Microsoft to test new browser
2008-06-04 07:22
Seattle - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it plans to test release a feature complete version of its Internet Explorer 8 web browser in August to ordinary web users.
Microsoft released a first test version of IE 8 in March,
providing developers and web designers a preview of the latest
update to the world's most widely-used browser.
The next test release, IE 8 Beta 2, will be targeted more
at ordinary web users. It will come with all the features that
the browser will have when it is officially launched although
it may still contain bugs since it is a test version.
Microsoft has not set an official release date for IE 8.
The company released Internet Explorer 7 in October 2006.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has pledged to
deliver more regular updates of Internet Explorer, which has
seen Mozilla's Firefox browser chip away at its lead.
Last month, Firefox released a test version of Firefox 3,
an updated version of its internet browser, promising better
security, more speed and stability along with new features like
a "smart" location bar that remembers and redirects you to website addresses that you have visited before.
Firefox is closely affiliated with Google Inc,
which provided around 85% of the revenue of Firefox's
parent organisation, the Mozilla Foundation, according to
filings published last October.
In March, Microsoft provided a glimpse at the new features
in IE 8. One feature is called "Activities", which lets users
highlight text on a webpage and then take that passage into
another web service.
For example, a user can highlight an address on a website
and, then in one click, call up a map of that location.
- Reuters