Internet Explorer 10 - "Windows 8 Post Series" POST #1 - Tech Tuesday

Hey all my dear readers! :D I welcome you all on this beautiful Tuesday at my blog :D



A regular blog visitor asked me to post about Windows 8 on 26th October(the date of release). I said, "I will first check it out and then I will write about it. Though I have already posted bout the release preview if you wish to get a little overview sort of." Now that I have experienced Windows 8 for a few days, I can give some honest and worthy opinions. So I am starting this Post Series about Windows 8 and I will be posting about various topics in different posts. As the time will pass my experience would also get richer and I will be able to give even better reviews.

INTERNET EXPLORER 10

Let's start this post series about Windows 8 with Internet Explorer 10. Today I would cover everything I have got to know about this new Web Browser that MS launched with it's new funky Operating System.

TEST DRIVE IE10 HERE!

The first thing I would like you all to know is that INTERNET EXPLORER 10 IS NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR WINDOWS 7. Though Microsoft says it will be soon launching a preview of IE10 for Win7 too, but let's see. Anyways, as richer an experience for Windows 8, as per my thinking cannot be guaranteed in Windows 7 since in 8 we got two interface of IE10 which supposedly will be absent in 7. I mean only one the normal interface will be present and not the metro one. Let's talk about IE10 in Win8 now.

IE10: The Regular Desktop Interface

Checked the above screenshot? What is so special? LOL! NOTHING! :P IE10 hardly shows anything new over IE9 when it comes to a general desktop user's experience. But it has a lot of good and bads. Let's first take a look at the brighter side! :D

It crashes less for most websites. IE10 is quite cool and fast just like IE9 but still much better than 9 in that regard. But hey! don't compare it with the nightmare child IE8. LOL! That sucked! IE10 is much better. But then at the end of the day it will just be the MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER!!! It doesn't crash for most websites, but for those which ample HTML5, Java and other dynamic designs(except for ASP.NET), it will give a throat slitting experience! For example, Gmail looks good on IE10 until you start using it! hahahaha!! What happens is IE10 tries to switch to compatibility mode most of the times when you try to view a message in your inbox, and then, no one can save you! The series of hanging-crashing-recovering starts! Even with facebook the experience will be great until you use the facebook search!

Though it supports the third-party retail plugins so IE10 is not that bad and in the history of Internet Explorers it is comparable to IE9, the coolest one.

IE10: The Metro Interface

Now that's Windows 8 IE! haha! :D Just look at it, the idiotic metro interface on my desktop! grrrrrrr!! Just now Microsoft gets shocked - "IDIOTIC?" and I reply, "Hell yes!!" >_< What's so crazy about this metro interfaced IE10? It is foolish. It would let you watch videos without installing flash, maybe the Microsoft Silverlight at work already, but if you wish to install flash/java, FUCK OFF!! Seriously, this interface doesn't support any third party plug-ins. Though it's full screen and faster and reliable than the regular version with less chances of crashing. My personal opinion - If you use it in the regular interface, you'll have to wait for a couple of updates to be released to make it better. The Do not track service is okay sort of. If you surf for surfing only then you'll love Metro, but if you just go Berserk on the Internet, I say prefer the regular interface since it can give you a better experience supporting more fonts, and all. A better option is USE FIREFOX INSTEAD! LOL!!

Now let's see what others had to say about the IE10:

Geek.com:

Did anyone see this coming? Microsoft has steadily added privacy-related features to Internet Explorer over the past three releases. In IE10, there’s now support for Do Not Track, Tracking Protection Lists (which work even when a website doesn’t support DNT), and InPrivate filtering. Has Microsoft really taken the lead when it comes to building trust in the browser?

Webmonkey:

"Internet Explorer 10 is the first release of Microsoft’s once-dominant browser that’s built for use on touchscreen devices and, while IE 10 is the default browser on all Windows 8 machines, it’s on tablets that IE 10 really shines.

The entire IE 10 experience on a tablet revolves around gestures. By default the browser launches in Windows 8′s full-screen mode with little chrome or UI to see. To get to many features you need to use gestures — swipe down from the top and you’ll see the tab bar with thumbnail previews; swipe up from the bottom and you’ll see the URL bar.

Internet Explorer 10 adopts at least one idea popularized by Apple’s iOS — the ability to pin sites to your start screen. It’s nothing more than a bookmark really, but it makes getting to your favorite sites and apps a bit quicker and makes them feel more like first-class citizens on the start screen.

There’s also a version of IE 10 that runs in Windows 8 desktop mode, though on the desktop there’s not nearly as much to recommend IE over competitors. From tests I’ve seen around the web IE 10 benchmarks well on the desktop and, as we’ve looked at before, it has much improved web standards support, but without the touchscreen features there’s not much to recommend IE 10 over alternatives like Chrome or Firefox. If you’re an IE 9 fan looking for a solid update, IE 10 has you covered, if you’re already a happy Chrome or Firefox user there’s nothing in IE 10 on the desktop that’s likely to tempt you.

Unfortunately — and this may well be IE 10′s fatal flaw — there’s no way to make IE 10 the default app for the Windows 8 Metro UI and another browser the default for the desktop interface. It’s all or nothing.

For now IE 10 is better on touchscreens and more or less on par in the desktop interface, but both Chrome and Firefox release updates every six weeks, while feature-adding IE updates tend to be years apart. That means odds are Chrome and Firefox will reach feature parity on touchscreens before IE 10 sees a major update. Still, for the time being at least, IE 10 can claim the crown on Windows 8 tablets."

Webpronews:

The Internet Explorer 10 team came out today to proclaim that “IE10 is the Windows 8 browser.” Once again, it’s not like consumers have a choice at the moment, but it does seem pretty cool. IE10 was built with touch specifically in mind and Microsoft argues that it’s “the first browser that is perfect for Touch.”

Microsoft is so confident that IE10 changes everything that they made it the exclusive browser in Windows RT. They would prefer you to use it in Windows 8 Pro, but that’s a little more open. In fact, Google has already set up Windows 8 users with “GetYourGoogleBack,” a site that provides links to both Google Web Search and Google Chrome for Windows 8 users.


PCMag:

Not surprisingly, NSS Labs recommends choosing a browser that's effective at blocking malware downloads. Those who just can't bear to use Internet Explorer should make sure to use "antivirus suites with robust web reputation technologies." The full report, available on the NSS Labs website, offers an extremely detailed look at the test methodology.

So finally I would say that for the time being if you are using Windows 8, stick to IE10 only. Wait until we get our Firefox tailored perfectly for Win8 :D Anyways, I would take a leave now, I hope you all like the post. Take care and all comments and suggestions are welcomed always! :D