Mix10: Microsoft Unveils IE9, enhancements to jQuery, & SDK for OData

Microsoft announced lots of goodies for developers and their customers today at in Las Vegas. The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview; was unveiled by in a keynote address by Dean Hachamovitch, the Microsoft general manager of IE, including expanded support for HTML 5, hardware-accelerated graphics and text, and a new JavaScript engine. Additional announcements include a pledge to develop new features and enhancements to jQuery and the release of of new SDK for the Open Data Protocol (OData).

The expanded support for HTML5 in IE9 includes: CSS3, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XHTML parsing, and the use of industry-standard H.264/MPEG4 and MP3/AAC codecs for video and audio tags. A new JavaScript engine was demoed at the keynote showing use of multi core chips to manage computing resources and improve web performance. Hachamovitch noted that "Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser to take standard web patterns that developers use and run them better on modern PCs through Windows."

Microsoft reinforced its commitment to open source developers with the announcement by Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, that the company would invest in the development of the jQuery JavaScript library to enhance the process of developing standards-based web apps. Microsoft plans to improve ASP.NET so you can better incorporate jQuery capabilities. The jQuery JavaScript Library will be packaged with Visual Studio 2010 and the ASP.NET MVC.

According to a Microsoft press release OData is an HTTP and Atom-based approach to data portability for platforms that include .NET, Java, PHP, Objective-C (iPhone and Mac), and JavaScript. With OData you can build cross-platform web and mobile apps that use data  from the cloud. Along with the OData announcement, Microsoft also announced the second CTP of Dallas (the codename), an information marketplace powered by Windows Azure. The link is that developers can make content and data available using an OData feed via Dallas. This lets you access and monitize your data under your terms and pricing, according to the press release.

Here's a quick rundown of today's announcements:

·         Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview: With Internet Explorer 9,Microsoft is expanding its support for HTML5 and featuring hardware-accelerated graphics and text and a new JavaScript engine.

·         Expanded commitment to jQuery: Microsoft is investing resources to the development of jQuery libraries to improve the development process of standards-based Web applications and to provide better interoperability between ASP.NET and jQuery by enhancing ASP.NET so.NET developers can better incorporate jQuery capabilities.

·         OData web protocol SDK and second CTP of Microsoft codenamed Dallas: With these releases Microsoft provides developers with new cloud-based tools and resources to build cross-platform Web applications. For more information on how Microsoft's interop story see Interoperability @ Microsoft team blog.