Internet Explorer 3.0 brought the fastest, most reliable, and fully compatible Java™ support to the market. Internet Explorer 4.0 goes even further, providing full support for Java—an exciting technology that brings dynamic, interactive content to the Web—. This support is just one of the ways Internet Explorer 4.0 brings more powerful applications to your desktop.

What's new in Internet Explorer 4.0?

Add Java applets! (You must be running Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher on a PC to view this demo)

Internet Explorer 4.0 makes it easier for developers to create richer, more full-featured Java applications for the Web. Plus, the browser's performance improvements make the applications run faster than ever. Internet Explorer 4.0 also introduces enhancements to security, ensuring that interacting with Java applications won't harm your computer or threaten your privacy. You'll see these improvements in a later release of Internet Explorer 4.0.

Internet Explorer 4.0 features lots of great new Java innovation, including the capabilities below, which will appear in a subsequent release of Internet Explorer 4.0:

• Improved performance. Internet Explorer 4.0 will maintain its performance leadership as the fastest way to run Java applications, delivering performance improvements in the virtual machine, Just-in-Time compiler, and class libraries.
• Full integration with ActiveX. ActiveX controls will now be able to be accessed as Java Beans (components), and Java Beans accessed as ActiveX controls. This integration is seamless, automatic, and bidirectional. In addition, developers will now have a seamless operation for debugging between VBScript, JScript, and Java.
• New Object Model. Internet Explorer 4.0's new Object Model is exposed through Java libraries, allowing Java developers to manipulate pages dynamically and tightly integrate Java applications with Web pages.
• Improved Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT). The new AWT reduces overhead and improves performance.
• New Application Foundation Classes. Support for Java includes Microsoft's recent introduction of a comprehensive set of cross-platform class libraries that will help software developers quickly create commercial-quality Java applications. Internet Explorer 4.0 is the first browser to support the libraries, called Application Foundation Classes.
• JDK 1.1 compatibility. Full compatibility with all the cross platform features of JDK 1.1.
• New multimedia class libraries. All the functionality of DirectX media and the DirectX foundation is provided as cross-platform Java class libraries, enabling developers to manipulate and animate a full set of media types.
• Capabilities-based security model. Internet Explorer 4.0 expands the code-signing Authenticode feature to specify at a granular level which system capabilities a Java application can access—for instance, the file system—through the use of digital signatures.
• Internationalization support. Internet Explorer 4.0 makes it easier to develop worldwide applications by providing the best Unicode support available, support for multilingual display and input, and an easy resource format that facilitates localization.