The Internet Explorer 11 update as part of the Windows 8.1 Spring Update will also be available for Windows 7 and will be included with Windows Phone 8.1. There is a good reason for this. Internet Explorer will get Enterprise Mode, which is an improved compatibility view mode that can be managed via Group Policy. Windows Phone 8.1 will have a power saving mode that will download only relevant content on the page. This will save you between 60 and 80 percent of your downloads.
Windows 8.1 Spring Update is essentially a service pack. For some reason, this term has also succumbed to the fashion trend, but so be it. The fact is that Internet Explorer has a new feature of such importance that was previously introduced as part of the service pack or the new version of Windows.
Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer (EMIE) brings improved Compatibility View. So what distinguishes it?
- User agent string pretends IE 8.
- For ActiveX controls, the browser looks like IE8.
- Support for deprecated features such as CSS Expressions.
- Pre-caching and pre-rendering are disabled.
- Emulating IE7 behavior for pages targeting IE7.
- 8 times faster JavaScript than IE8.
Enterprise Mode is off by default. It is enabled by two registry entries that can also be created via GPO. The first determines whether the user will be able to switch to this mode manually. The second one points to an XML file that contains a list of pages to be displayed directly in Enterprise Mode.
Enterpsise Mode for Internet Explorer 11 helps enterprises use the modern Windows 8.1 operating system or cloud services such as Office 365 , while maintaining compatibility with internal applications without the need for extensive modifications.
Windows 8.1 Spring Update is available as a download for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. It will appear on Windows Update on April 8 along with the IE 11 update for Windows 7.
Keep in mind that the security updates for Windows 8.1 coming on May 13 won't be available without this update.
I wrote the article for TechNet Blog CZ/SK.