Nathan CrauseMusings of a Software Developer

Ever since I first read that Microsoft was working on IE9, I've had a keen interest - not only because IE still represents the lion's share of the browser market, but also because of the features promised.

Now, let me say right now that I've given up long ago believing 90% of what Microsoft says they can do. Heck, I was super-hyped when Windows 95 came out, and that sure crashed and burned - as has virtually every piece of software from Microsoft that I've cared to try using (don't even get me started on how sh*t Microsoft SQL Server was when I was forced to use it).

But let's be fair here - if they can pull it off well, then it forces the other browser vendors to play a bit of catch-up.

Of particular interest to me are these:

• SVG support - with the promise of SVG support, this might push the other vendors to actually make good implementations themselves. SVG support is garbage on FireFox, sort of "Ok" on Opera9 and Safari, but completely non-existent on Chrome. If Microsoft can bring in full SVG 1.2 support, including all the bells and whistles that go along with it (animation, etc.), then it might mean good global support for SVG - which opens up a lot of new development possibilities.
• Hardware acceleration - this is a good one. I've seen plenty of "canvas" demonstrations, and they are all ridiculously slow. With Microsoft claiming direct GPU acceleration of the HTML5 canvas tag, this opens up the possibility of some really interesting embedded content without Flash. And Microsoft is claiming that this acceleration is for all tags - if this holds true for SVG support, the effects could actually be the first nail in the Flash coffin (to clarify, I don't consider a lack of Flash on that iPhone piece of crap to be anything other than Apple's draconian control).

What I find particularly interesting is that Microsoft is doing all this effort, whereas it was Steve Jobs who claimed that Flash was no longer necessary, and yet Safari's support for these are complete crap or non-existent. There is more to embedded content than simply video, Mr. Jobs.

Hopefully the other players aren't simply sitting around waiting and are actively working on these improvements, too.

Competition is good.