NZ MSDN Flash 16 March 2011 Published: Internet Explorer 9 Released

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Microsoft’s Developer & Platform Evangelism team will be on the road this week – connecting with our developer audience all over New Zealand. We have part of the team running a set of UNPLUGGED sessions covering some exciting insights in the web and the cloud. I will also be visiting the local .Net User Groups and covering a demo heavy session on the Microsoft Cloud Platform. Check out the mscommunities.net.nz site to find out when I am visiting your location.

As part of this we will be giving away a limited number of Azure tokens that provide free use of the Microsoft Cloud Platform. This requires no credit card and gives you access for a full 30 days. There is no better time to experience the cloud, so make sure you attend either your local User Group or check out one of this week’s UNPLUGGED events.

Another highlight for this week is the launch of Internet Explorer 9! With a new JavaScript engine, this is a fast browser!  The UI has been simplified considerably (the design objective was for the browser to “get out of the way”), and there have been significant advances in standards compliance to help with interoperability. Visit our IE Test Drive for a comprehensive overview of IE9 features, speed tests, HTML5 demos, and much more.Download it now, then try playing the Master of the Web game - built entirely using HTML5, to showcase IE9’s hardware acceleration. As if you needed another reason to play, the top New Zealand score each week will win USD$100! Then, of the 12 weekly champions, one person will win the New Zealand grand prize of US$3000!

Finally, for those of you following the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup – get ready for this year’s finals. Bigger and better than ever, we had to re-name it - The Microsoft Imagine Cup Festival. Join us this year to celebrate the innovation of our next generation. The top 20 teams from all over New Zealand will gather in Auckland on the 12th of April to battle it out for this year’s title of the 2011 New Zealand Imagine Cup Winners! Register your attendance today and prepare to be amazed.


Ryan Tarak
Technology Evangelist
Microsoft New Zealand
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