IE7 Beta Reviews

The Beta version of Microsoft's new IE7 Browser is out, and the reviews are mixed.

A review on Flexbeta concludes, "It is fair to say that IE 7 has gone through a good upgrade from IE 6 if we consider the features such as tabbed browsing, phishing protection and the built in search bar. Though the same cannot be said for the GUI; IE 7 still has months to go before it reaches a final release in which the IE team will probably be implementing more eye candy into the browser while enhancing the page loads and patching tons of bugs. It is inevitable to dodge the fact that IE 7 Beta does look somewhat similar to Mozilla Firefox; both contain the search plug-in in the same area."

A review on ZDNet, states "It's been almost four years since Microsoft refreshed its venerable Internet Explorer browser. But Internet Explorer 7 for XP Beta isn't a Mozilla Firefox killer -- far from it. Microsoft's limited availability for IE 7 should only open the door wider for competing browsers to steal even more market share in the months to come. Given the high expectations, we're unimpressed with the IE 7 for XP Beta."

The review, also correctly reminds folks, "Only those running Windows XP SP2 will be able to run the latest version of IE. This is Microsoft's way of forcing non-Windows XP SP2 users to upgrade. Those still running Windows 2000, ME or even 98 SE will be forced to continue using IE 6 or commit to a Windows XP OS upgrade. This strategy could backfire, giving rivals Mozilla Firefox and Netscape an even bigger slice of the browser pie, especially among those wanting RSS feeds now."