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T_T I typed up this long review of the Beta and my main point that this is clearly an unpolished product but I lost it all when I stupidly hit the wrong short cut key combination
Anyways  here I go again half hearted like
The website showcasing IE9
http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/
2nd site:http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/
A proper article from a website about IE9
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/internet-explorer-9-beta-review-microsoft-reinvents-the-browser/2430
Download link:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download/ie-9/worldwide
Note: This is a beta it's an unfinished product meant for bug testing and open to suggestions it's not recommended to be used as a staple like all beta products there are so obvious problems that will be dealt with during a later update. One such problem which may just be TL specific is I cannot use the buttons for the BBCode it wigs out when I use bold while highlighting a word etc.
Now for the mostly opinion based Review
What's New?(not a real list of what's new just what I’ve noticed and read)
Internet Explorer 9 is a large step for Microsoft to the right direction in terms of making a Web Browser; that is merely this OP's opinion.
What does IE9 have that is making me somewhat optimistic, well first off support. Yes, actual support for standards. Shit it's like Microsoft gained the ability to notice how the outside world works.
Now although the support is not as complete as you would think after reading the Microsoft propaganda from their website. (based off http://caniuse.com/ data) The support is definitely there and they are paying attention to such standards. Which hopefully when we reach the Release Candidate stage those numbers will be around if not higher than the competitors?
One notable feature due to windows 7 integration in mind is pinning a website, though basically clicking the tab and dragging it to your task bar you can essentially use it like a short cut then after, among other windows 7 things which I think few people use or care about. My opinion it that it's not too great I swear this is what favorites are for.(Also if you have your taskbar anywhere that is not the bottom windows aero snap feature interfears with you pinning it as it thinks you want to maximise it or something lol)
more detail is found on this page
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/internet-explorer-9-beta-review-microsoft-reinvents-the-browser/2430?pg=2&tag=mantle_skin;content
Another feature that was added was Hardware accelerate of certain tasks such as rendering text, images, videos among other parts of a website. This feature is minuscule on most computers but can be quite useful in certain tasks which I’ll just vaguely skip over so I don't get it wrong.
Now let's dive into the User Interface (UI)although they addressed the speed issues from IE8 just remember IE8 was as fast as FF when it was announced too but later was left behind. Besides that point let's just check off the issue of speed that was a major concern of IE8. Once you scratch that off your list you want to move down to other problems, one of the largest that the average user cares about is the UI, how it looks, works and what you can change about it.
The User Interface
In short incomplete.
There are many little things that lead me to believe that the UI was slapped together after one meeting regarding UI changes in one night.
Taking more things from chrome, is a most used group which frankly just seems like a rip of opera speed dial except not as useful.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/JhkTl.png)
They also combined the Search and URL bar into one, so now that one bar will search for a url/search conditions/history/feeds/favorites all in one. Personally I like this, most people only use one search engine and if they wanted to use another one they would likely just go directly to their website then change the toolbar setting.
From that they decided to move the tabs to the right of the URL bar currently you don't have a choice to move it to the left which would be my preference. To note I don't care for this change of putting tabs on the left or right of the URL bar when they still aren't using the top. I think opera handles this space great with the tabs taking up the top part that is otherwise wasted.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/0TB39.png)
Another feature which now most webbroswers already support is the ability to take a tab drag it away from the others and make it into a new window, and then bring it back and combine two windows down to one. This is a very useful and nice addition. (Also another nice feature that carries over form IE8 is the coloring of tabs when you open new tabs via links from another website)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/o7Buw.png)
The Back button is noticeably larger, it also seems to be cut off slightly on the bottom leading me to think someone slapped this together.
A notable addition that probably been wanted sense IE7 is a native download manager. it's basic and clearly is not done
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/hI0BF.png)
It has a pause button but I have yet to pause and resume a download
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/5T2zS.png)
They also moved all the notifications to the bottom and made them farily discrete, which i don't care for, when i download something or something wants to be installed i want to notice it. They did this for some random reason dealing with showing off more of a webpage.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/XuIJZ.png)
They also removed the status bar and made it more stylized sort of fade in and out to show the links and loading
The favorites seems like it was just ripped out of IE8 and the button was put into a new place. As this video points out there are some flaws such as when I pin it to the side it goes to the left side and it doesn't stay there consistently when I hit favorites on and off. Also while it's on the right side I can't make it any bigger. Other than that it's just the same old IE favorites handling.
