IE9 And Firefox 3.7 Comparison

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 is now out for developers to try out and test -- well kinda/sorta. You see the IE9 Test Drive Platform Preview isn't really a browser is it?

IE9 as it is currently available lacks tabs. It lacks a back button and it lacks an address bar. In my view, it's a crippled browser that does not represent the modern web browsing usage model at all. The idea for Microsoft is to show off new features without the confusion of a full fledged browser -- though why tabs, address bar and tabs would do that is beyond my comprehension.

In my experience, it is tabs, the back button and the address bar that actually help developers to determine if something works. There are plenty of security and performance issues related to having multiple tabs open at the same time. By limiting the IE 9 test drive, Microsoft if providing a pristine environment that doesn't reflect the real world.

While I understand the motivation for the limited IE9 test drive, when you compare it to how their rival Mozilla is delivering a developer preview, Microsoft's approach makes even less sense to me.

Currently Mozilla has a Firefox 3.7 developer preview available, testing all kinds of new features including out-of-process plugins (something that IE 9 isn't currently testing). It's a real browser with back button, tabs and address bar and it resembles the real world modern browser. It enables developers to actually see how the browser will work and doesn't try to hide its flaws by limiting critical functions.

Yes it is a positive step forward for Microsoft to offer an early preview of IE 9, but for open source browser vendors that's par for the course. It is only by having an open and transparent development process that all bugs can be found and developers can truly engage with the platform.

Microsoft will have a beta of IE 9 available at some point which will be a full fledged browser and I think that will be a decent starting point for developers to test apps and sites. Until then the IE 9 preview is interesting to look at but isn't as practically useful as it could have been.

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