As it Woos Developers, Microsoft Updates Internet Explorer 9 Code
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company's new Web browser and smart phone software at a software developer conference Thursday, the company's annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones. Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn't repeat the memorable "developer prance" of years past, when he loped around hollering, "Developers! Developers!"
During the keynote address, Ballmer and Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features. Internet Explorer 9, which is in beta test form, uses more of a PC's hardware to make pages load and run faster. A new version of the underlying code is being released for developers Thursday.
IE9, which is only available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets computer users "pin" websites to the task bar at the bottom of the screen, creating a permanent shortcut that makes the site feel more like a desktop program.
The update is a new platform preview that developers can use to test Web sites, but is not an update to the more full-featured beta version that Microsoft released earlier this year. Microsoft had said it would continue to update the platform preview versions for developers even after releasing the beta. Unlike the beta, the platform preview can be used alongside earlier versions of the browser.
Microsoft also unveiled some new apps add-on programs that can be downloaded for Windows Phone 7, its new smart phone software. One was a version of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-book reader software. Microsoft's app marketplace now has 1,000 approved programs and games; the first Windows Phone 7 devices go on sale in the U.S. in early November.
New Format Microsoft changed the format of its conference this year, having fewer people at the conference itself, but broadcasting it on the Web and having 30,000 people at local events worldwide.
Ballmer also took a moment to tout Microsoft's consumer efforts, touting Windows 7 PC sales, the release of Windows Phone, as well as the gesture-recognizing Kinect add-on for the Xbox 360.
"It is really remarkable," he said.
As for the phone, Ballmer said, "I think we really kind of nailed it," noting that it is more personal, offering more options than a one-size-fits-all approach (i.e. Apple) while offering more coherence (clearly a knock on Android).
Most of the keynote presentations centered on what software programmers can build with Microsoft's tools. Microsoft is far behind Apple Inc. with its iPhone and Google Inc. with its Android smart phone software; tens of thousands of apps are already available for those phones and have been critical to their success.
But one of Microsoft's greatest strengths is its relationship with developers. The company's tools, which it is updating, will be familiar for developers who already make programs for Windows PCs, and Microsoft is hoping that will encourage them to build apps even though the popularity of the phone is unproven.
"We need your best work,'' Ballmer said to developers. ``Make no mistake about it, when it comes to Windows Phone, we're all in.''
Ballmer said Microsoft will give all developers who attend the conference at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters a Windows Phone 7 smart phone more than a week before it goes on sale.
(The Associated Press and CNET contributed to this report.)