Delivering Fast JavaScript Performance in Microsoft Edge

http://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/05/20/delivering-fast-javascript-performance-in-microsoft-edge/

by rayshan • 11 years ago

63 47 11 years ago

blogs.windows.com

tnuc• 11 years ago

And you need to install windows 10 to get the new browser.

Is Microsoft coupling their browser again?

Someone1234• 11 years ago

They're giving away Windows 10 for free. So they're copying Apple's strategy and instead of back-porting, just get everyone onto the latest version.

higherpurpose• 11 years ago

We still don't know how that is going to work yet. Will they cut off updates at some point. Do users have to pay for Windows 10.1? Will all future versions of Windows forever be free for those who bought Windows 7/8? etc

TheSisb24• 11 years ago

Getting people to the latest version is the problem. People are still reportedly using IE7! Upgrading isn't about purchase cost, it's about labor cost and general know-how.

I honestly thought IE11 would be the last major IE release, guess I was wrong. This new one looks no better.

aczerepinski• 11 years ago

What is Microsoft's business model then? Bing ads? Kinect + ??? = Profit? (I know I'm phrasing this like a joke, but I'm genuinely curious what revenue driver(s) justify a near $400B valuation)

Aleman360• 11 years ago

No, it's just that Edge is a universal app and uses API's only available in Windows 10.

balls1876• 11 years ago

So, that's a Yes, Microsoft is coupling their browser.

TheSisb24• 11 years ago

It seems like they are. To those people down voting this comment because it comes off as a snark, it has some merit. Web developers need a new machine just to test the new IE. We already have to use multiple VMs or some other solution to test IE6-11 since you can't have more than one IE installed at a time. This just makes web development that much more difficult since now if a bug is reported in the new IE the engineer who is assigned that ticket needs access to that environment. I really hope the Microsoft team gets the hint and has one IE that is universal, across all OSs, with continued updates (Like Firefox or Chrome). It's very rare that you actually need to dive into Firefox versions or Chrome versions, but every IE issue needs the version listed specifically.

SomeStupidPoint2• 11 years ago

There's three points I'd like to address about your comment:

1. I'm not sure what you mean by saying Microsoft should be "universal, across all OSs" about them releasing their new browser with their new OS. It's completely reasonable for MS to make the break with their bad browser design to occur at an OS boundary, since what was made their design exceptionally bad was largely coupling of components in to the OS.

2. You're just being completely unfair talking about the versions. The answer is just that Microsoft uses different version schemes than Google and Mozilla with regards to browsers. Your comparison about the gaps in IE compatibility would be like saying Chrome 30 isn't the same as Chrome 20. In your comment, you're comparing different sized steps, based on the assumption that an integer is a reasonable unit to compare the numbers based on. Shame that version numbers aren't numbers in that sense that that tactic doesn't work.

3. Continual updates pushed to the browser already happens under Microsoft's suggested running of Windows -- both minor upgrades (which are the equivalent of the Chrome and FF upgrades you reference), and the suggestion for major upgrades. It just doesn't happen across the board right away because of IT policies in place. This is a concession to major corporate clients who don't want tens of thousands of copies of their software across the globe randomly changing at the behest of some other company, and prefer to manage their own upgrades.

trose2• 11 years ago

Web developers need a new machine just to test the new IE

False.

http://dev.modern.ie/tools/vms/

snlacks• 11 years ago

It's because the logic is backward from the "bad thing" that MS was doing. Microsoft was trying IE in with Windows in a way that was perceived as unfair because of the dominance of the operating system. This turned out to be unwarranted anyway, because it just turned out the only thing preventing other browsers from "winning" was being better. Also that browsers aren't really worth as monetarily as everyone thought they would be at the time.

This is the opposite. Edge requires windows 10. Complaining about new software having a dependency on something, is a bit odd. But this isn't even that. It's software built for a target platform. When you design software you pick hardware and OSes to support. Sometimes older versions are cut, just like older versions of Android don't get all the latest updates to Chrome.

Additionally, it turns out that most commercial OSes are going to be tied in with the OS, and consumers seem select OSes/devices that package the basics like this.

grrowl3• 11 years ago

With modern.ie, you get free testing VMs and screenshots of any website rendered in IE across many devices. To test Safari on Windows, Apple provides you with many less options (certainly no free browser testing OSX VMs!).

They're going above and beyond to make up for past mistakes, for that I'm grateful.

mkozlows• 11 years ago

The performance boost from IE11 is nice, but the comparisons to other browsers should be taken with a major grain of salt. Because the thing is, every IE release has "beat the competition" in benchmarks leading up to its release (links below).

But the thing is, other browsers don't stand still and IE releases are so infrequent, that even if IE really is super-fast at release, within six months it's an also-ran. Maybe Edge will break this pattern? It'd be nice.

IE11, from November 2013: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Benchmarks/sunspider/Defau...

IE10, from 2012: http://www.extremetech.com/internet/140337-ie10-on-windows-7...

IE9, from 2010: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2010/03/18/the-new-javasc...

sgv2• 11 years ago

While I completely agree that regular releases and an evergreen browser are extremely important in today's world (and that is the direction that Microsoft Edge is moving towards), I am not sure what point you were trying to make by saying that comparison against competition should be with a grain of salt.

All three blogs that you point to talk about SunSpider benchmark (from Apple), and since IE9, or the day the first blog was published, the story holds true. Across platforms (32-bit or 64-bit), Microsoft Edge and IE remain as leaders in that benchmark across all competing browsers. The nearest competitor is around 40% slower. Here are the nos. across major browsers on SunSpider

MSEdge: 103 FF Nightly : 176 Chrome Canary: 171

trose2• 11 years ago

Exciting stuff. It feels really weird for someone to write a blog in which they discover that 95% of websites use minified JS though. I guess it's nice to see Microsoft making some progress but you have to wonder what's going on over there if they seem to clueless to the state of the modern web.

sgv2• 11 years ago

My understanding is that the same JavaScript code minified by different minifiers will produce different performance results across any browser. This is because minifiers often introduce code patterns that are very different than the JavaScript code that the devs write. The point being made is not about being non-aware of the web, but more about ensuring the web runs faster across different code patterns that are encountered by the JIT compiler while running the web.

Delivering Fast JavaScript Performance in Microsoft Edge

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