Microsoft has been very thorough in their approach to launching Internet Explorer 9. The browser has been in beta for quite some time now, but it's clearly that the company is eager to get a new build into the wild to take on Firefox, Safari and Chrome -- all of which are gaining serious momentum as IE8 falters. Right on schedule, Microsoft released the newest, final build of IE9 today for users everywhere to try out. The company has recently urged consumers to upgrade from IE6, but it's notable that IE9 only runs within Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you're on Windows XP, 2000 or anything earlier, you're out of luck.


Early reports of IE9 use are largely positive. The only real annoyance seems to be the Bing Bar, but apparently that's easy to disable and move away from. IE9 also supports the latest in web formats, and the security seems to be top-notch -- an important piece for business users. Give the browser a download if you have been holding out. We aren't promising that it'll have the flexibility of Firefox when it comes to add-ins, but from what we're hearing, it's a pretty nice experience for Windows users. Have you taken a look yet? Are you impressed?