Date:20/03/2011 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2011/03/20/stories/2011032060901000.htm
National
Microsoft, Mozilla come up with new browsers
T. Ramachandran
Microsoft is planning to showcase its product with India-specific
focus
IE9 is compatible only with Windows Vista and Windows 7
Mozilla developers claim that the browser takes advantage of hardware
acceleration
- Photo: Special Arrangement
A screenshot of Internet
Explorer 9.
KOCHI: Microsoft has just launched the final version of Internet Explorer (IE)
9, and Mozilla is likewise set to release the final version Firefox 4 on
March 22. With this, the battle between the makers of the two leading browsers
to draw more users to their fold has been taken one step ahead.
While the IE9 is available for download (http://www.BeautyoftheWeb.com)
following its global launch on March 14, Microsoft is planning to showcase the
new
browser with an India-specific focus at its three-day Tech·Ed event beginning
in Bangalore on March 23.
"At Tech·Ed India, besides showcasing the new browser, we will unveil strong
local partnerships with popular Indian websites," explained Senthilkumar
Sundaram,
Director, Internet Explorer, Consumer and Online, Microsoft India.
The open-source Firefox 4 is now available in the Release Candidate (RC)
version, which is one that precedes the final launch. "The response to Firefox
4 RC has been hugely positive," according to a Mozilla spokesperson.
The IE9 is compatible only with Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems,
though. Asked if the non-availability of the browser for Windows XP platform
was not a limitation, Mr. Sundaram said that the browser "requires the modern
graphics and security underpinnings that have come a long way since 2001,
and is intended to be run on a modern operating system in order to build on the
latest hardware and operating system innovations." Installing IE 9 might
also require the downloading of additional Windows software components in some
cases.
If there is one single factor that seems to count most with browser makers, it
is the speed at which browsers load pages and deliver various types of
web-content;
IE 9 makes use of hardware acceleration to significantly boost speeds, claims
Microsoft. The browser leverages the power of the graphics processing unit
in computers to provide a speedy browsing experience, particularly when it
comes to video and gaming.
In the latest version of Firefox, a new 'engine' associated with the scripting
language JavaScript, speeds up the rendering of web pages. The Mozilla
developers
too claim that the browser takes advantage of hardware acceleration.
But much of the browser wars have, in recent times, been centred around the
extent of support they provide for HTML 5, used by browsers to render web pages;
HTML 5 offers a new generation of features intended to vastly enrich browsing
experience. And browsers are trying hard to incorporate support for as many
HTML 5 specifications and features as possible, though the number and range of
these may vary from browser to browser. Both these browsers offer direct
support for video and audio elements in web pages and also features like drag
and drop and file handling.
These browsers are also giving increasing importance to security and privacy.
While IE9 offers a feature called 'tracking protection,' which helps users
filter out content that could be used to track them, Firefox has come up with a
'do not track feature' that similarly makes it possible for users to opt
out of 'tracking used for behavioural advertising.'
Order of the day
Unvarnished user interfaces, which avoid overwhelming the user with too many
interface elements, are the order of the day; IE 9 makes it possible for users
to 'pin' individual site icons to the Windows task bar, which means that
launching these oft-visited sites becomes easier. In Firefox 4 RC, tabs are
positioned
right at the top of the browser, even above the row of other user interface
elements, which lends it a different look. And many of the interface elements
themselves are tucked away in a hidden menu at the top of the browser. Also new
is the Panorama feature that helps users to group tabs into different
'projects.'
Renuka E,
Section Officer,
ICT Centre for Visually Challlenged,
CHMK Library,
University ofCalicut,
Malappuram Dist.,
Kerala.
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