internet explorer 7

[Perris Calderon]

maybe this summer

 

[the_music_man]

nice find. can't wait for it

 

[NetRyder]

Today at RSA, Bill Gates talked about Internet Explorer 7. As the guy responsible for IE, I wanted to say a couple of things about it.

First, some basics: we’re 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.”

Why are we talking about it today? Because our customers and partners have asked us, with increasing urgency, what our plans are. We want to convey our intentions to our customers and partners clearly and in a timely way.

I’ve gotten questions about the ship date. Yes, we have a date in mind. I’ll talk about the date after we get feedback from customers and partners. We’re going to release a beta and listen, then refresh the beta and listen some more. We’ll ship when the product is ready.

I’ve also gotten questions about support for Windows 2000. Right now, we’re focused on XP SP2. We’re actively listening to our major Windows 2000 customers about what they want and comparing that to the engineering and logistical complexity of that work. That’s all I can say on that topic.

Please know that the IE team is working hard. We’re eager to improve and better secure the web experience for the hundreds of millions of IE users around the world. We delivered on our part of XP SP2. We are actively delivering on our part of a great 64-bit Windows client. We continue to deliver on security updates for customers (across several versions of IE (back to IE 5.01) and Windows). We’re going to deliver on IE7.

Dean

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie

Very interesting development.

 

[NetRyder]

And here's Gates' press release:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/feb05/02-15RSA05KeynotePR.asp

Interesting read. I highly recommend checking it out.

 

[j79zlr]

Hopefully they will listen to Opera's CTO, http://www.theregister.com/2005/02/11/hakon_on_ms_interroperability/

 

[Johnny]

IE7 is, from what I been seeing, is supposed to have that and then some j79zlr. My expected vision of it is to have the same features as maxthon with the web standards implamentation. As well as some updates security features: Like better pop up blocking, spyware blocking, and "Hopefully" smart ActiveX ...

 

[zeke_mo]

.... smart ActiveX ...

Those two dont belong

 

[Johnny]

Those two dont belong

Do you even know what smart activex is ???

 

[ming]

better pop up blocking

Have you configured yours to high (block all pop ups)?

 

[Johnny]

Have you configured yours to high (block all pop ups)?

When I say better pop up control I mean ability to add things to the allowable list with a click of a button or keyboard key. Like pop up stopper companion has it ..

 

[muzikool]

Tabbed browsing?

 

[Mastershakes]

When I say better pop up control I mean ability to add things to the allowable list with a click of a button or keyboard key. Like pop up stopper companion has it ..

Right click on Infomation bar (SP2), 'Always allow popups from this site'

CTRL + click on a link overrides the pop up blocker.

 

[Johnny]

Tabbed browsing?

I would love to see tabbed browsing in IE7 muzikool. And thanx for the info mastershakes. I didn't know that was there lol ... Shows how much I pay attention ...

 

[zeke_mo]

Do you even know what smart activex is ???

sure why not

 

[NetRyder]

Tabbed Browsing, ad-blocking (for those who use it), Mouse Gestures and all that other good stuff is already available through IE front-ends. Maxthon actually does a fine job with most of these things.

I think Microsoft's top priority for this release should be to strengthen security as much as possible (which seems to be their primary focus, as per the announcement) and bring Trident's poor CSS support up to speed (maybe even get CSS3 support in!). I'd also like to see them do something creative...something beyond what Live Bookmarks in Firefox offers...with RSS, especially since syndicated content is gaining significant momentum.

Once security and rendering issues are under control, then switch focus to other useability features already available in Fx, Maxthon, etc. and try to improve on them. Just my thoughts...

 

[NetRyder]

And with regards to ActiveX - I'm not so sure I want to see it go completely.

Sure, it's turned into a malware-magnet (which is rather unfortunate), but I'm sure it's something that can be fixed and secured properly if they put their hearts and minds to it. Without ActiveX, we'd be losing a whole bunch of really neat services like Outlook Web Access etc. which don't have any comparable alternatives that aren't ActiveX-based. Fix it rather than get rid of it is what I say.

Besides, if I'm not mistaken, SharePoint services rely on ActiveX, don't they? Gates has been really pushing SharePoint and other online collaboration features of Office during the past few months. If ActiveX is a necessary component for that, you can be sure it's not going anywhere.

 

[Geffy]

I really just want proper CSS and PNG support

with regards to activex, its going to have to either die or be modified if XHTML 2.0 is supported. Instead of IMG tags it used the OBJECT tag and a type. So just about anything can be put in there. The downside of this is that for MSIE the OBJECT tag is already proprietily used for ActiveX

 

[Petros]

I want to try it so bad that I punched my mom in the face!!

I really just want proper CSS and PNG support

Seriously, though, this is what I want most out of it. Tabbed browsing would be nice, too.

 

[Kush]

i hate the stupid thihng that doesnt allow you to download things, and u have to say allow and then it reloads the page, every single time

 

[muzikool]

Tabbed Browsing, ad-blocking (for those who use it), Mouse Gestures and all that other good stuff is already available through IE front-ends. Maxthon actually does a fine job with most of these things.

I think Microsoft's top priority for this release should be to strengthen security as much as possible (which seems to be their primary focus, as per the announcement) and bring Trident's poor CSS support up to speed (maybe even get CSS3 support in!). I'd also like to see them do something creative...something beyond what Live Bookmarks in Firefox offers...with RSS, especially since syndicated content is gaining significant momentum.

Once security and rendering issues are under control, then switch focus to other useability features already available in Fx, Maxthon, etc. and try to improve on them. Just my thoughts...

I realize that security is ultimately the most important "feature" of a web browser, but I think that a major release (6.x to 7) almost requires tangible additions that improve the user experience. I believe it's possible that a major IE release without those user enhancements will push more users towards alternatives such as Firefox and Opera. It could be viewed as a sign that Microsoft isn't paying attention to what the public wants in a browser.

I realize that there are front-ends that currently add featuers to IE, but tabbed-browing, specifically, is built-in to Firefox and Opera. At this point, I think it's a necessary feature for Microsoft to include. That in itself could probably be the user enhancement that makes the 7.0 release big.