IE 7.0 Beta 2 Available to the Public

spyrochaete writes "Microsoft has just made available their latest beta preview build of their Internet Explorer 7.0 web browser. New features such as tabbed browsing and RSS subscription are summarized in an animated tour. MS welcomes feedback at the Internet Explorer 7 newsgroup." There's also a Channel 9 interview available, as well as commentary on the IEBlog. Update: 01/31 19:58 GMT by Z : prostoalex wrote in with a link to a review of the release at PC Magazine.

Re:Once again...

[CastrTroy]

Microsoft cannot survive developing new features at its current pace. 5 years between releases for SQL server and and 3 years for most other applications is too much. We haven't had a new IE since 2001. Meanwhile, new versions of the competing open source solutions are being released every year, sometimes more often, with tons of new features. At this rate, in 10 years, MS software will have a quarter of the features of the competing open source products.

Re:Once again...

[bersl2]

It's not the number of features that's important; it's whether you implement the important ones well.

Re:News?

[Bogtha]

News coverage of when the final release is due is meaningful to users and web developers.

This is the first beta with the rendering engine changes in (CSS fixes, HTML improvements, PNG alpha channel support, etc). And it would be a bit late for web developers to check for compatibility and report bugs after the thing has been released, wouldn't it? No, this is the right time for Slashdot to report this.

Re:Once again...

[robgamble]

They didn't need a new IE until Firefox started creating bona fide competition.

ARGH

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not, has not, and never will be funny to make stupid jokes about the "Nothing for you to see here. Please move along." message.

Would you and all others PLEASE STOP DOING THIS ?? You are far more offensive than the GNAA could ever hope to be.

Re:Once again...

[Mike Savior]

Noone spits on Apple for doing it. Not trying to flame, trying to make a point.

Re:Once again...

[cristij]

I don't mean to defend MS, but I don't think the differentiators are the frequency of the releases, or the additional features.

If a product is well designed and build you don't need frequent releases. In regards to features, most people don't want to do many things with a browser except view web pages, and it a browser does that good and creates a pleasant experience users don't care about features they wouldn't use anyway.

Take the example of the iPod: there are plenty of players out there with a ton more features and available for a lower price. But none of them come even close in market share. Features don't win the hearts of consumers.

Re:Beta? Microsoft?

[PhrostyMcByte]

I'll probably be modded to hell for saying this, but I'm of the croud that wants IE to get "good enough".

Firefox was neat but it has never been fast or even adequate at rendering things other than text and has recently come prone to a good deal of bloat. Get me a version that doesn't slow to a crawl with pages heavy with images (seriously- what is it doing, decompressing JPEGs on the fly?) and that doesn't take up hundreds of megs of ram after heavy usage on relatively simple websites, and I'll reconsider my stance.

I'd much prefer to see Firefox fix its flaws than to switch to IE7 when it comes out of beta but somehow that doesn't seem realistic.

Re:Once again...

[Anonymous Coward]

it's not the number of features that's important; it's whether you implement the important ones well.

And therefore Microsoft can do nither?

Ie has been a bastard from day one. CSS in IE is horrible. It's security is horrible, It's scripting (Active X) is a nightmare to the point that most of the web community has completely abandonded it. The only thing it has going for it is a large number of Corperate sites that were written by MS certified people that wrote them specific for IE and refusedto test for any other browser. And the number of them are dropping fast as these sites are forced to write to standards for compatability.

And dont get me started on the rest of their products. Nobody is perfect, but they miss the ball on such a regular basis it almost looks intentional. They rely on their overwhelming monopoly and it is really showing now. You ask 10 regular users about microsfot windows, IE and office and 8 of them will have nothing nice to say.

They keep using it because they think there is no other choice.

Microsoft cant impliment anything well. That is a proven track record.

Wake me up when...

[Dracos]

These things are fixed:

• Box Model
• Float Model
• PNG transparency
• position: fixed
• Well, CSS in general
• Event Model
• DOM support
• Mime type: application/xml+html
• Mixed namespace documents

Which basically begs the question, "Will IE ever 100% support any standard?" Sadly, the answer is probably not. IE doesn't even fully support HTML 3.2.

Re:Why should MS care?

[AnotherDaveB]

MS makes no money on it. What is their motivation to put out a new version of IE as opposed to something like say, MS Office, where they make 100-300 bucks a pop on it?

It's easier to develop for browsers that follow the w3c dom/html/css standards. IE6 has a number of weird bugs that make it a pain.

I think MS is more concerned that corporate intranets might start developing for FF rather than IE6, than any perception among the general public that IE6 a poor quality product.

Re:Once again...

[chowsapal]

Are there any extra features? Their handling of RSS is more user friendly (when you click into an XML page), but I don't see live bookmarks. There are still no mouse gestures, ctl-L still pops up a window, no AdBlock... It's like catching up with an ex-girlfriend who's finally learned to play video games, then finding out she's gained 200 pounds and a beard. You can keep her.