Review time with a side of new-ness.

So this is my *official* review of Internet Explorer 9. And I must admit it, I love it. It still have my love affair with Google Chrome; and it is still my default. However, I can say that I am comfortable with IE9 and will be using it more in the future. There are a few things that I am missing from Chrome; those mostly being my add ons and such. But for core functionality, it passes with flying colors. The simple interface gives me a lot of screen room. The new download manager is simple and unobtrusive. The Favorites was a nightmare to work with though. IE9 comes with a few folders worth of favorites by default. Importing from Chrome yielded less than spectacular results. But the favorites bar is NOT visible by default, which is a set up from the previous versions. Mind you, I avoided previous versions of IE because they sucked. But this a big leap forward, and Microsoft did a wonderful job. There are little touches that make it beautiful. The upper left corner contains the Back and Forward buttons. These can change to the theme of site you are on, but only after you pin them to your taskbar. This is a new take on the Favorites and quick launch. This makes it great for accessing your favorite sites like Hulu and Netflix. This works well with a HTPC set up or for setting up your parent’s or less tech savvy friends’ computers.

Pros: Fast, minimalistic, and fundamentally sound.

Cons: Lack of Add Ons, Separate x64 and x86 versions.

Bottom Line: A great update to the default browser of the juggernaut Windows.

 

Now on the new-ness. I am using Windows Live Writer to write this. It is one of the Windows Live programs. It logs into your blog so you can update without using the Browser interface. This is good due to the fact that Chrome doesn’t play nice with the Blogger Dashboard’s new interface. It also loads your blog’s background so you feel like you are on your blog, posting. Sweet. It has more editing tools than the Dashboard; and it lets you save your posts before you post. Nice. Next Up: Google SketchUp work for the night. Peace.