At last Microsoft has released Final Version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) for public. You can now download it from the Beauty of the Web site. The Redmond Tech giant is confident that IE9 graphics handling, security and privacy features put it on an even footing with Firefox, Chrome, Safari and others.
The two features that weren’t available in the RC made it into the final release:
* IE 9 now supports the Do Not Track header that Mozilla proposed earlier this year. The feature is in addition to the much more active Tracking Protection feature that blocks third-party tracking sites. According to Rob Mauceri, Principal Group Program Manager for Internet Explorer, Do Not Track is implemented as a header and as part of the Document Object Model (DOM) API. As a result, says Mauceri, “sites can detect a user’s intention not to be tracked.”
* The Tracking Protection feature now covers ActiveX controls—the most popular of which is Adobe Flash. In the final version of Internet Explorer 9, requests from ActiveX controls go through the same Tracking Protection Lists that govern websites. If you’ve blocked a third-party site, it will be blocked for access in Flash and other ActiveX controls as well. I’ll need to test this feature to see if it has an impact on local shared objects–aka “Flash cookies.”
If you already have the Release Candidate or Beta versions installed, the RTW (release to world) build will be offered via Windows Update (presumably tomorrow morning). If you don’t have the RC or Beta builds installed, you’ll have to grab it manually.
Download Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Vista and 7.
