Microsoft is using the success of it’s previously launched Test Drive site which is promoting new features within Internet Explorer 9 and the upcoming IE10 on PCs, to now use the same approach for Windows Phone 7’s browsing experience by launching a mobile version called Mobile Test Drive.
As Cnet news reports, Joe Marini, principal program manager for Internet Explorer on Windows Phone, said in a blog post, “It’s organized essentially the same way as the original, except laid out to be easily read and used on the mobile form factor,”
Also, “We’ve ported over some of the more popular samples from the full version of the IE Test Drive and have developed a few of our own mobile-specific ones too, including the demos that Joe Belfiore showed at MIX 11 earlier this year.” he said.
Microsoft Phone 7 currently ships with what developers often call an outdated Internet Explorer, but Microsoft will try to change that reputation with the upcoming Mango update for Microsoft Phone 7 as it brings IE9.
Marini also said, “It’s important to note that even though we use the same core rendering engines on both the desktop and mobile versions of IE and adhere to the concept of ‘same markup’ when we produce our samples, we felt that it was worth creating a mobile test drive site to illustrate how we approach some of the key issues that developers face when creating mobile-optimized content: screen sizes, device capabilities, etc.,”
Microsoft’s “same markup” phrase is an internal Microsoft ideal that when developing websites, a developer should only have to make one version of a website which then would look the same on all browser platforms. Rival companies often mention that Microsoft should stop ignoring, and start using, the phrase that everyone else seems to be using, the phrase “Web standards” as the two ideas is trying to resolve the same issues.
Regardless, Microsoft is back in the race of the browsers with Internet Explorer 9, and 10 coming in Windows 8, defining and testing those ‘standards’ as well as trying to develop a browser that can compete with the biggest rivals such as Safari, Firefox and the latest contender Google’s Chrome.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows Phone 7
