Microsoft has revealed the release date for the final version of Internet Explorer 9 as 14 March, which is exactly a year to the day since the first Platform Preview of the browser was shown.

The launch will come at SXSW in Austin, Texas; the region's annual music and film interactive festival (which runs from 11 - 20 March), where the team will "celebrate the developers and designers who are making a more beautiful web for all of us." IE9 will then be available to download from 9pm PT that day (5am GMT).

The Windows Team Blog also claims that there will be improvements to the public Beta of the site that has been in use for a while: "We still have a few surprises left. There are a lot of new amazing things to share, and we want you to join us."

The team will be holding a press event at SXSW in Austin to launch the new code, but we're not yet sure whether this will be live-streamed on the Internet, or whether there will be regional events internationally.

We'll let you know when we find out.

Have you been using IE9 Beta in the last couple of months? If so, let us know your experiences in our new-style comments section below...