Microsoft IE9 Release Candidate: Why You Need to Try It

eWeek reports: "Microsoft shipped its Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate Feb. 10 as a near-final version of the browser that features significant performance enhancements, user experience improvements and standards compatibility advancements. The release candidate, known as IE9 RC, is available at www.BeautyOfTheWeb.com in 40 languages, Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president for Internet Explorer at Microsoft, said in a Feb. 10 blog post. Hachamovitch said with IE9 RC, Microsoft has incorporated more than 17,000 pieces of feedback about IE9, and moved the browser forward in terms of performance and standards, user experience, and safety and privacy. Microsoft culled insights from more than 25 million beta testers to update the IE9 technology, including making the browser's 'Chakra' JavaScript engine at least 30 percent faster than it was in the beta version. As for hardware acceleration and interoperability in the latest release, according to the SunSpider benchmark, IE9 RC is 35 percent faster than Internet Explorer 9 Beta—322 ms in the beta versus 209 ms in RC. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to implement standards as they become stable, and IE9 RC supports geolocation, playback of H.264-encoded video using the HTML5 video tag, and now WebM video, when a VP8 code is installed on Windows."