[Hoot Gibson]

I downloaded a beta copy of Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft claims that it is faster but I think that they are only comparing it to previous versions of their own browser.

What is obvious to me is that all of the best ideas in the browser wars are originating at Google and Mozilla. IE 9 has added the Google Chrome feature that lets you type queries into the address bar to do searches. It is a great feature and one that Microsoft should have been able to have come up with on their own.

I hate having to develop applications for IE at work and I only use it at home when I absolutely have no other choice.

I know that IE 9 is only in beta but it seems very slow to me and it is buggy. Even after closing it, I was left with a little box that says "Close" on my screen. I hope that it goes away when I reboot my computer.

Which brings me to another pet peeve with Microsoft. It's operating systems take forever to start up. I have Ubuntu installed on one of my laptops and it boots up in a fraction of the time that Windows 7 or Windows XP does.

Has anybody else tried IE 9 yet? Before you do, I urge you to take a look at Google Chrome or Firefox first. Who needs all of the Microsoft bugs and frequent security patches.