IE9 is a leap forward for Microsoft, both in terms of user-oriented design and standards compliance.  It’s not where it should be considering Microsoft has been at the browser and PC software business for longer than the other players, but its definitely getting there.

I enjoy using it on my Windows machines, but whenever I try to do any serious work with it, I find myself missing the spell checker that I take for granted in all other browsers. I know I’m not the only one to complain about this.

I know that you can get toolbars like Google’s that offer spell check, but its not seamless, and you shouldn’t have to do this to get functionality that should be in the core of the browser itself.  Also, from what I remember about Google Toolbar for IE, it doesn’t automatically do a spell check – you must click the button to check the contents of forms before you submit.  I would forget most of the time.

Microsoft is a great company that makes a lot of good products.  The “I hate Microsoft” crowd generally isn’t well informed about all the company does and isn’t keeping an open mind in today’s fast-paced IT world.  Of course, we’re a Linux-oriented company, but we do offer Windows hosting and appreciate Microsoft’s contribution to the web.

I’d appreciate them even more, and consider using IE again on my PC’s if they would implement a spell checker for IE9.