Internet Explorer 9 launches tonight, we've got your early look (update: it's out)
Yes, we know it's PI day, but don't tell the guys and gals at Microsoft — we hear they're celebrating something a little different. That's right, the long-awaited IE9 browser is finally coming out of its beta …
Context & Ripple Effects
Internet Explorer 9 exits beta tonight, closing a cycle Microsoft laid out publicly: the final IE9 platform preview landed in August 2010 with the beta promised for September, and the September 15 beta date was confirmed days later. That puts the finished browser roughly six months behind the beta, a far tighter loop than the three years that separated the first look at Internet Explorer 8 in 2008 from this release.
The story travelled well beyond the enthusiast press on day one — Microsoft announced global availability for consumers and businesses on MSDN, and the Wall Street Journal framed the launch around the browser's new Do-Not-Track tool, signaling that Microsoft wants IE9 read as both a performance and a privacy story.
First-order effects
- Consumers and businesses on Windows can install the final IE9 starting tonight, ending the beta-and-preview testing phase Microsoft has run since last summer.
- Enterprise IT departments that held off during the beta now have to evaluate IE9 against their compatibility baselines, since Microsoft is positioning it as ready for business deployment.
Second-order effects
- By shipping a Do-Not-Track tool in the release version rather than an optional add-on, Microsoft raises the bar for rival browser makers to treat privacy controls as standard equipment rather than extensions.
- A faster, final IE9 gives Microsoft something to bundle into Windows 7 updates and OEM builds, pressuring competing browsers whose distribution advantage came from IE8's staleness.
Third-order effects
- If the preview-to-beta-to-final cadence Microsoft just ran becomes the norm, IE moves from multi-year gaps toward shorter, OS-anchored release cycles — a structural change for a browser historically updated on Windows' timetable.
- Do-not-track moving into mainstream browser releases points toward privacy defaults being set by browser vendors rather than regulators or websites, shifting where the industry's privacy battles get fought.
The trend: Browser competition is consolidating around short release cycles and built-in privacy controls, with Microsoft using IE9 to close ground it conceded during the long IE8 era.