First off, I would like to thank Microsoft for regrouping, restaffing, and developing Internet Explorer 9. There is much to be thankful for. Very soon, new Windows 7 users will have, by default and without any installation, a browser that supports

• Canvas without JavaScript translation libraries
• SVG without amazing translating-to-Flash hacks, including inline SVG in HTML
• Geolocation without plugins
• Persistent local storage (note: this is already in IE8)
• H.264 video without plugins
• New semantics elements without JavaScript shims
• Rounded corners and other CSS improvements

This is quite remarkable. I’ve been busily updating Dive Into HTML5, changing phrases like “no version of Internet Explorer supports…” to “versions of IE before 9.0 did not support…” I never, ever, ever thought this day would come. Thank you, Microsoft.

So here’s a downer: what if this is it? What if, after years of increasing evangelism and fever-pitch hype and demos and speeches and books and talks and blogs and tweets and logos, Microsoft shifts direction once again, destaffs the IE team, and “deprioritizes” any notion of an IE 10? And all these promising technologies die on the vine, or at most, grow up to smack hard against the glass ceiling of “no version of Internet Explorer supports…”

• Web Forms 2.0 (datepickers, validation, and so forth)
• Web Workers (background JavaScript)
• WebSockets (real-time bidirectional communication)
• AppCache (offline web applications)
• WebGL (3-D canvas)
• WebM (open video)
• IndexedDB (advanced persistent local storage)
• History API (twiddle with the entire URL without reloading)
• Device API (videoconferencing without plugins)
• File API (sandboxed in-browser filesystem)
• Audio data API (dynamically creating music with JavaScript)
• and on and on…

What if this is as good as it gets?

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