Same is with the Search bar which isn't redone just ripped out and reused from the looks of it.
What i desire
- A spell checker - yes it's still missing one
- better ability to organize my favorites inside of IE9
- Overall a change in UI and better ability to move things around.
Now to stop procrasting and get back to my ususal work haha.
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Shameless bump to something I wrote in order to procreate on my real work but also to add in information about the 64bit flash that was released.
*note it is a preview and thus probably more for the curious or those who may be already using a 64bit FF or something.
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html
This link also provides a 64bit plug in version not just the activeX but as far as the highlights it mostly was a highlight to IE9 and it being 35% faster than the regular activeX 32bit flash already out but saying much because IE9 64 bit is slower then IE9 32 bit lol
I'll note that it also includes Mac OSX and Linux 64 bit versions as well.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/gB2RE.png)
great more shit installed on my computer
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The real beauty is that when IE9 is released the U.S. government will officially stop supporting IE6. Government contractors everywhere will be drunk for weeks. (I worked at such a company for my internship.)
I'm not sure I see what IE9 is doing that isn't just stolen from another browser, though.
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So how much is microsoft paying you to advertise their newest browser?
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On September 17 2010 11:06 Craton wrote:
The real beauty is that when IE9 is released the U.S. government will officially stop supporting IE6. Government contractors everywhere will be drunk for weeks. (I worked at such a company for my internship.)
I'm not sure I see what IE9 is doing that isn't just stolen from another browser, though.
What isn't stolen from another browser at a point of time, if you want to know who is the most innovate and coincidentally the most underused is Opera, hell they been around twice as long as firefox and most of firefox so called innovations first came from plug-ins for IE that copied opera.
But opera got it's day in court a trumped up EU court which forces microsoft into making IE not so integrated into windows and not making it a default install. Which frankly is the most bullshit decision the EU could have made, as the logic used in that lawsuit could be applied to just about everything in microsoft's OS and any OS for that matter, it's just people who are making money off browser wanted a larger cut and there isn't much money to be made else where so far.
It's just the name of the game so live with it son.
On September 17 2010 11:22 EAGER-beaver wrote:
So how much is microsoft paying you to advertise their newest browser?
Nothing with my poor grammar and frankly dictated but not read style of posting i can only hurt the browsers image.
Hell personally i think that IE9 the only thing right with it is supporting standards and keeping up with speed of the competition. What I care about the most the UI and how i'm able to manipulate that to a feel and style in which i find most convenient is just not there.
Along with the parts i pointed out where IE took some good UI ideas and implemented them but kept old parts of their IE UI just as if they copy pasted code over from it. It's half assed if you asked me at the moment.
But fuck if I'm going to support a browser I'm going to support microsoft, if it's the one most people will use and comes by default-ish with windows the most popular OS for the avg consumer i want it to be fucking great!
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Bah. They make you restart after installation.
I shall try IE9 tomorrow. Haven't really been a fan of IE7/IE8 so let's see if Microsoft can change that with IE9. Been using Chrome lately. Quit using Firefox 4 (granted it was a Beta) due to some issues with it. Let's see if IE9 can out perform chrome 
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The new UI looks clean, but I really don't like how the tabs are on the same level as the URL bar. It just really really bothers me.
I tried it out for a few minutes, and it's not convincing me to give up Chrome for it.
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On September 17 2010 11:57 b3h47pte wrote:Bah. They make you restart after installation. I shall try IE9 tomorrow. Haven't really been a fan of IE7/IE8 so let's see if Microsoft can change that with IE9. Been using Chrome lately. Quit using Firefox 4 (granted it was a Beta) due to some issues with it. Let's see if IE9 can out perform chrome
There are so many issues with their beta t-t i just hope they get it much more stable soon lol it was somewhat unbearable at my end, IE9 can't out perform chrome in benches, chrome really is the fastest in javascript it's blazing fast, but IE9 gpu acceleration is nicely done just load a webpage with a ton of pictures and see how nicely and smoothly it loads.
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I think alot of people need to give IE9 a real try before simply bashing it just because "it's microsoft lulz". It's really a huge, huge improvement from all the previous shit IE versions. Of course since it's still in beta, I wouldn't suggest to switch to this as default browser. However I believe that alot of people are going to start using IE again when the full release comes around.
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On September 17 2010 12:05 Repok wrote:
The new UI looks clean, but I really don't like how the tabs are on the same level as the URL bar. It just really really bothers me.
