So why not 100? I asked Rob Mauceri, Principal Group Program Manager on the IE team, who argued that the Acid3 test “isn’t a true conformance test of standards.” Instead. he said, “It tests for a set of capabilities across fractions of 12 different standards. Our objective is not the Acid3 test. Our objective is to build for the things that developers care about most. Our approach in implementing the standards is to do it in a responsible engineering approach and contribute it back to the W3C.” To that end, Microsoft has contributed a total of more than 1600 proposed HTML5 test pages to the W3C. I asked Rob if the final release of IE9 will achieve a perfect score on the Acid3 test. “We’re not done here, either,” he told me.

So Microsoft might actually produce a decent browser?

I'll believe it when I see it.

What does the iPad score? Must be 100% obviously I assume, what with it being so shiny.

The iPad is designed as a mobile Internet machine. The integrated Safari browser runs impressively fast, even on complex Web sites. Put to the key web standards test Acid3, the iPad scored a perfect 100 points. That said, Apple has stubbornly refused to incorporate Adobe's Flash technology, frequently used on the web for video playback, interactive graphics and online games.

What does the iPad score? Must be 100% obviously I assume, what with it being so shiny.

Unlikely. 83/100 in Acid3 is no great shakes when Chrome and Safari already get 100. MS can leverage their own OS to improve the performance of their browser, but it is going to be Windows-only, so its irrelevant to me. Chrome and Firefox allow me a consistent experience across all platforms and they perform well enough. I'm still liking Safari at the moment though...

Considering it has improved by around 60 points in the last 2 months, that isn't bad, considering it is a pre-alpha...

Yes and it shows that Microsoft are trying to comply with common standards again. Which is the best news of all.