Microsoft recently launched Internet Explorer 9, which VentureBeata4a4s Devindra Hardawar said is the companya4a4s a4Aprettiest browser yeta4. I spoke to corporate vice president Dean Hachamovitch about the launch, and he said that prettiness comes from a4Aa new approacha4 to Internet browsers.
Specifically, he said the IE9 team rejected the philosophy that websites and browsers should run the same across any device &8212' or, as he put it, the misconception that a4Athe Web is the Web is the Web.a4 That thinking has led to browsers that only take advantage of 10 percent of a normal computera4a4s capabilities, he said.
Hachamovitch argued that the browser is actually a4Aonly as good as the operating system.a4 Thata4a4s why IE9 uses a computera4a4s graphics processor for faster delivery of text, video, and graphics. (Rick Bergman at chip company Advanced Micro Devices, told VentureBeat that IE9 should lead to better web sites and more usage of graphics chips for non-gaming computing tasks.) And that doesn&'t just make a difference on the latest Windows 7 computers' since almost any computer has at least a dual-core processor, even a notebook that only costs a few hundred dollars will see an improvement, he said.
Besides the hardware acceleration, Hachamovitch said one of the IE9 teama4˜s other big goals was to move the focus away from the browser and toward the website. Thata4a4s why the browser allows users to a4Apina4 websites directly to their Windows taskbar, so they can access their favorite websites just as easily as they can the software on their computer.
The design of a pinned site places an even greater emphasis on the website over the browser. A pinned site has its own notifications and site search, and the back button is even colored to match the sitea4a4s favicon (the little logo or icon that you see at the top of the browser). Website publishers are already seeing benefits from this approach Microsoft said &8212' for example, the Huffington Post found that 38 percent of visitors on IE9 a4Apinneda4 the site, and that those users spent 49 percent more time on the site than other users.
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Companies: Microsoft
People: Dean Hachamovitch
Companies: Microsoft
People: Dean Hachamovitch
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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