After seeing its competitors getting more and more distant, Microsoft decided to take the leap with a new version of Internet Explorer.

With this version, Microsoft plans to put an end to Internet Explorer’s compatibility issues with web standards and support HTML5 and CSS3.

Another strength of Internet Explorer 9 is speed. A new Javascript engine and faster, more powerful rendering bring Internet Explorer back to its best form.

Internet Explorer also has a new look. The tab bar is merged with the address bar into one toolbar, making it much more minimalist than Chrome or Firefox.

Another Internet Explorer feature included in this version is the ability to add websites to the Windows taskbar, similar to Chrome’s web applications.

The download manager in Internet Explorer 9 has also changed. It is very similar to the one currently included in Firefox and can show the progress of multiple downloads simultaneously.

New tab handling, new new tab page (similar to speed dial), search from address bar, new notification bar, plugin manager, and hardware acceleration make Internet Explorer faster than major competitive browsers will be

Internet Explorer 9 also breaks XP limitations as it is only compatible with the latest versions of Windows to ensure optimal performance.