News
Microsoft to Unveil New Internet Explorer
Microsoft's
market-leading browser faces competition from smaller players.
(Redmond,
Wash.)
-- Microsoft Corp. is releasing a new test version of Internet Explorer
Tuesday, for free download to English-languages customers. The beta
test version includes fixes for problems that were causing Internet
Explorer 7 to stop working, said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager in
charge of Internet Explorer development.
With the
previous test version, Hachamovitch said the most common problems
reported involved banking and news sites, in part because of security
changes.
Improving security can be tricky since any
changes can cause legitimate Web sites to stop working, frustrating
users.
Microsoft also added more guidance to help
people using IE's new browser tab functions, which let a user view more
than one Web site from within one window, using multiple "tabs."
This
is Microsoft's third beta of IE7 made available to the general public,
and Hachamovitch said there are plans for one more. The new version
comes amid growing competition from browsers such as Firefox, which has
long offered functions such as tabbed browsing. Some also consider
other browsers to be more secure, since IE, with its market dominance,
is a popular target for attacks.
The final version
of IE7 is expected to be released in the second half of this year,
around the time a version of Microsoft's new Windows operating system
is expected to be available for business users.