Internet Explorer 7 Beta: a first look

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.

IE 7 for XP Beta is the first serious upgrade to Internet Explorer in four years, and it adds tabbed browsing and built-in RSS -- two features that are currently available in Netscape 8, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari RSS. Unfortunately, the tabbed browsing feature in this beta is still clunky, and one of the best new features (the RSS icon lights up whenever a page has subscription content available) won't be available until the second beta (expected later in 2005). Another great feature, Microsoft's new anti-phishing technology, is not part of the current IE 7 beta for Windows Vista but is included in beta 1 of IE 7 for XP.

Microsoft does improve printing capabilities within IE 7 for XP. No longer will you have to contend with truncated pages; in IE 7 for XP, the pages will be reduced to fit the printed page.

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.

Users long familiar with IE (top) will need to adjust to the new toolbar (bottom), which is not as intuitive, in our opinion.

Longtime IE users will wonder what happened to the refresh button, along with many other familiar buttons. Microsoft has reduced and therefore vastly simplified the IE 7 toolbar area; the address bar is locked to the top of the browser window so that spyware can't replace it with a look-alike toolbar. Internet Explorer 7 also does away with many redundancies between menus and buttons. All of these changes, however, will require some retraining, as old habits die hard.

Other than that, the few new features found in IE 7 Beta are not especially innovative -- other browsers have had tabbed browsing and RSS for years.

As mentioned, unless you already have Windows XP SP2 installed, IE 7 for XP won't be available for you. We think that's a dumb approach, and see Microsoft's marketing fumble as a definite win for Mozilla Firefox and Netscape. We're not convinced that the security features touted in IE 7 will be enough to stave off the almost monthly security patches required to keep IE secure.

Given all the expectations, we wanted more from IE 7 for XP, but Microsoft has given us less.