Software update: Internet Explorer 7 beta 2 build 5346.5

The developers of Internet Explorer have their weblog IEBlog announced a new beta version of the web browser. Internet Explorer 7 is the newest branch of the browser that comes standard with Windows Vista. Compared to IE’s 6 series, this branch will include a number of new features, including tabbed browsing, improved PNG format support, and protections such as anti-spoofing and anti-phishing technology to help the user surf the net more securely . In addition, RSS feeds can be collected and IE7 will better adhere to web standards and formats. Unlike the previous builds released, this release is a full beta; Microsoft even provides telephone support on beta 2 for users who live in North America, Germany and Japan. A separate version will be made available for these countries in the coming weeks, which includes the language pack of the relevant country, and it is intended that a Finnish and Arabic language pack will also be developed. Internet Explorer 7 beta 2 can be downloaded for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 SP1 IA-64 and the x64 editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. On IEBlog we find the following release notes of beta 2:

We acted on a lot of the feedback and bug reports from the previous public releases. In particular, I feel good about changes we made based on reports from web developers around some CSS behaviors, application compatibility feedback, reliability data (yes, we do analyze the information that comes when you click “Send Error Report”), and user experience feedback. People on the team will post additional details about changes over the next few days.