Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 7 Beta Version:
Microsoft did not intend to release a new version of Internet Explorer (IE) until the release of Longhorn, a major upgrade to the Windows operating system due out in late 2006 (Microsoft recently announced that the official name will be Windows Vista). But, with security concerns and competing browsers eating away at Microsoft's web browser market share, they decided to separate out IE from the Windows upgrade and release it on its own.
This is a first look at IE7 based on the Beta version.
New Features:
IE7 is full of "new" features, or at least features that are new to IE. One of the most talked about additions, tabbed browsing, has been available in products like Firefox, Opera and others for some time. Other features such as the search box next to the address bar, and support for viewing RSS feeds are also great, but they are already present in most competing browsers as well. If you were looking for IE7 to innovate or set the bar for competition, you will be disappointed.
Improved Security:
Security is one of the main drivers behind the accelerated release of IE7. Internet Explorer is often the source of vulnerabilities that are exploited for a variety of malicious reasons. With IE7, Microsoft will append the orginating domain name to any scripts that are executed and restrict the ability of the browser to interact with domains outside of the domain you intend to visit. These restrictions should prevent many phishing and spoofing attacks.
No Phishing:
Microsoft is including a phishing filter feature (say that 10 times fast) which can be enabled or disabled by the user. The phishing filter will compare the web site against a Microsoft-maintained database of known phishing sites and alert the user if the web site might be a phishing threat.
Tabbed Browsing:
Tabbed browsing is a personal preference thing. With tabbed browsing, new browser windows result in new tabs on the existing IE window rather than opening separate instances or windows of IE.
That makes for a cleaner Start bar, but it takes some getting used to. Clicking the 'X' at the upper right closes all of the tabs at once. I think a warning box notifying the user that ALL tabs in that instance will be closed and asking for confirmation would be helpful.
RSS Feeds:
IE7 includes the ability to view RSS feeds from within the browser. There is a little icon in the toolbar which remains grayed out on sites with no RSS content, but, when you visit a site which includes RSS feeds, the icon changes to red and clicking it reveals the RSS feed information from that site. It seems a little hit-or-miss right now. It worked on some sites, but not others, most notably my own About.com Internet / Network Security site. Perhaps it depends on the version of RSS used?
Acid Test:
Microsoft has acknowledged that IE7 will not pass the Acid2 test. Acid2 was created by the Web Standards Project to validate a web browser's compliance with support for W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommendations including CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheets), HTML4 and PNG (Portable Network Graphics).
It should be noted that the other major browsers such as Firefox, Opera and Safari also fall short of passing the complete Acid2 test.
Phishing Filter:
I intentionally visited a phishing scam site aimed at Ebay users to test out the phishing filter functionality.
IE7 displayed the actual URL of the spoof site in the address bar and the URL that I thought I was visiting was displayed in a box at the top of the window. To the right of the address bar, a yellow box with a shield and the message "Suspicious Website" appeared.
It worked, but could go unseen. Perhaps an actual alert box or pop-up that would draw more attention would work better?
My Thoughts On IE7 Beta:
The installation went fine and the browser itself seems to work as advertised. Shutting down the tabbed browsing, notifying users of RSS feeds and alerting users about potential phishing sites should all be modified to be more visible and draw more attention from the user.
There are many projected features, small and large, which didn't make this Beta, which makes it seem not quite like a Beta test. But, we'll keep an eye on it until the finished product arrives.
Microsoft did not intend to release a new version of Internet Explorer (IE) until the release of Longhorn, a major upgrade to the Windows operating system due out in late 2006 (Microsoft recently announced that the official name will be Windows Vista). But, with security concerns and competing browsers eating away at Microsoft's web browser market share, they decided to separate out IE from the Windows upgrade and release it on its own.
This is a first look at IE7 based on the Beta version.
New Features:
IE7 is full of "new" features, or at least features that are new to IE. One of the most talked about additions, tabbed browsing, has been available in products like Firefox, Opera and others for some time. Other features such as the search box next to the address bar, and support for viewing RSS feeds are also great, but they are already present in most competing browsers as well. If you were looking for IE7 to innovate or set the bar for competition, you will be disappointed.
Improved Security:
Security is one of the main drivers behind the accelerated release of IE7. Internet Explorer is often the source of vulnerabilities that are exploited for a variety of malicious reasons. With IE7, Microsoft will append the orginating domain name to any scripts that are executed and restrict the ability of the browser to interact with domains outside of the domain you intend to visit. These restrictions should prevent many phishing and spoofing attacks.
No Phishing:
Microsoft is including a phishing filter feature (say that 10 times fast) which can be enabled or disabled by the user. The phishing filter will compare the web site against a Microsoft-maintained database of known phishing sites and alert the user if the web site might be a phishing threat.
Tabbed Browsing:
Tabbed browsing is a personal preference thing. With tabbed browsing, new browser windows result in new tabs on the existing IE window rather than opening separate instances or windows of IE.
That makes for a cleaner Start bar, but it takes some getting used to. Clicking the 'X' at the upper right closes all of the tabs at once. I think a warning box notifying the user that ALL tabs in that instance will be closed and asking for confirmation would be helpful.
RSS Feeds:
IE7 includes the ability to view RSS feeds from within the browser. There is a little icon in the toolbar which remains grayed out on sites with no RSS content, but, when you visit a site which includes RSS feeds, the icon changes to red and clicking it reveals the RSS feed information from that site. It seems a little hit-or-miss right now. It worked on some sites, but not others, most notably my own About.com Internet / Network Security site. Perhaps it depends on the version of RSS used?
Acid Test:
Microsoft has acknowledged that IE7 will not pass the Acid2 test. Acid2 was created by the Web Standards Project to validate a web browser's compliance with support for W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommendations including CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheets), HTML4 and PNG (Portable Network Graphics).
It should be noted that the other major browsers such as Firefox, Opera and Safari also fall short of passing the complete Acid2 test.
Phishing Filter:
I intentionally visited a phishing scam site aimed at Ebay users to test out the phishing filter functionality.
IE7 displayed the actual URL of the spoof site in the address bar and the URL that I thought I was visiting was displayed in a box at the top of the window. To the right of the address bar, a yellow box with a shield and the message "Suspicious Website" appeared.
It worked, but could go unseen. Perhaps an actual alert box or pop-up that would draw more attention would work better?
My Thoughts On IE7 Beta:
The installation went fine and the browser itself seems to work as advertised. Shutting down the tabbed browsing, notifying users of RSS feeds and alerting users about potential phishing sites should all be modified to be more visible and draw more attention from the user.
There are many projected features, small and large, which didn't make this Beta, which makes it seem not quite like a Beta test. But, we'll keep an eye on it until the finished product arrives.
Source...