Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 3 Build 1.9.7.8.74.6000
It looks like the speculations about an imminent release of a new development milestone of Internet Explorer 9 were true, as Microsoft released Build 1.9.7.8.74.6000 yesterday, June 23rd, on the IE Test Center. IE9 Build 1.9.7.8.74.6000 is the third preview release of the next iteration of Internet Explorer, marking a consistent evolution over the previous Build, and taking the Redmond company’s browser one step closer to the Beta milestone.
However, IE9 Platform Preview 3 Build 1.9.7.8.74.6000 continues to be a release designed for developers and early adopters and not for the general public or deployment into production environments. Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 3 is designed to upgrade previous Platform Previews of IE9, and will install without any problems along older releases of IE on Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
As it was the case with past developer milestone Builds, the latest testing release will not work on operating systems preceding Windows Vista SP2, and will, in fact, just work on Windows 7’s precursor only if Platform Preview for Windows Vista is installed, delivering necessary technology for its functionality such as DirectX 11.
“Keeping up with our commitment to developers to release updates to the Internet Explorer Platform Preview approximately every 8 weeks, today we released Internet Explorer Platform Preview 3 at an event in San Francisco. Together with representatives from top web sites,” Microsoft’s James Pratt revealed. “The Internet Explorer Platform Preview allows developers to test the new Internet Explorer 9 web development and design capabilities including our new JavaScript engine – codename Chakra – as well as our support for standards like HTML5, CSS3, SVG 1.1 and DOM.”
Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 3 brings enhancements to the table. The evolution from Preview 2 offers enhanced support for web standards, and especially HTML5 goodies, a consistent boost in terms of performance, more improvements to hardware acceleration, advances in terms of Microsoft’s same markup focus, and a boost in terms of the Acid3 Test. Keep your eyes on this space and I will deliver additional details throughout the day, discussing specific areas of evolution for IE9 in the latest Platform Preview.
