Google brings Video Format to IE9

Swiftly following Microsoft's release of Internet Explorer 9, Google has recently issued a plug-in for the new browser that allows users to play videos in Google's WebM video file format.

The release can be installed for IE9 running on either Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

"They said elephants couldn't ride flying dolphins. They said that one of the world's most popular browsers couldn't play WebM video in HTML5. They were wrong," The Google Web page for the plug-in stated.

The release represents the latest installment in the ongoing saga of bringing video to HTML5, the next-generation standard for designing Web pages.

Browser makers have not reached consensus on which video format to use. While Apple and Microsoft have put their weight behind the widely used H.264, Mozilla and Opera have declined to support that codec, citing worries over eventually having to pay patent royalties.

Last year, Google acquired video-compression-technology vendor On2 Technologies, which developed the open source VP8 video codec. Google subsequently used VP8 as the basis for creating WebM, positioning it as a patent-free alternative to H.264-based formats.

While this new WebM release still requires a plug-in, it will at least allow content creators using WebM to have their creations be played on the world's most widely used browser, which may help Google attract more users to the format.

Internet Explorer 9 to launch March 14

Just after proclaiming Internet Explorer 6 needs to die, Microsoft is readying the launch of IE9, the newest version of its market-leading web browser.

Microsoft plans to debut the browser at the SXSW (South by Southwest Conference and Festivals) conference in Austin on March 14, and the browser will be available for download that same evening.

IE 9 does what no Microsoft browser has done before - embraces HTML 5. HTML 5 is the latest greatest version of HTML, the core coding language for the web. With HTML 5, rich media web sites with stronger animation are made possible.

A More Private Experience..
One of the key new features in IE9 is Tracking Protection. This feature was originally planned for IE8, but Microsoft held off on executing the software that lets customers control tracking on web sites. Essentially, Tracking Protection lets consumers filter content in a page that may have an impact on their privacy.

Here's how Tracking Protection works: Consumers can indicate what web sites they would prefer to not exchange information with. Consumers do this by adding Tracking Protection lists to IE. Anyone, and any organization, on the web can create and publish Tracking Protection lists.

In practice, this means that if you visit a news site, then a sports site, then some other web site, third-party advertisers can't build a profile of browsing activity. Although there are many benefits to building those profiles, including driving more relevant, personalized content, Microsoft is responding to privacy concerns by giving consumers a way to block that tracking.
IE9 also offers InPrivate Browsing, another feature to help consumers control what their machine remembers about browsing sessions. InPrivate Filtering was a forerunner of Tracking Protection.

A Comeback Platform..
"This is Microsoft's comeback platform. They've broken from the pack and the end result is that it's incredibly fast," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "It's probably one of the most secure products Microsoft has ever brought out."

Beyond speed, security and privacy features, Enderle said Microsoft has something else important in the realm of web browsers: massive developer support to use the underpinning features. That means there should be a number of web sites at launch that make unique use of some of the performance and graphics capabilities of the product.

"This is probably going to be one of Microsoft's strongest launches ever and probably one of the most important IE launches since IE 3 when Microsoft stepped away from Spyglass," Enderle said. "So this is very critical one for Microsoft and one where the company is taking a pretty big risk by jumping out so far ahead of the other guys with regard to technology."

Internet Explorer 9 launching on March 14

The final version of Internet Explorer 9 is launching on March 14. Microsoft announced the launch date on its Windows Team Blog. IE9 will be available for download at 9 p.m. Pacific, so for east coasters the launch date is technically March 15 at midnight.

Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's biggest Web browser redesign yet. The redesign takes on a minimalist look, which gives the user more browsing room by squashing menu space. It accomplishes this by using a single bar for URLs and searches - Google Chrome-style - and by placing browser tabs in a single strip alongside the omnibar.

IE9 also fuses with Windows, allowing you to pin Website shortcuts to the Windows taskbar and create lists of links from within those pinned sites. There's also a download manager. As for performance, IE9 supports hardware acceleration for HTML5 video.

Since launching the IE9 beta in September, Microsoft has added even more features based on user feedback, including ActiveX filtering and tracking protection.

The vast majority of IE9's features were set in stone with last month's Release Candidate, but Microsoft says it still has "a few surprises left." The company is planning a party for the release of IE9 at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.