New Standalone Internet Explorer for XP Planned In a complete about-face, Microsoft Corp. has decided to deliver a new, standalone version of its Internet Explorer browser in order to stem potential customer defections due to security and feature concerns.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday that Microsoft will deliver Internet Explorer 7.0 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 customers. The 7.0 release, which will go to beta this summer, will add new anti-phishing, anti-spyware and anti-virus safeguards, according to company officials. Microsoft officials did not offer a target release date for the final IE 7.0.
On Microsoft's IE group blog, company officials acknowledged they had received some requests for an IE refresh for older versions of Windows, including Windows 2000. The response? "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," wrote Dean Hachamovitch, the head of the IE team. http://secunia.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IE 7.0 Leaves Windows 2000 Users Out in the Cold After months of hemming and hawing on plans for a standalone Internet Explorer upgrade before Longhorn, Microsoft Corp. now plans to push out a browser refresh by July or August this year.
But the news that IE 7.0 will be available only to Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) customers isn't likely to sit well with security experts who argue that the threat from the Firefox browser is at the center of Microsoft's aggressive anti-spyware and anti-virus plans.