I’ve been testing out the latest beta version of Internet Explorer 7. Well what can I say about it ? Before I begin there may be …ahem.. “some people” who believe that – as an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Progessional) I blindy support and praise any Microsoft product going.
Not so. I’ve always said it, and I’ll go on saying it – if something is bilge, I’ll say it’s bilge – regardless of who’s behind it.
First up we have tabbed browsing (COUGH! Firefox), it’s also uncluttered and streamlined (COUGH COUGH Firefox COUGH) plus we have integrated news feeds (COUGH FIREFOX! COUGH!). In fact, at times I have difficulty telling which browser I’m using – if it wasn’t for the name at the top I’d be screwed after a few beers.
It’s a tad confused when popups or links try to open a new page and you need to fiddle with the “Tabbed Browsing Settings” so that IE7 isn’t responsible for handling how pop-ups should work. Ermm…. and can I just say, where the chuff is my refresh button huh ? I like that button. Put it back. Oh, and… ermm.. let me just edit my favourites list… errmmm… wait… umm…. Oh, it’s not there, I have to choose “Classic Menu” from the “Toolbars” option.
Oh oh, and one more little thing… this has been annoying me for years and years and years in every version of Internet Explorer on pretty much every device I’ve used. PC’s, Smartphones, Pocket PC’s, everything. You ensure everything is set to “UK English” but still, after all this time, it’s the “Favorites” list instead of the “Favourites” list, which is how it should be spelt.
Wait, it’s not all bad. Text zooming? Great. RSS integration? Great idea. The new search box on the top right that lets you start MSN searches directly (I swiftly changed that for Google. Sorry guys, this is one search engine you cannot beat). The anti-phishing and anti-spoofing technology is a good move too.
To sum up I think pretty much all of the current IE 6 users will upgrade to IE 7 when it’s finished off, however I’m not so sure that Firefox users will go back.