I tried it out for a few minutes, and it's not convincing me to give up Chrome for it.
^ This. As nice as IE9 looks I don't see a reason to use it over Chrome. 
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On September 19 2010 05:54 illu wrote:
Does it have ad block?
It doesn't even have spell check in it T_T it's very bare right now, the load time of websites is quite nice and it looks nice too. It just seems to me that they were trying to get new features out and meeting a deadline they set up, the UI had a long way to go imo.
For ad blocking ppl should just use HOSTS files and stop worrying about if their browser supports a ad blocker let alone the slow down those add ons will cause.
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On September 19 2010 06:00 semantics wrote:It doesn't even have spell check in it T_T it's very bare right now, the load time of websites is quite nice and it looks nice too. It just seems to me that they were trying to get new features out and meeting a deadline they set up, the UI had a long way to go imo. For ad blocking ppl should just use HOSTS files and stop worrying about if their browser supports a ad blocker let alone the slow down those add ons will cause.
Well that's a deal breaker for me.
On the other hand, I hope IE never get adblock. If everyone get adblock, the majority of the websites will die. So yea, I hope a lot of people will use it, but I probably won't bother trying it.
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United States22883 Posts
Speed?
I like Microsoft and I generally give new IEs a test run, but Chrome has this department locked up so badly it frustrates me to even use other browsers. I don't just mean script speed or page load speed, because I know the latest IE build is probably a hair faster than the current Chrome in that regard. What I mean is how quickly does it take to start the program, open new tabs, search/load history, etc.
Once IE8 was open, I could live with the browsing speed. The problem is that it took 10 times longer to open a window and to start searching for something, and waiting for that is one of the most frustrating computer experiences I have these days.
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On September 17 2010 11:22 EAGER-beaver wrote:
So how much is microsoft paying you to advertise their newest browser?
Did you even read the Post? If this was a advertising then it was horribly done.
Its so sad that IE is the standard for bussines. I hate it T.T. I dont understand why Microsoft got so lazy
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United States4053 Posts
On September 19 2010 05:54 illu wrote:
Does it have ad block?
There will be ad block addons once IE9 is formally released. There are multiple ad blockers for all the previous versions of IE too.
I have to agree with OP that some of IE9's features still have lingering tastes of IE8 (especially, as you pointed out, favorites), but I find myself hardly using the favorites features at all, so IE9's beta is more than acceptable for me.
IE9 also scores higher on the Acid3 compatibility test than the latest stable Firefox (I have tested this myself), with IE9's only 5 failed tests being SVG fonts. I think IE9's compatibility is a non-issue.
IE9's memory usage is very high (goes into the gigabytes with many tabs open x_x), but its CPU usage is much lower than firefox 4 beta's, at least on my computer (IE9: about 10% of CPU with 9 tabs open, FF4: about 24% of CPU with 3 tabs open)
So there are definitely kinks to be worked out, but I think IE9 is more than a step in the right direction.
EDIT:
On September 19 2010 06:02 Jibba wrote:
Speed?
I like Microsoft and I generally give new IEs a test run, but Chrome has this department locked up so badly it frustrates me to even use other browsers. I don't just mean script speed or page load speed, because I know the latest IE build is probably a hair faster than the current Chrome in that regard. What I mean is how quickly does it take to start the program, open new tabs, search/load history, etc.
All three of those are, for me, quick enough that I would never complain. In Windows 7 (perhaps Vista too), programs frequently used are cached for faster startup, so make sure to use IE9 for a while before testing startup time.
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nice copy of chrone there~ ill stick with google product
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Independent research proved that every time someone sees IE symbol their lifespan shortens by 5 minutes. No can't do.
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On September 19 2010 06:17 MorroW wrote:nice copy of chrone there~ ill stick with google product
it's vastly different from chrome... just because of the combination of the search and url bar ppl call it a chrome copy.
Where is chomes gpu acceleration and post-processing?
On September 19 2010 06:14 infinitestory wrote:+ Show Spoiler +There will be ad block addons once IE9 is formally released. There are multiple ad blockers for all the previous versions of IE too.
I have to agree with OP that some of IE9's features still have lingering tastes of IE8 (especially, as you pointed out, favorites), but I find myself hardly using the favorites features at all, so IE9's beta is more than acceptable for me.
