After a string of tantalizing developer previewers, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has finally released the beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on Wednesday. While questions abound as to the confirmed ship date, the reactions of the early adopters are generally positive. Indeed, Jim Rapoza from InformationWeek reviewed IE9 and noted that that it may be the best version yet.

No major surprise here, I suppose, given the fact that IE7 was really nothing more than a stopgap measure, while IE8 had so much to catch up on that it still lagged behind what was then "mainstream," despite huge improvements in compliance and performance. Microsoft did not give up however, and continued to refine and improve Internet Explorer in true Microsoft fashion. With the trend-setting HTML5 support and hardware acceleration in IE9, it would appear that the software giant has finally caught up as an equal the browser race.

I have some thoughts on the future of the browser, which you can check in today's editorial. For now, you can download Internet Explorer 9 here. 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek
- check out this article at PC World

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