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IE 7 public preview is out

Microsoft made a preliminary version of its new Internet Explorer 7 browser available for download this morning. It's technically a preview of Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 7, and while it's available for anyone to download, the company says it's intended for information-technology professionals, developers and others, not for consumers, as the actual Beta 2 will be. Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch has the details in this post on the IE Blog.

Many of the features have been present in earlier builds of the browser, or in public demonstrations, such as a phishing filter that identifies suspicious sites, and the Quick Tab feature for viewing thumbnails of open Web pages. But for many users, it's the first hands-on experience with IE 7. People have been busy today taking screen shots of the new browser and posting them on sites such as Flickr.

Some of the reactions online so far:

  • Joe Wilcox, Microsoft Monitor: Microsoft has finally reached the point where IE feels like a modern browser. There is much to like about IE 7, but a rough quality remains. I found the Beta 2 Preview to be a little buggier than Beta 1, which would be another good reason to call the build Preview."
  • CNet.com review and slide show: "Hoping to stop the increasing tide of disgruntled surfers switching to Mozilla Firefox and Opera 8, Microsoft has mirrored the look and feel of those other browsers while adding a few unique features to IE 7 for XP SP2."
  • Harry McCracken, PC World: "Mostly, it brings an increasingly antiquated browser up to rough parity with Firefox and Opera, two products which have improved by leaps and bounds during the years that IE has mostly stood still. It does have a few nice features that its rivals don't, but none of them are life-changing experiences. And for me, at least, it retains some old annoyances -- and introduces at least one new one."
  • RealTechNews: "It may not be for everyone, but it definitely puts IE back into the Browser race again."

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