Microsoft Says IE9 Is Now 'Feature Complete' Gives Users A Release Candidate

According to Microsoft the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE9) is all but ready to be released to the masses. So today the company release what it is calling a Feature Complete Release Candidate (RC). Readers wanting to checkout the new RC can download it via Beauty of the Web.

“The release candidate is a major milestone that signals it’s time for developers to start taking advantage of IE9’s features,” Ismail said. “Our focus with IE9 has been on creating the platform for the next class of Web experiences built around HTML5 and tapping into the power of the whole PC.”

The IE9 RC introduces several features that build on those themes and on extensive feedback from users. These include smaller changes like being able to close a tab without making it active – a small addition that users really care about, Ismail said. 

But there are also bigger changes. IE9 has made improvements to Pinned Sites, which enables users to take their favorite sites and place them directly on the Windows 7 Taskbar like any other application. “A pinned site is more than just a shortcut,” Ismail said. “We have already seen sites use this to create experiences that are always visible to the user and pull the users back into the experience with notifications as important things happen.” 

Other major improvements include the new Tracking Protection feature, some user interface tweaks, more support for the emerging HTML5 Web standard, and even faster performance on standard benchmarks. 

The Tracking Protection feature  is the new privacy feature in Internet Explorer 9 designed to help keep third-party websites from tracking your Web behavior. With Tracking Protection, consumers can filter content in a page that may have an impact on privacy. Here you see a stock ticker, links for social sharing, videos, advertisements and single pixel images used for tracking page usage by third parties.