"IE9 is a great browser" is an oxymoron statement?

"IE can die in hell!"
"IE is for morons."
"IE is so slow!"
"IE SUCKS!"
"No! not you! ActiveX!"


There, google them. Each one of them will probably give you back billions and billions of results. 


If you are a web application developer, you know that IE has been more of an enemy than a friend in the past few years. And IE6 has quickly gone from Heaven-sent in the early 2000's to being the Devil's reincarnation in the past few years. 


Microsoft, often blinded by their power and market shares, thought they could implement anything in their own ways, and most of the Windows users were ignorant enough to actually accept whatever Microsoft did without holding pitchforks to Redmond or ask the Congress to dissemble Microsoft IE division. The common web standards to Microsoft were more like suggestions than requirements; pretty much like how the folks in Berkeley treat the traffic rules. 


However, IE9 is different. 


If you go to IE9, it is all about standards now. Just go to the IE9's website, and BOOM! Right in your face, they do not hide it. From ACID3 tests to HTML5 to a new JavaScript engine, Microsoft is now boasting its devotion and dedication to the web standards and the speed benchmark.  


The past weekend I downloaded and tried IE9's first public beta. Perhaps due to my Microsoft background and I am, in general, very bias towards Microsoft; I had to say I am very impressed. I like the minimalist design like Chrome. I like it tells me which extensions take too long to load, I like the improved developer tools. I like it is noticeably fast. And most of all, I like my company's pages still look and function the same. Being a developer, you should know how much of a relief that is. 


To convince web developers to start using IE again as their primary development browsers (by choice, not by requirement ;-) ), Microsoft comes up wit this site: http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/, again to demonstrate Microsoft's effort to follow HTML5. I believe some of these sites/pages are even made specifically for IE9!


After a weekend of nothing but IE9, I am convinced. This beta release is definitely a winner. 


Good job, Redmond. 
Now, just denounce the support for IE6, I promise I will bing instead of google for a week. Or maybe 5 days. At least 3. 




function SearchInBing (searchText){
    return SearchInGoogle(searchText); //we will keep it on the down low. 
}