Microsoft "all in" on Internet Explorer 9 supporting HTML5

Microsoft is building a new version of Internet Explorer that will support the HTML5 standard, opening the gates for developers to create more interactive Web sites.

The company made the announcement Tuesday at its MIX conference for Web developers, saying a platform preview for Internet Explorer 9 is ready for developers to kick the tires.

"We're all in" for HTML5, said Windows division President Steve Sinofsky, echoing Steve Ballmer's comment last week that Microsoft is "all in" for cloud computing.

Developers have been urging Microsoft to support HTML5 as a standard, allowing them to build a site once for multiple browsers.

Microsoft has the majority of the browser market with Internet Explorer, followed by Firefox made by Mozilla. Smaller players include Apple Safari, Google Chrome and Opera. According to research firm Net Market Share, Internet Explorer has 62 percent of the browser market, and Firefox has 24 percent.

A coalition of browser makers, the World Wide Web Cornsortium, is working on establishing HTML5.

"We are really happy to see Microsoft catching up on standards and implementing things developers really like to use," said Chris Blizzard, director of evangelism at Mozilla, which has been building HTML5 standards into Firefox over several versions.

"We've been frustrated that it's taken a long time" for Microsoft, Blizzard said. "But we're happy to see they're doing it."

Blizzard said Microsoft's platform preview does not include some key HTML5 features, such as support for playing video and audio without a plug-in and a drawing feature called Canvas.

Microsoft said it is committed to providing software upgrades to Internet Explorer 9 every eight weeks. It also said it would not be developing a version of IE9 for Windows XP computers.

HTML5 is designed to enable more interactive Web sites that could potentially run faster and more reliably. Examples of richer features include the ability to move files, such as photos, between the operating system and the browser; create animation, such as rotating logos; and develop online games. HTML5 has the potential to break down part of the wall between the browser and the rest of the computer environment.

Source: The Seattle Times