You may recall Microsoft launched a very special version of its MSN portal a couple of days before the launch of Windows 8. The website donned a design that was clearly inspired by Redmond’s latest operating system that brought it in line with Windows 8.
But there were several improvements under the hood that were supposed to help it load faster.
It seems that Redmond’s efforts are now paying off. A study conducted by an independent firm shows that MSN for Windows 8 not only loads faster than previous version of the portal, but also leaves other Internet news portals in the dust when it comes to performance.
Microsoft shared the details in a blog post on the official MSN Blog:
“Because Internet Explorer 10 was designed to take advantage of the system architecture of Windows 8, rendering complex page layouts and high resolution images is faster and more fluidly. That’s why load times for MSN for Windows 8 are more than four times faster on average than other leading news and information sites.”
The research was performed by Principal Technologies Inc., which shows that MSN for Windows 8 is around four times faster than eight top major online competitors — including sites like CNN, New York Times, WSJ and Forbes.
Comparing specific sections of the portal, the study found that the Sports page on MSN loaded an impressive 7 times faster than websites like ESPN and NFL, while the News category boasted a load time that at least 3 times quicker than both CNN and New York Times.
Obviously, several factors are at play when it comes to website load times, particularly content heavy destinations like the ones name above.
