 -- a huge leap forward no doubt, but still a far cry from Chrome and Safari's scores of nearly 100. In both PCMag's and ZDNet's SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test, the preview performed competitively as well. Microsoft has also confirmed that IE9 will not support Windows XP, but the preview Microsoft is showing off plays nice with Vista SP2 and higher, meaning the shipping version will probably do the same. No shockers there, really. Microsoft's also made the first developer preview of Internet Explorer 9 available for download today -- hit the source link to check that out.Microsoft shows off Internet Explorer 9: says 'yes' to HTML5, 'no' to Windows XP originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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