Microsoft asked
software developers to "bet on us" as it began making test
versions available of Internet Explorer 8, an upgraded version
of the main software used to browse the Web.
At Microsoft's MIX08 conference on Wednesday, the company's
chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, said the Web was at the
center of everything Microsoft was doing as it seeks to expand
beyond the desktop business it dominates.
"I know today that you have many amazing technology choices
available to you, but I'd like you to bet on us," Ozzie told an
audience of Web developers.
Microsoft has been pushing for a "software plus services"
strategy that uses the Internet to augment traditional software
that runs on a computer's hard drive.
Ozzie also extended an olive branch to Yahoo,
the Web pioneer that Microsoft is targeting in a unsolicited
takeover offer, saying Yahoo has "creative people and
interesting online properties."
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft provided a first look
at Internet Explorer 8. IE 7 was released in October 2006.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is used by
three-quarters of the world's Web users, far more than
Mozilla's Firefox, which has a 17 percent share of the market,
and Apple's Safari with 6 percent, according to
data from Web site analytics company Net Applications.
The browser is also part of the ongoing battle between
Microsoft and arch-rival Google.
Firefox is closely affiliated with Google, which in 2006
provided around 85 percent of the $66.8 million in revenue of
Firefox's parent organization, the Mozilla Foundation.
Google distributes Firefox as its preferred browser
software in a number of its products. Firefox counts 160
million unique active users of its browser alternative.
Microsoft's new browser is available to developers at
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie8.
FEATURES IN IE 8
Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch showed
some user features of IE 8, but he did not give a launch date
for it.
One feature called "Activities" lets users highlight an
address on a Web site, then see a map within the site with a
single click. Users can also highlight a product name and see
if the item is available on eBay. Another feature lets
users save work done on a Web site to the local computer when
an Internet connection goes down.
Earlier this week, Microsoft said it would drop its
traditional resistance to industrywide standards for how its
software renders Web pages and, by default, make its Explorer
browser work more easily with other Web coding tools.
That means Web sites will essentially look the same
regardless of browser, and developers will not need to do
multiple versions of Web sites for different browsers.
It is a departure from what Microsoft did in IE 7 and is
seen as a move to assuage developer, regulatory and legal
concerns.
The European Union has launched an antitrust investigation
into Microsoft to probe complaints from Norwegian browser maker
Opera Software about how Microsoft ensures rival Web
browsers are not fully compatible with Internet Explorer.
Critics argue that Internet Explorer is inferior to rival
browsers in terms of security, speed and navigation features
and that Microsoft maintains its lead because Explorer is
packaged along with the company's Windows operating system.
Microsoft also said it was making available a public test
version of its Silverlight 2 multimedia technology. Silverlight
2 is the next version of Microsoft's competitor to Adobe
Systems' Flash technology.
And it released a test version of Expression Studio 2, the
latest version of Microsoft's software suite targeted at Web
designers and developers.