Microsoft released a new test release of Internet Explorer, the market leadingWeb browser facing stiff competition from smaller players like Firefox & Opera lately.
The new beta, available Tuesday for free download to English-language customers, includes fixes for problems that were causing Internet Explorer 7 to stop working.With the previous test version, the most common problems reported involved banking and news sites, in part because of security changes.
The new beta release is targeted at technology enthusiasts, after earlier versions of the browser primarily catered towards developers of websites and online applications.
Improving security can be tricky since any changes can cause legitimate Web sites to stop working, frustrating users.
“We want to get them to start using the product and get us some feedback,” Margaret Cobb, group product manager for Internet Explorer at Microsoft told vnunet.com. “We still have a few months before we release publicly and we want to make this the best experience possible.”
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.”
Microsoft also unveiled a new website where users can download so-called Internet Explorer Add-ons. The page is meant to increase the visibility of third party applications that build on top of the browser. Add-ons for the current version of the browser for instance enable a tabbed browsing capability for the software.
This is Microsoft’s third beta of Internet Explorer 7 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.
The final version of Internet Explorer 7 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.
http://www.microsoft.com/ie
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