Microsoft made available the first release candidate version of Internet Explorer 7, which is expected to have its final release around the same time Windows Vista does.
This represents the fourth version of IE7 to be released to the public this year (Beta 2 Preview, Beta 2, Beta 3, RC1), a good trend Microsoft might want to continue. If Microsoft can ship an update to IE every quarter, even a minor update, it would inspire confidence in the browser and maybe stop the spread of Firefox.
So, what’s new in RC1? Vista users, like myself, can’t try it, so I’m relying on the other coverage. Mary Jo Foley says it mostly contains under-the-hood CSS, performance and reliability tweaks, and tightened site rendering. It also adds French and Spanish support, and Paul Thurrott says it will eventually support all 36 main localized languages and over 100 others via a language interface pack. He also has a screenshot of the slightly tweaked UI.
IE7 RC1 automatically uninstalls previous betas of IE7, so you don’t have to remember to do that yourself anymore.
Download it:
IE7 RC1 for Windows XP
IE7 RC1 for Windows Server 2003 SP1
IE7 RC1 for Windows 2003/XP x64
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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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