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Microsoft is adding five new features to Internet Explorer 7.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
New Internet Explorer is ready for a tryout, and new Firefox is on the way


May 28, 2006


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2006, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2006, The Post-Standard

   The battle of the Windows browsers is heating up again. Microsoft is previewing a much improved version of its browser, Internet Explorer. And the free-software designers from Mozilla are talking up the next generation of their remarkable Firefox Web browser.
   You can download a beta, or test, version of Internet Explorer 7 from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx.
   (Please note: If you're using Windows 95 or 98, Windows Me or Windows 2000, you won't be able to run IE 7. Internet Explorer 7 can't be installed on these older versions of Windows, nor on Windows XP unless it has been updated with Service Pack 2.)
   Microsoft hopes to finish testing IE 7 by the end of summer.
   A beta version of the new browser from Mozilla, named Firefox 2, is not yet available, but a pre-beta version -- referred to as an "alpha" test, in keeping with the Greek alphabet -- can be downloaded from this site: www.techspot.com/downloads/2582-bon-echo-firefox-alpha.html. Although Firefox normally is available for Windows, OS X and Linux, the alpha version of Firefox 2 is for Windows only at this time.
   Firefox 2 has some features disabled. At this point, it isn't supposed to be a reliable replacement for your other browser. The same could be said for IE 7, although it's obviously closer to finished form.
   Both Firefox and Internet Explorer are free.
   The Mozilla project has roughly the same timeline for Firefox 2 as Microsoft has for IE 7. Finished versions are likely to be ready this fall.
   Current versions are Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox 1.5. Internet Explorer, which is included free with every copy of Windows, is steadily losing market share to Firefox. According to W3Schools, a web training group that tracks browser usage, Internet Explorer 6 currently has 56.7 percent of the market and Firefox has 25.7 percent -- an increase of nearly 100 percent for Firefox over the last year and a half.
   Microsoft is adding five new features to Internet Explorer 7:
   Tabbed windows. Firefox and Apple's excellent Safari browser have had tabbed windows for years, so Microsoft is late to the feast. With tabbed browsing, you have one main browser window that holds all Web pages. They pop open or closed when you click on tabs.
   Web search from the toolbar, also copied from Firefox and Safari.
   Phishing alerts that detect when sites are maliciously hiding their actual addresses behind ones that mimic well known addresses.
   Claims of better protection against browser hijacking, spyware, zombies and other attacks. Firefox and Safari do this already.
   Better adherence to Web-design standards. Firefox has been leading the way in this area.
   Changes in Firefox 2 are less dramatic because Firefox 1.5 already was ahead of Internet Explorer in nearly every respect. Internet safety, already at a high level in Firefox 1.5, is being improved in Firefox 2, as are user-interface improvements.