IE9 also scores higher on the Acid3 compatibility test than the latest stable Firefox (I have tested this myself), with IE9's only 5 failed tests being SVG fonts. I think IE9's compatibility is a non-issue. IE9's memory usage is very high (goes into the gigabytes with many tabs open x_x), but its CPU usage is much lower than firefox 4 beta's, at least on my computer (IE9: about 10% of CPU with 9 tabs open, FF4: about 24% of CPU with 3 tabs open) So there are definitely kinks to be worked out, but I think IE9 is more than a step in the right direction. + Show Spoiler +EDIT: On September 19 2010 06:02 Jibba wrote:
Speed?
I like Microsoft and I generally give new IEs a test run, but Chrome has this department locked up so badly it frustrates me to even use other browsers. I don't just mean script speed or page load speed, because I know the latest IE build is probably a hair faster than the current Chrome in that regard. What I mean is how quickly does it take to start the program, open new tabs, search/load history, etc.
All three of those are, for me, quick enough that I would never complain. In Windows 7 (perhaps Vista too), programs frequently used are cached for faster startup, so make sure to use IE9 for a while before testing startup time.
The memory usage will always be high, IE9 each tab usu sally creates a new program instance, which allows if one tab goes down to a glitch it wont take down all the other tabs. The cost of this is a higher memory usage.Chrome does this too but in a more purest form and will open a completely new instance of chrome but this also allows them to dump the memory when you close the tab (also ppl don't stay Microsoft copied chrome in this aspect this was down in IE way before it was done in chrome.) after looking it up IE did this before chrome even was publicly released.
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The issue with standards is not if the browser supports them in a particular point of time but how long took them to do that and it's a common knowledge that takes a reaaaaaally long time for MS to incorporate new web standards.
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Interesting.
I don't see myself switching off of firefox until another browser can provide me no script and ad block plus though.
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On September 19 2010 07:15 keV. wrote:
Interesting.
I don't see myself switching off of firefox until another browser can provide me no script and ad block plus though.
Every broswer can provide you with noscript and ad block plus lol
ad block can be replaced with a hosts file and there are plenty of hosts managers out there like hostsman, this has the added benefit of if you do set it up right you can block malware sites too in that list not just tracking and ad servers.
And noscript is just a matter of setting up your browser to be on a high security mode all the time then adding in trusted websites that you go to on a regular basis which all browsers support in one form or another.
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On September 19 2010 07:19 semantics wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2010 07:15 keV. wrote:
Interesting.
I don't see myself switching off of firefox until another browser can provide me no script and ad block plus though. Every broswer can provide you with noscript and ad block plus lol ad block can be replaced with a hosts file and there are plenty of hosts managers out there like hostsman, this has the added benefit of if you do set it up right you can block malware sites too in that list not just tracking and ad servers. And noscript is just a matter of setting up your browser to be on a high security mode all the time then adding in trusted websites that you go to on a regular basis which all browsers support in one form or another.
I've used alternatives and manual alternatives and none are as convenient.
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Uh...IE9= IgNoToNgElTe EcXhPrLoOmReER copier.
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http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=153891¤tpage=6#120
On September 19 2010 07:26 ccdnl wrote:
Uh...IE9= IgNoToNgElTe EcXhPrLoOmReER copier.
On September 19 2010 07:29 ccdnl wrote:
Bout time gay IE falls. GOOO CHROMEEE!@!!!!
So wait it copies chrome and it fails? Elaborate how it copies chrome and do so in more than 1 reason and then if you just want 1 reason then all browsers copy all browsers. I except some great responce from you as you already establish your eliquent take on the english language with your gay IE statement.
On September 19 2010 07:21 keV. wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2010 07:19 semantics wrote:On September 19 2010 07:15 keV. wrote:
Interesting.
I don't see myself switching off of firefox until another browser can provide me no script and ad block plus though. Every browser can provide you with noscript and ad block plus lol ad block can be replaced with a hosts file and there are plenty of hosts managers out there like hostsman, this has the added benefit of if you do set it up right you can block malware sites too in that list not just tracking and ad servers. And noscript is just a matter of setting up your browser to be on a high security mode all the time then adding in trusted websites that you go to on a regular basis which all browsers support in one form or another. I've used alternatives and manual alternatives and none are as convenient.
I find people don't change browser not because of features or speed or w.e but because they have grown accustom to it and anything that would change would be seen as incontinences. Personally i use custom levels for trusted websites and everything else with hosts file, i do this becuase no ad ons means no added complications with a browser which i like.
