Microsoft's new browser, Internet Explorer 9, seems to have little to say about Microsoft. It doesn't even say "Internet Explorer" anywhere on the browser.

Microsoft has trimmed the fat off the glassy browser frame, creating thêm on-screen playground for Web developers to stretch out on.

It's clear Microsoft has made some major development changes to bring back the millions of Web users who have been lured away bởi Mozilla Firefox, a competitor that has whittled Internet Explorer's share from thêm than 90 percent to 57 percent of the market.

Microsoft released the new browser Monday night in an event at the South bởi Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. It's available for free download at www.beautyoftheweb.com.

While Microsoft still is the most được ưa chuộng browser, Mozilla now has 22 percent of the market with Firefox, Google has 11 percent with Chrome, and táo, apple has 6 percent with Safari, according to research firm Net Market Share.

Computer users spend thêm time in the browser than any other application on the PC, and it will become an even thêm important chess piece as users di chuyển toward đám mây computing. The browser, after all, is the gateway to đám mây computing.

"I still view the browser as the main portal to the đám mây and what we think of as the access point, where we're going in the future, how we consume information and how we consume documents," đã đưa ý kiến Lee Nicholls, director of global solutions at Getronics, the IT services branch of KPN.

"If bạn look at what Microsoft is doing itself with the tiếp theo generation of Office, bạn see thêm and thêm things that have one foot on the desktop and one foot in the cloud."

Cloud-based software that used to run on the desktop computer now runs as services on the browser, such as customer-relationship management (CRM), expense management and data reporting.

"If I have to look at a status báo cáo off a SQL server hoặc off a database hoặc a CRM application, why can't I just access it from a browser?" đã đưa ý kiến Michael Cherry, lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm in Kirkland.

"It still comes down to their (Microsoft's) fear that Windows will become irrelevant. It's now become a dual-pronged threat. The first threat is browsers and the một giây threat is operating systems like (Apple's) iOS," quả anh đào, anh đào said.

At Monday's launch, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Dean Hachamovitch said, "We want browsing to be a great experience so people keep choosing Windows to do it."

Cloud-software companies like Full Armor are also using the browser as the front door to the cloud. The company uses the browser to deploy Web applications, to run hybrid đám mây applications that run both on the browser and in Microsoft's video download software Silverlight, and as the pathway to download đám mây apps onto the PC.

"It's a great initial medium to get to the đám mây because you've got such a wide reach if bạn just make the browser the access point," đã đưa ý kiến Danny Kim, chief technology officer of Full Armor.

The line between the browser and the operating-system environment is blurring with the new generation of browsers.

Internet Explorer 9 supports the new Web standards HTML5, which allows for richer, thêm animated websites that feel like applications.

Internet Explorer takes advantage of PC hardware with hardware-acceleration, which uses the PC's graphics chip to run graphics on the Web.

Forty million people have downloaded the beta and release-candidate test versions of IE9 since September, Microsoft said.

Microsoft has also built thêm Windows features into IE9, including the ability to pin sites to the bottom toolbar. The pinned sites can then be right-clicked for website options.

A major hurdle is that IE9 does not run on the older Windows XP operating system, which will how many people will adopt the new browser.

The other challenge is the rapid growth in browser use on non-PC devices, such as Android smartphones and iPad tablets.

Internet Explorer 9 will not have a mobile version of its browser ready until later this năm at an unspecified ngày and only for Windows Phone 7.

The company also has not đã đưa ý kiến anything about building a browser for iPad hoặc Android tablets.

"Where IE9 is really absent is in the tablet and mobile-device space," Nicholls said. "That's where they might get hurt."