That is right, only weeks after Microsoft released the final version of Internet Explorer 9, they have put out the first platform preview of their next version of IE, namely IE10, out on the web for developers and tech enthusiastic to test!

It is believed that IE10 will be released with Windows 8, sometimes in early 2012. Microsoft is saying that they will be releasing a platform preview build every eight to 12 weeks. In comparison, Microsoft released IE9 platform preview builds every eight weeks.

This first platform preview of IE10 builds upon IE9’s native HTML5 support and full hardware acceleration and adds standards such as CSS gradients and CSS flexible box layout. Note that the platform preview, like all IE9 platform previews, the platform preview does not include a chrome of th browser. This means, there are no back buttons or an integrated address bar. But, on the bright side, you can install Internet Explorer 10 alongside your current version of Internet Explorer.

You can Download IE10 from here!

A Quick Look Back in Time

We can no longer shun Microsoft’s browser as an outdated, slow, and bloated, browser. Microsoft is getting serious about its browser and it will only push the competitors to the edge.

With the release of Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft had dominated the browser market, killing off its competitors, with a 90 percent market share. As a result, it did not release another version of its Internet Explorer browser until six years later! With that time, Mozilla Firefox took up the lead of browser innovation. With Firefox’s growing usage share, Microsoft became serious about their browser, making significant improvements with Internet Explorer 8. At that same time, Google released its browser that really shook all its competitors.

Google Chrome quickly became known as a modern, fast, and a streamlined browser. It’s interface and speed became so popular, that all other browsers began following its strategies. We can just see how all the browsers in the market now follows chrome’s minimal user interface. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

Before Chrome, major releases between browsers would take years. With chrome’s six weeks release schedule between browser versions, the competitors are stepping up their game! Mozilla plans to release Firefox 7 by the end of this year. And we can already see IE10 preview build being released. The swift release schedule was completely unexpected just six months ago!