Microsoft to Take Third Shot at IE 7 Beta

While there has been no formal announcement, Microsoft has confirmed to internetnews.com that there will be a third beta of Internet Explorer 7.

Planned for August, the third beta will test all of the new technologies and standards being added to IE 7, as well as bug fixes found in the first two betas.

The company released the first beta in January to a lukewarm reception.

While applauded for its new features, both visible and under the covers, there were some peculiar design choices, such as the menu bar being sandwiched between the address bar and the tab bar.

The second beta came in April, and Microsoft (Quote, Chart) declared it “feature complete.” The company said no new features or changes were planned, other than bug fixes and other known issues, which is in part what prompted a third beta.

With a five-year gap between IE 6 and IE 7, Microsoft has a lot of ground to make up and a lot of testing to do.

“It is a beta and we’re still taking feedback, fixing bugs and working hard to ready the final release,” a Microsoft spokeswoman told internetnews.com.

“Customers and partners have asked us to continue to be transparent on the work we’re doing and to release regular builds that they can evaluate and test. We’re committed to doing this.”

“In a lot of ways, IE 6 did fall by the wayside,” said Nate Mook, editor-in-chief of BetaNews.com. He said the development team on IE 7 is in tune with what the competition has been doing and there is pressure to add important new standards like Cascading Style Sheets 2 and XML-HTTP requests for Ajax, said Mook.

Full article: internetnews.com