Internet Explorer 7
Today, in his keynote for the 2005 RSA conference, Bill Gates announced, among other things, that Microsoft would be releasing a new version of Internet Explorer for the XP SP2 platform. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is expected to continue with advancements already in Windows XP SP2 by adding additional security to the platform while still maintaining its current levels of extensibility and compatibility. Betas are expected to be sometime this summer.
Here are a few related links:
This is a Good Thing(TM), and I think Dean, from the IE Team, puts it best in his "IE Blog" post about the IE7 announcement:
[The IE Team is] committing to deliver a new version of Internet Explorer for Windows XP customers. Betas of IE7 will be available this summer. This new release will build on the work we did in Windows XP SP2 and (among other things) go further to defend users from phishing as well as deceptive or malicious software.
Why? Because we listened to customers, analysts, and business partners. We heard a clear message: “Yes, XP SP2 makes the situation better. We want more, sooner. We want security on top of the compatibility and extensibility IE gives us, and we want it on XP. Microsoft, show us your commitment.”
I think of today’s announcement as a clear statement back to our customers: “Hey, Microsoft heard you. We’re committing.”
The only thing that I'd still like to know myself is whether IE7 will bring with it improved support for open standards such as CSS, XHTML, PNG, SVG, MathML, &c in addition to improved security. And it looks like I'm not the only one either, based on a quick scan of the first ten or fifteen comments to Dean's post. I think I'll have to skim through them (there are 354 as of 4:47pm PST) to see if Dean or anyone else on the IE team has responded to the queries from my "creative" kith and kin.
