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Explorer 9 puts spotlight on website features

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Wednesday released a lean, muscular new Internet Explorer crafted to spotlight slick websites and beat back competition from Firefox and Google in the Web browser arena.

“The browser is the stage and the websites are the stars of the show,” corporate vice president of Internet Explorer Dean Hachamovitch told AFP.

“Microsoft has over a billion Windows (computer operating systems) customers; we want the browsing experience on Windows to be great.”

The test, or beta, version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) made its public debut with theatrical flare at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse.

IE 9 taps into more of the processing power in computers, especially the capabilities of graphics chips that excel at seamlessly rendering videos or videogame action.

“IE9 is using more of your personal computer,” Hachamovitch explained.

More than 70 partners including Amazon, Twitter, MySpace, Hulu, and Yahoo! are capitalizing on IE9 with faster, richer features at websites.

“We think that sites should be the most important part of the browser,” Hachamovitch said. “This is actually the beauty of the Web. The real celebration is around the websites and what the partners have done.”

While Microsoft doesn’t charge separately for IE, the browser is included with Windows software and it is in the technology giant’s interest to keep users happy and devoted to its products.

“As long as there is a browser built into Windows, Microsoft wants it to be as good as possible,” said analyst Matt Rosoff of independent firm Directions on Microsoft. “It is also a platform play; as IE goes so goes the Windows platform.”

IE has been losing ground in the browser market during the past five years, with its share of the market dropping from more than 85 percent in late 2005 to about 60 percent in August of this year, according to industry statistics.