Microsoft today released the Beta version of Internet Explorer 9 during the MIX10 conference currently underway in Las Vegas. The next version of IE will include expanded support for HTML5, hardware-accelerated graphics and text, and a new JavaScript engine. By shifting some of the processing load to the GPU, IE9 will allow developers to deliver graphically and functionally rich Web applications that take advantage of modern PC hardware through a modern operating system. Microsft also demonstrated a new JavaScript engine capable of using the multiple cores on today's modern processors to better manage computing resources and improve Web performance.
According to a blog post at NVIDIA:
Today, with introduction of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft gives us another milestone for visual computing. Internet Explorer 9 includes a new JavaScript engine, support for HTML5 and hardware accelerated graphics and text. Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser designed to take advantage of modern hardware, resulting in graphics and performance improvements throughout the browser including the first to deliver hardware accelerated scalable vector graphics( SVG); the first to enhance JavaScript engine performance with the benefit of shifting from the CPU to the GPU; and the first to deliver GPU-Powered HTML5.
While some of the above comments are sure to raise responses from users of other browsers and operating systems, this is still good news for users with more modern systems and may coax some folks back into the Internet Explorer fold.