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i use laptop and speed is most important to me. i moved to FF because of speed and i moved to chrome because of speed
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On September 19 2010 07:40 NickC wrote:
i use laptop and speed is most important to me. i moved to FF because of speed and i moved to chrome because of speed
IE9 is def speedy in the rendering of webpages department they have a great engine in the works fraily stable as my usage with it is quite good for a beta not one crash on my laptop or desktop, unlike the FF beta, chrome doesnt harsh me as much though. It's the features and the UI that needs work and that i look forward to with their beta 2 and eventual RC
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On September 19 2010 06:31 semantics wrote:
Where is chomes gpu acceleration and post-processing?
Coming in Chrome 7. It's already in the canary builds, will be in the dev channel soon.
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Why are you trying to convince people? It isn't as good as other browsers, maybe it will be one day but right now it isn't. Why would someone want to use it?
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On September 19 2010 07:46 vAltyR wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2010 06:31 semantics wrote:
Where is chomes gpu acceleration and post-processing?
Coming in Chrome 7. It's already in the canary builds, will be in the dev channel soon.
I'm well aware but as you know i was just commentating to those saying oh a chrome copy, when IE9 is just doing the best that those devs can think of. IE9 was the first to announce gpu acceleration on things like text rendering etc and was the first to do so in a public release.
So now that Chrome is getting gpu accel does that make it a IE copy. You see how such shallow statements are bad forms of logic.
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On September 19 2010 07:47 News wrote:
Why are you trying to convince people? It isn't as good as other browsers, maybe it will be one day but right now it isn't. Why would someone want to use it?
beta testing has it's important it allows devs to gain a ton of data and make changes accordingly. Haters gonna hate on IE will just lead to IE to always be shitty.
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On September 19 2010 07:49 semantics wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2010 07:46 vAltyR wrote:On September 19 2010 06:31 semantics wrote:
Where is chomes gpu acceleration and post-processing?
Coming in Chrome 7. It's already in the canary builds, will be in the dev channel soon. I'm well aware but as you know i was just commentating to those saying oh a chrome copy, when IE9 is just doing the best that those devs can think of. IE9 was the first to announce gpu acceleration on things like text rendering etc and was the first to do so in a public release. So now that Chrome is getting gpu accel does that make it a IE copy. You see how such shallow statements are bad forms of logic.
Not exactly.
Gpu acceleration is not a groundbreaking innovation.
Developers start just now to get that in their browsers simply because the appropriate system calls (Direct2d) introduced with Windows 7 release.
Actually mozilla is working on gpu acceleration since late 2009 and MS announced that months later but still as i said no one shows the way, it is just a response: Direct2d introduced with win7 -> Browsers (among other programs) start to use it.
And tbh there are many more important things that matter out there. What's the point for accelerated rendering if it fails partially or completely to construct the page cause the engine does not fully support standards (css anyone?) and im not talking just about IE, is just that IE has the worst history.
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Well the problems with "standards" is that they aren't always finalized in one go and then bam new standard, they spend months or years in lully land where parts of it are approved and redone etc. Just look at the mess that is CSS3 as far as i'm aware all browser now support CSS and CSS2. I think microsoft is the largest offender of late compatibility due to their patches don't usually bring performance changes or anything they are usually just security patches or bug patches. So support doesn't happen until they release a new browser version.
And i know gpu acceleration isn't ground breaking hardly anything is like that anymore gpu acceleration is no more ground breaking as chromes super bar or w.e they call it. Again I'm just pointing out to the haters that poor logic doesn't fly, calling IE a chrome knock off due to one thing is a sad attempt if you want to be a dick about something online you should use pictures!
Also i think the people who will want gpu accell the most are the tablet market people and phones.
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The Release Candidate version was released yesterday so if you were interested in the beta but got bored of it, nows your chance to try a brand new official build.
A quick highlight list of what they did between beta and RC:
![[image loading]](http://ieblog.members.winisp.net/images/IE9RCEngineeringChart.png)
So far for me personally it's gone downhill quite a bit. Pages take much longer to load and hang a lot (like loading a new page and probalby pressing the "post" button is cringe worthy and hangs the whole browser). Maybe its something on my end that I did wrong with my setup but so far I'm rather disappointed in the RC version being worse than the Beta version (at least for me).
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UI looks almost exactly like FF, anyone else notice that? It's a shame Mozilla's killing FF as well
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EPT
