Microsoft is eager to show off the hardware acceleration in its latest preview of Internet Explorer 9, and for good reason: It dances all over Google's Chrome browser in a side-by-side speed test.
The IE9 platform preview is available on Microsoft's website. Also on that page are several demos of the browser's hardware accelerated canvas rendering and HTML5 graphics, along with a few popular benchmark tools.
In a head-to-head test of the "FishIE Tank" demo, performed by DownloadSquad, IE9's preview is clearly able to handle more swimming fish than Chrome 6. Note that the framerate is slow due to DownloadSquad's video capture method; the thing to pay attention to is whether the browser can handle more activity without slowing down. IE9 can, and Chrome 6 can't.
With Chrome gaining market share every month, Microsoft should be thankful for any victory it can claim. Still, there are a few grains of salt to be had with this test. First, Microsoft created the "FishIE Tank" demo. That doesn't mean the results are bogus, but it's definitely not an independent test. In SunSpider's JavaScript test, Chrome 6 was actually 30 percent faster.
Also, in a four-way test with Firefox 3.7 and Opera, Firefox actually outperformed IE9 by a hair. Both browsers tap the computer's graphics processor with Direct2D, which could explain their similarities. Opera fared better than Chrome 6, but ultimately couldn't keep up with the other browsers as DownloadSquad piled on the fish, however it's not clear whether Opera is using hardware acceleration at all.
Finally, consider that Chrome 6's hardware acceleration is still under development. It could certainly keep pace with IE6 at a later date, and with Chrome OS on the way, I'd be very surprised if Google wasn't taking the issue of hardware-accelerated Web browsing seriously.
