Microsoft Readies Internet Explorer Beta

From PC World: Microsoft on Thursday announced it will release a public beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on September 15, a little less than five weeks from now.

Only a minority of Windows users will be able to try the beta, however. IE9 will not work on Windows XP, the aged operating system that powers nearly 68% of all PCs running Windows. The new browser requires either Windows Vista or Windows 7 .

Thursday's announcement followed a comment made late last month by Kevin Turner, the company's chief operations officer, that the IE9 beta would show up in September . Until today, Microsoft had declined to set a date or even confirm Turner's statement.

Microsoft first announced IE9 in March , and has released four developer preview builds since then, most recently on Aug. 5 when it said the fourth such preview would be the last.

But while those previews have trumpeted the new browser's "Chakra" JavaScript engine, graphics processor-powered hardware acceleration, support for the new HTML5, and being more in line with current Web standards, Microsoft hasn't as much as whispered about IE9's look and feel.

The developer previews have relied on an nearly-nonexistent interface that lacks even the most basic navigational features, such as a back button or even an address bar.

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