Microsoft v. Google, Round Three: Web Browsing
Posted @ 2/3/2012 8:22 AM By Paul Thurrott
As part of its ongoing and quite targeted ad campaign against Google (see Microsoft Aggressively Courting Concerned Google Users and Microsoft v. Google, Round Two: Email for more), Microsoft today offered up its third ad, which focuses on web browsing. The Microsoft offering here, of course, is Internet Explorer, which the company notes has a strong focus on protecting privacy. But that's just one reason to choose IE, Microsoft says in a new blog post.
"We build IE for customers who use Windows," Microsoft's Ryan Gavin notes in a post at the Exploring IE Blog. "IE9 is the browser designed to give Windows 7 customers the fastest, safest, and most private browsing experience – putting the focus on the thing that matters most – your favorite sites."
Gavin then offers up the following reasons to consider using IE over the competition.
Browse without being browsed. According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer respects your privacy and puts you in charge of your personal information. "By using Tracking Protection and the other privacy features in IE 9, you are in control of who is tracking your actions online – not advertisers," Gavin notes, in a shot at how Google's browser, Chrome, works in concert with its online properties.
Experience the Web, faster. According to Microsoft, IE 9 isn't just fast, it's "crazy fast," and he cites performance tests from Laptop magazine and Strangeloop web development firm as proof that it's faster than Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
Your favorite sites just one-click away. While Chrome does offer a similar feature, IE 9's ability to pin web sites and apps to the Windows 7 taskbar does offer some unique features and is more integrated with the OS. I use this feature pretty extensively and have Hotmail, SkyDrive, Amazon Cloud Player, and other sites pinned to my taskbar. And some, like Hotmail, also open multiple tabs (in that case for other email services I use).
Browse worry free. According to Microsoft, IE is safer and more secure than other web browsers. "If you are concerned about your safety online, IE9 protects you from the threats faced on the web today better than any other browser," Gavin notes. "Whether it’s dangerous downloads, phishing websites or harmful links, IE9 makes sure you stay safe."
A more beautiful Web. With IE 9, Microsoft has really turned up the dial on hardware accelerated web standards support--for HTML, CSS, JavaScript/ECMAScript and other related technologies--and of course that work is continuing with the next release, IE 10. "We give developers a platform to push the limits of what was previously thought possible and push their creativity," Gavin adds.
Update: Microsoft has provided a second post at its Official Microsoft Blog called Looking for Options? Try the Dynamic Duo of IE9 and Bing. This expands on the IE blog, above, and reveals two new newspaper ads, one for IE and one for Bing. Here they are (edited to take up less space here):
