Microsoft ships upgraded preview of IE11 for Windows 7

Microsoft Wednesday shipped a more polished preview of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) for Windows 7. The Release Preview, as Microsoft named it, followed a rougher-edged Developer Preview issued in late July.

IE11 on Windows 7 is similar to the same-named browser slated to ship in final form with Windows 8.1, the update set to debut on the Windows Store Oct. 17 as a free download for current Windows 8 users.

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There are several differences, however, between the two. While IE11 on Windows 8.1 is -- for obvious reasons given the newer OS's emphasis -- heavily reliant on touch and gestures, IE11 on Windows 7 is a keyboard-and-mouse application. It also places the address bar at the top of the window, unlike at the bottom as does IE11 on Windows 8.1's "Modern" nee "Metro" user interface (UI).

The Windows 7 browser also omitted support for SPDY -- the Google-designed page load acceleration protocol -- won't sync open tabs between machines, as does Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and IE11 on Windows 8.1; and cannot keep as many tabs open as 8.1's version.

Microsoft claimed that IE11 on Windows 7 was 37 percent faster than Chrome, 31 percent faster than Firefox and 41 percent faster than Opera Software's Opera, citing benchmark scores from the SunSpider JavaScript test suite.

Ironically, Microsoft once dismissed JavaScript benchmark results as bogus. Three years ago, Dean Hachamovitch, the executive who heads the IE team, said speed trials like SunSpider were "at best, not very useful, and at worst, misleading." That was during a time when rivals regularly trounced IE -- early builds of IE9 in particular, but prior to that, IE8 too -- in SunSpider benchmark scores.

Microsoft Wednesday declined to disclose a release date for the final version of IE11 on Windows 7 but said it would launch "later this fall."

The release preview can be downloaded from Microsoft's download center or the IE website. Systems must be running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is gkeizer@ix.netcom.com.

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Adobe Connect upgraded to offer conference recording and mobile streaming

Although Adobe is a household name when it comes to computer software, it hasn’t made serious inroads in the world of videoconferencing services, despite being on the ninth version of Adobe Connect, its flagship Web conferencing system. In this world, Webex and Citrix remain synonymous with online video communication, education, and training.

Today Adobe is rolling out some impressive upgrades that it hopes will increase its competitiveness in this space, with the release of Adobe Connect 9.1.

Adobe senior product marketing manager Rocky Mitarai gave me a personal demo of the new version of the service and it’s looking good. The focus of the system is on “going above and beyond basic screen sharing,” says Mitarai, “with a particular eye on things like training and webinars,” which require more sophisticated videoconferencing environments.

Adobe Connect is optimized for mobile clients, and this is one of the key areas in which Connect is getting an upgrade in version 9.1. Now even more of the service’s desktop features are available on mobile platforms, including the ability to stream recordings across any mobile device. (Formerly, pre-recorded streams were only viewable on desktop clients.) The new version also offers support for multipoint videoconferencing with two live and unlimited paused webcams. Mobile platforms can also now be branded with a customized background (like your company logo), and more advanced features like interactive quizzes are now supported on mobile devices, too.

AdobeAdobe Connect 9.1 for the Apple iPad

Another major feature of the 9.1 update is an enhancement to tools that let you save and re-stream live recordings. Existing tools (both on Adobe Connect and other platforms) to do this, says Mitarai, are difficult and cumbersome. Adobe Connect 9.1 now lets you record any videoconference, host and stream it from the cloud, and post it online just about anywhere, including Youtube. Recordings can be edited (and things like the chat box and attendee list can be removed) before the video is finalized and stored in the cloud. Video conversion costs extra, and this is charged as a service on a per-minute of video converted basis.

Other enhancements are also coming to expand Adobe Connect’s ease of use and increase user productivity. Widescreen webcams are now supported (the user can toggle between a 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio), and the active speaker’s name is now placed as a caption at the bottom of the window in which he can be seen talking.

One thing remaining the same is Connect’s unique feature of creating meetings with a persistent URL that remains static for future meetings. This way, users needn’t be re-invited to recurring meetings every week. They can bookmark one URL and use it in perpetuity. Materials uploaded to the meeting space—like slide decks or other supporting files—are retained for future use, as well, saving users time and centralizing storage. Adobe Connect is also distinguished from most other Web conference platforms by letting attendees very quickly jump into a meeting. For most, a single click is all it takes, with no additional client download required (aside from Flash, upon which Connect is built).

Aside from charges for video conversion, pricing isn’t changing. Adobe Connect is sold per named user or host, by simultaneous users, or per minute. The named host model runs $4,200 per month for 100 hosts.

Christopher Null is a veteran technology and business journalist. He contributes regularly to PC World and Wired, and is a technology columnist for Executive Travel magazine.
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