IE9 Beta debuted back in September and the word was it was gaining on Chrome, whose claim to fame is speed and support of the latest standards. Shortly after the beta was launched, IE9 got 2 million downloads in 2 days. Now, IE9 Release Candidate is finally available for download and the word is that it’s four times faster than Chrome 10. It also boasts the best support for the latest web standards.
IE9 embraces Microsoft’s vision of the desktop moving onto the web and the web moving onto the desktop. The browser interface stays out of the way and they say it gives you more viewable space than Chrome. ReadWriteWeb is skeptical, though:
Showed two sites, side by side, on Chrome and IE9, and showed that IE9 offered a “full toolbar’s width” more screen space for content. (It’s clear here today that Microsoft considers Chrome its big browser competitor and not Firefox. As a matter of fact, the word Firefox hasn’t been mentioned once.) One other thing? My Chrome looks cleaner than the one they just showed – I have to wonder what version that was.
I have to say that I will definitely be trying out this Release Candidate, which you can download at www.BeautyOfTheWeb.com. Chrome is currently my browser of choice, but IE9 is making big moves and I’m curious to see it in action. One thing to note is that Firefox has barely been mentioned by Microsoft as a competitor. Chrome seems to be the one to beat.
via ReadWriteWeb, MSDN