Microsoft today released a new preview of the technology going into Internet Explorer 10, the next version of its web browser, including capabilities designed to make web applications work more like traditional PC desktop programs.
The preview, available via the Internet Explorer Test Drive site, includes technology for dragging and dropping objects around a web page, and from a computer desktop to a web page; technology that throttles back on active content when a browser is hidden or minimized, improving system performance and preserving battery life; and a number of security improvements.
Drag and drop capability is shown in this new IE10 magnetic poetry demo. Also see this Bellagio Fountain-style demo of an approach called Web Workers for allowing pages to run more efficiently.
The features include elements of HTML5 that Microsoft and other browser vendors have been working to standardize.
“What you’re seeing here is as the specs become more stable and site ready, we’re implementing those features into the platform,” said Rob Mauceri, a group program manager for Internet Explorer, via phone today.
See this preview guide for more details on the new components.
The second IE10 preview comes at a time of heightened competition in the browser market, as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox step up the pace of their releases — by some estimations coming out with versions too quickly. Microsoft hasn’t given official timeline, but IE10 is expected to be the version available with Windows 8 next year.
