Software giant Microsoft has released the newest version of its flagship browsing software, Internet Explorer 9.
The launch was held at the SXSW conference in the United States, where a variety of tech companies and start-ups are giving talks and panels on new innovations in the tech world.
While previous versions, including a release candidate, have already been released, Microsoft says the final package is suitable for everyday use by all users – early versions are usually quite buggy and get fixed along the development process.
New features include support for HTML 5, hardware acceleration, pinned site buttons and a new interface which provides users with much more screen space from before.
Microsoft has also followed the lead of rival browsers Firefox and Chrome, now allowing users to access a feature that ignores browsing history, allowing them to surf in private.
But not everyone is impressed. Research firm Ovum wrote in a statement that while Internet Explorer is an improvement on previous versions, the growth of smartphone browsers means desktop-applications are losing their hype.
“We consider it to be a non-event for the vast majority of corporate IT managers and their users,” principal analyst Richard Edwards said.
He points out IE9 doesn’t run on Windows XP, which many businesses are still using.
“New browser versions are also expected from the competition, but we believe the next battle ground for the ‘browser wars’ will be fought not on the desktop, but on the smartphone and tablet, and this is where Microsoft’s existing browser offering still has a lot of catching up to do.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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